Writing Alt Text Descriptions: Comprehensive Guide

Alt text descriptions play a vital role in making digital content accessible to everyone, particularly those with visual impairments. This comprehensive guide explores the significance of Alt Text, offering insights into its importance, compliance with accessibility standards, and the positive impact on SEO and user experience. Join us in understanding the art of crafting effective Alt Text, ensuring a more inclusive and informative online experience for all.

What Is Alt Text?

Alt text, short for “alternative text,” is a descriptive attribute added to an HTML image tag. It provides textual information about the content of an image, allowing individuals who use screen readers or other assistive technologies to understand the visual elements on a webpage. Alt text is essential for web accessibility, as it ensures that people with visual impairments or those who have disabled images in their web browsers can still access meaningful information conveyed by images. Alt text should be concise, descriptive, and convey the purpose or content of the image.

Alt Text Example

In this example, the alt text “A group of friends enjoying a picnic in the park on a sunny day” provides a descriptive summary of the image content. It helps users with visual impairments understand the context or information conveyed by the image.

Understanding Image Descriptions and Alt Text

Alt text and image descriptions serve as textual explanations of visual elements within an image, primarily designed for individuals with visual impairments, including those who are blind or have low vision. Alt text is displayed when an image fails to load and plays a crucial role in search engine optimization.

Distinctions between Alt Text and Image Descriptions:

• Location: Alt text is commonly linked to image metadata or added in the “alt text” box on social media platforms. Image descriptions may appear in the image caption, a text post, or shared as a text link for more extensive descriptions.
• Visibility: Alt text is primarily visible to screen readers, which audibly convey the text or display it on a braille device. Image descriptions are openly visible and can be read by anyone. Twitter allows users to access alt text without a screen reader by selecting the ALT button on an image or gif.
• Length of Text: Alt text is typically limited to 100-250 characters, with a recommended best practice of around 125 characters. Image descriptions can match or exceed this length, especially since they are part of the photo caption, a text post, or a text link.
• Level of Detail: Image descriptions typically provide more detailed visual information than alt text, benefiting from the larger character limit. For instance, while alt text might mention a puddle, an image description might elaborate on a puddle of orange juice on a white tiled kitchen floor.

Understanding these nuances ensures effective communication of visual content, promoting accessibility and inclusivity.

Importance of Including Alt Text

Incorporating alt text into images holds significant importance for various reasons:

1. Accessibility: Alt text enhances web content accessibility for individuals with visual impairments or those facing image loading challenges, ensuring inclusivity through screen reader compatibility.
2. Compliance with Web Accessibility Standards: Meeting established web accessibility guidelines, like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), is crucial. Alt text is a requirement to adhere to these standards, promoting an inclusive online environment.
3. Improved SEO: Alt text aids search engines in comprehending image content, contributing to enhanced search engine optimization (SEO). Relevant and descriptive alt text can elevate a website’s visibility in search results.
4. Enhancing User Experience: Alt text benefits overall user experience by providing context and supplementary information about images. This not only aids visually impaired users but enriches the engagement for all visitors.
5. Providing Context: In cases where images convey essential information, alt text ensures that users grasp the message even without viewing the image directly, offering valuable context.
6. Adapting to Different Devices: Alt text is vital for users accessing content on mobile devices, where image display may be compromised. It guarantees universal content access across diverse devices, accommodating various user preferences.
7. Compliance with Legal Requirements: Legal obligations in certain regions necessitate website accessibility. Incorporating alt text aligns with these requirements, demonstrating a commitment to ensuring equal access to information.

By adding alt text to images, websites not only comply with accessibility standards and legal obligations but also prioritize SEO and user experience. This simple yet impactful practice underscores a dedication to inclusivity, making online content accessible and understandable for everyone.

How to Write Good Alt Text

When crafting image alt text descriptions, it is crucial to maintain specificity while ensuring it aligns with the webpage’s overall theme. To guide you, here are alt text best practices:

1. Be Descriptive and Specific: Utilize both the subject of the image and its contextual relevance to provide a detailed description.
2. Add Context Relevant to the Page: If the image lacks recognizable elements, incorporate context related to the page’s content. For instance, if it features someone typing on a computer, the alt text could be “Woman optimizing WordPress website for SEO.”
3. Limit Characters to 125: Keep alt text concise, as screen-reading tools often truncate descriptions exceeding 125 characters, potentially disrupting the experience for visually impaired users.
4. Avoid Starting with Redundant Phrases: Skip phrases like “Picture of…” or “Image of…” and dive directly into the image’s description for improved accessibility.
5. Use Keywords Sparingly: If feasible, include your target keyword in alt text. Alternatively, employ semantic keywords or focus on essential terms from a long-tail keyword.
6. Diversify Keyword Inclusion: Refrain from forcing the keyword into every image’s alt text. Instead, select the most representative image for your topic and assign it the keyword, maintaining aesthetic descriptions for surrounding media.
7. Check for Spelling Errors: Review alt text meticulously to prevent misspellings that may hinder user experience or confuse search engines.
8. Skip Alt Text for Decorative Images: While adding alt text is generally advisable, exceptions exist. Decorative images or those described in nearby text may have an empty alt attribute.

By adhering to these best practices, you can enhance both the SEO and accessibility of your webpage.

In conclusion, mastering the art of writing Alt Text descriptions is not just about compliance but a commitment to inclusivity and enhanced online experiences. From accessibility standards to SEO benefits, Alt Text proves to be a small yet impactful aspect of digital content creation. Embrace the knowledge shared in this guide to contribute to a more inclusive and accessible online world, where information is truly available to everyone.