Best Practice for Alt Tags and SEO

Matt Cutts has recently come out with a new video on ALT tags.



It's pretty basic but there are some important takeaways. ALT tags help Google understand what your image is. Additionally, file names and titles also convey information to Google. This information is used not only for Google image search, which is very popular, but now with the implementation of universal search, it's possible to capture front page real estate on the SERPs with your images. Therefore, from an SEO standpoint, short, keyword focused descriptive alt tags are important.

I think it's important to take to heart Matt's advice against stuffing your alt tags with keywords. There is a difference between using keywords responsibly to augment a descriptive phrase and mindlessly repeating keyword phrases for the purpose of SEO. Doing things for users will always get you the most traction in Google in the long run because they design their algorithms to reward that kind of thinking. Also, images used for spacing and html layout don't need alt tags. Remember that these tags are important for accessibility reasons as well. Spacer images have no relevance to users who are using screen readers.

Have a great Tuesday.