Optimizing images is becoming more and more important in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for websites. The ALT attribute is a critical step that is often overlooked. This can be a lost opportunity for better rankings. Alt tags is the alternative text used for describing images. Alt tags are displayed on the site while the images are loading, or when you hover over the image with your mouse.

In Google’s webmaster guidelines, they advise the use of alternative text for the images on your web site:

Images:. Use the alt attribute to provide descriptive text. In addition, we recommend using a human-readable caption and descriptive text around the image.

Why would they ask us to do that? The answer is simple, really; search engines have the same problem as blind users. They cannot see the images.

Alt tags are indicators that can be placed internally, within your html, to describe the photos on your website. These are very important for search spiders because for now, search spiders have a very hard time reading images without one. This means that website images are virtually useless in the world of search without ALT Tags.

Alt tags are another place where you should insert your keywords to improve your rankings in SERPs. Even if your text already have keywords you could still improve and reinforce your most important keywords.

An example code of Alt Tag is:
Alt=”Human H3”
The whole image code looks like this:
<img width=”500”
height=”360”
src=”human H3.jpg”
alt=”Human H3 for sale”>