If you have created your own website, or at least dabbled in adding or editing the content, chances are you have come across an alt tag at some point. An alt tag is a meta tag that is related to all images on your website (except css background images). It is used to describe the image that it relates to. For example if you have a picture of a person cleaning a bathroom then you want to ensure you have an alt take that describes it. In this case “person cleaning a bathroom” would be a good fit.
But Why Is It Important?
The importance of an alt take is that it allows visually impaired people to know what is on your site and it also tells Google what the picture is about (Great for SEO). Until the time where Google can visually look at an image and know what it is, the alt tag will continue to be important in helping Google understand not only what the image is, but also gives a guide to what the actual web page is about.
Google don’t just use these alt tags for fun, they use them to help decide the search ranking positions. This means you can further improve your chances of appearing high in Google by using an alt tag that relates to both the image and the search term you want to appear for. Let’s go back to the previous example of the person cleaning the bathroom, and let’s say that the web page it is on is about a domestic cleaning service in Liverpool. What you can do now is change the alt to to the phrase you want to appear for or something at least more related to it. You could simply go with “domestic cleaning services in liverpool”, or “domestic cleaner cleaning bathroom”.
One important thing to remember is not to repeat the alt tags, use variations or it may be viewed through the eyes of Google like you are simply stuffing your content with keywords which is no longer a viable SEO technique.
