WHAT IS ALTERNATIVE TEXT?

Alternative text has different names like:

  • Alt attributes
  • Alt text
  • Alt descriptions

Alternative text is a vital function that describes the appearance of an image or object on a given page.

 

Alternative text has three main uses:

Alt text will give the user a description of what the image is all about.

It is a useful feature of S E O. Alt tags provide a better definition and explanation of the image, resulting in all-around better results by search engines. SEO is a very important part in internet marketing now days.

 

Web accessibility

This is a very important feature of the modern internet. Not only are there requirements and standards for your web service, and these steps help to ensure your customers are valued and respected.

Properly descriptive alternative text added to photos is a useful tool for those who rely on screen readers to better understand the context of the image in relation to the information your web page provides.

 

Description of the Image

It can be very easy to describe a stack of pancakes by just putting the word “pancakes” into the alt text field and being done with it.

A basic description like this will always fall flat to the reader. The solution here is quite simple in the context of alternative text: as briefly as possible (within the standard 125-character limit for most common screen readers), explain the picture as clearly as possible.

 

Using this example above, you can ask yourself a few related questions:

What kind of pancakes are they?

Is the picture aesthetically appealing? If so, why?

Is there anything else of note in the picture — syrup, confectionary, butter, and so on?

Answering basic descriptive questions about the image will provide you with the rich context you need to properly describe the picture. Additionally, you should use this opportunity to target your keywords, connecting the image to the page’s content and making your page more relevant to search queries. Keep your descriptions appropriate to the image, but be creative.


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Freelance Certified Web Accessibility Specialists