Google’s use of alt text as a ranking factor is limited to image searches. It doesn’t add value to regular web searches.
Google’s search advocate John Mueller explained this in a Google Search Center SEO office hour hangout recorded on March 18.
Mueller asked several questions related to alt text, leading to some conclusions about its impact on SEO.
From an accessibility standpoint, it is recommended to add alt attributes to images, as this is helpful for visitors who rely on screen readers.
From an SEO perspective, alt text is recommended when your goal is to rank for images in image searches.
As Mueller explains, alt text doesn’t add value to a page when it comes to ranking in web searches.
alt text for image search
In a question related to the title of this article, Mueller was asked whether alt text should be used to decorate images.
Mueller said it was a judgment call.
From an SEO perspective, the decision to use alt text depends on whether or not you care about the images displayed in image searches.
Google doesn’t consider a page more valuable to web searches because it has images with alt text.
In general, when using alt text, Mueller recommends focusing on accessibility aspects rather than SEO aspects.
“I think it’s all up to you. So I can’t speak for an accessibility point of view, so it’s an angle that exists. But from an SEO point of view, alt text does help us better understand images for Image search. If you don’t care about this image for image search, then you can use it however you want.
That’s what decorates the image, and sometimes you just don’t care. For things like stock photos, you know the same image is on many other sites and you don’t have to care about image searches. Do whatever you want there. I would focus more on the accessibility aspect there rather than the pure SEO aspect.
We wouldn’t say that a text page has more value because it has images. It’s really just that we see the alt text and apply it to the image, and if someone searches for the image, we can use that to understand the image better. Not that pages in textual web searches will rank better just because they have images. “
Hear Mueller’s full response in the video below. Continue to the next section for more insights on alt text.
SEO impact of alt text
In another question on alt text, Mueller was asked if it was still worth using alt text when the image itself contained text.
Mueller recommends avoiding text in images entirely, but he agrees — in this case, alt text can still help.
“I think ideally if you have text and images, it might make sense to put the text directly on the page itself. There are a lot of ways to creatively display text on a website now, so I wouldn’t necessarily try Use text in the image, and then use alt text to help with this. I think alt text is a good solution to this problem, but ideally it’s best to avoid text in images.”
The question goes on to ask if alt text is useful when there is text on the page that describes what is in the image.
In this case, from an SEO point of view, the text on the page is sufficient for search engines.
However, for people using screen readers, it still makes sense to use alt text.
“From a more general perspective, alt text is a replacement or description for an image, which is especially useful for people who can’t view a single image, who use screen readers, etc., but also helps search engines understand what this image means .
If you already have the same description for the product around the image, then for search engines we have what we need, but for people with screen readers, adding some kind of alt text for that particular image might still Significant. “
Alternative text should be descriptive
Mueller stresses the importance of using descriptive Alternative text.
The text should describe what’s in the image for someone who can’t see it.
Avoid generic text, such as repeating product names over and over.
“In this case, I would avoid a situation where you are repeating the same thing over and over again. So avoid using the title of the product as alt text for the image and describe the image in a slightly different way. This That’s what I would suggest there.
I wouldn’t blindly copy and paste the same text that is already on the page as alt text for an image, because that doesn’t really help search engines, nor does it really help people who rely on screen readers. “
Hear Mueller’s full response in the video below:
Featured image: Screenshot from YouTube.com/GoogleSearchCentral, March 2022.
