Alt Text: Boost SEO with Effective Image Descriptions

Definition

Alt text, short for alternative text, is a description or a written explanation of an image that is used to help people who cannot see the image understand what it is about. Alt text is usually added to images on websites, social media posts, and other online platforms. It is important because it provides a text-based alternative for visually impaired individuals who use screen readers or other assistive technologies to access the internet.

Importance

Alt text is important because it ensures that everyone, including those with visual impairments, can fully understand and engage with the content on a website or social media post. By providing a description of the image, alt text allows visually impaired individuals to have a similar experience as sighted users. It also helps search engines understand the content of the image, which can improve the website's search engine optimization (SEO) and make it more discoverable to a wider audience.

Sample Usage

Let's say you are creating a blog post about a delicious chocolate cake recipe and you want to include a mouth-watering image of the cake. To make the image accessible to everyone, you would add alt text to describe the image. For example, you could write "A close-up photo of a rich and moist chocolate cake topped with creamy chocolate frosting and sprinkled with chocolate shavings." This alt text would allow visually impaired individuals to understand what the image is showing and imagine the delicious cake in their minds.

Related Terms

There are a few related terms that you might come across when learning about alt text. One important term is "screen reader," which is a software that reads aloud the content on a computer screen for visually impaired individuals. Another term is "assistive technology," which refers to devices or software that help people with disabilities interact with digital content. Lastly, "search engine optimization (SEO)" is the practice of improving a website's visibility and ranking in search engine results, which alt text can contribute to by making images more understandable to search engines.