The role of alt text in image optimization for technical SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing a website or online content in order to increase its visibility and ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs). One important aspect of SEO is technical SEO, which refers to the practice of optimizing a website’s technical elements to improve its crawlability and indexability by search engines. One important aspect of technical SEO is image optimization, which involves making sure that images on a website are properly optimized to help search engines understand the content they contain. One key element of image optimization is alt text, which is a short text description of an image that is intended to help users understand what the image is about when it cannot be displayed.
Alt text is important for SEO because it provides search engines with context about the content of an image. When search engines crawl a website, they rely on text to understand the content of a page. If an image is not properly optimized with alt text, search engines may not understand what the image is about and may not be able to index it properly. This can result in the image not appearing in search results or appearing in lower rankings than it should.
Alt text is also important for accessibility. Alt text is read aloud by screen readers for visually impaired users, allowing them to understand the contents of an image. It also displays when images failed to load, this way users could understand context even if images failed to show.
When creating alt text, it’s important to keep in mind that it should be short, descriptive and meaningful. It should accurately describe the content of the image and include relevant keywords. The text should be relevant to the context of the page and not too long. In general, aim for about 125 characters, or less.
Here are a few best practices for creating alt text: -Keep it brief and to the point, aim for less than 125 characters -Make it accurate and relevant to the context of the page -Use keywords sparingly, but make sure they’re relevant to the image and the context of the page -Don’t stuff keywords or use irrelevant keywords -Use plain language, avoid technical jargon
It’s also important to keep in mind that search engines are getting better at understanding the context of images, so over-optimizing with alt text is no longer necessary. The goal is to create text that is useful for both users and search engines, not to stuff keywords into the text.
In addition to alt text, there are other factors to consider when optimizing images for SEO. These include file name, file size, and file format. The file name should be descriptive and include relevant keywords, but should not be too long or stuffed with keywords. The file size should be optimized for faster loading times, as large images can slow down a website and negatively impact user experience. Finally, the file format should be optimized for both visual quality and file size.
In conclusion, alt text plays a critical role in image optimization for technical SEO. It provides search engines with context about the content of an image, and helps make images more accessible to users. When creating alt text, it’s important to keep it short, descriptive, and meaningful, while also including relevant keywords. Alt text is a small element but it can have a big impact on the visibility and ranking of images in search engine results.
Another factor to consider when optimizing images for SEO is the use of structured data. Structured data is a way to mark up the content of a webpage with specific tags, so that search engines can understand the meaning of the content and display it in a more informative and useful way in search results.
One of the most popular structured data formats for images is the schema.org ImageObject format. This format allows webmasters to provide search engines with detailed information about an image, such as its caption, copyright information, and URL. By using this format, images can be displayed in rich search results, which can include image thumbnails, captions, and other information.
To implement structured data for images, webmasters can use the JSON-LD format. JSON-LD is a format for encoding structured data in JavaScript. The structured data should be added in the <head> of the HTML document, in a script tag.
Copy code<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "ImageObject",
"url": "https://example.com/image.jpg",
"caption": "My Image",
"copyrightHolder": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "My Company"
}
}
</script>
Additionally, using CDN (Content Delivery Network) for images can also improve image optimization. CDN stores images on a network of servers across multiple geographic locations. When a user requests an image, the CDN will serve it from the server that is geographically closest to the user. This can greatly improve the loading speed of the images on a website, which can help to improve the user experience and SEO.
In summary, alt text is an essential part of image optimization for technical SEO, but it’s not the only one. There are several other factors that should be considered, including structured data, file name, file size, and file format. By implementing all these elements, webmasters can ensure that their images are properly optimized and can achieve better visibility and rankings in search engine results.
Another aspect of image optimization for SEO is using responsive images. Responsive images are images that are optimized for different screen sizes and resolutions, so that they look good and load quickly on any device. This is especially important for mobile devices, which have smaller screens and slower internet connections than desktop computers.
Using responsive images involves serving different versions of an image depending on the device and screen size of the user. This can be done using the srcset and sizes attributes of the img tag. The srcset attribute specifies different versions of an image, and the sizes attribute specifies the size that the image should be displayed at on different screen sizes.
Copy code<img src="small.jpg" srcset="medium.jpg 768w, large.jpg 1440w" sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, (max-width: 768px) 50vw, 25vw" alt="My image">
Using responsive images helps to improve the user experience by ensuring that images look good and load quickly on any device, and it also helps to improve SEO by reducing page load time and increasing the chances of images being indexed properly.
Another important aspect of image optimization for SEO is the use of image sitemaps. An image sitemap is an XML file that lists all of the images on a website, along with information about each image such as its location and title. By submitting an image sitemap to search engines, webmasters can help search engines to find and index their images more easily.
To create an image sitemap, webmasters can use a tool such as XML Sitemaps, which can generate a sitemap automatically based on the images on a website. Once the sitemap is generated, it can be submitted to search engines through the webmaster tools of the respective search engines.
In conclusion, alt text is a crucial part of image optimization for technical SEO, but it’s not the only aspect. The other important factors include structured data, file name, file size, file format, responsive images and use of image sitemaps. Webmasters should be considering all these factors to ensure that the images on their websites are properly optimized, and can achieve better visibility and ranking in search engine results. By improving the images on their websites, they can also improve the overall user experience, which can lead to better engagement and conversion rates.
