Understanding Alt Tags: A Comprehensive Guide

Alt tags, also known as alternative text, describe the content of images on a webpage. They serve dual purposes: enhancing SEO by helping search engines understand the image, and improving accessibility for visually impaired users using screen readers.

Effective alt text should be context-relevant and descriptive. For instance, for a stock image of a person typing on a computer, the alt text could be 'Woman optimizing WordPress website for SEO' or 'Woman researching free blogging platforms,' depending on the page topic.

Alt tags remain crucial for search engine rankings and user experience. They help your images rank better in search engine results and assist visually impaired users in understanding the content.

Alt text is also beneficial for social media platforms like Facebook. It ensures that visually impaired users can access the content, and if an image fails to load, the alt text will display in its place.

Alt tags aren't always necessary. For images that are purely decorative and don't add any meaningful content, you can use a 'null' alt tag (alt=""). This lets the screen reader know that the image can be safely ignored.

To view an image's alt text, you can right-click the image and choose 'Inspect' in Chrome. This will open a pane showing the HTML code, including the alt text and other attributes.

Alt tags are embedded within the HTML code that surrounds an image. While their primary audience is visually impaired users, they also assist search engines in understanding the image content.

Alt text can boost your image's rankings in image search, although it may not have a direct impact on webpage rankings. Nevertheless, it adds value to your website's overall SEO strategy.