Image Alt Text

The alt attribute on <img> elements that describes an image to search engines and screen readers.

Alt text serves two purposes: accessibility (screen readers read alt text aloud for visually impaired users) and SEO (search engines cannot see images and rely on alt text to understand image content). Google uses alt text to rank images in Google Image Search and as a secondary keyword signal for page relevance.

Best practices: describe the image specifically and accurately, include the target keyword when it naturally describes the image (do not keyword-stuff), keep it under 125 characters, and leave alt="" (empty alt attribute) for purely decorative images. Missing alt text on product images is a missed opportunity for e-commerce SEO.

For Google Image Search traffic, pair descriptive alt text with: image filename (use-descriptive-filename.jpg, not IMG_1234.jpg), surrounding context text, properly sized images (correct width/height for the context), and structured data for specific image types (logo, article image).