What is Alt Attribute?
Alt attribute - aka alt tag, alt text - is a short description added to images on web pages. It is an HTML code that is used within the image tag.
Alt text has two main purposes:
It helps blind or visually impaired people understand what the image shows.
It helps search engines know what the image is about.
Helping Visually Impaired People
People who cannot see well use screen readers. These are computer programs that read out loud what is on the screen. When the screen reader gets to an image, it reads the alt text to describe the image.
Without alt text, blind or visually impaired people would miss out on understanding the images on web pages. Alt text makes websites accessible to everyone.
Helping Search Engines
Search engines like Google cannot actually see images like humans can. But they can read the alt text connected to the image. This tells the search engine what the image shows.
Having good, descriptive alt text helps search engines properly understand the content and topics of your web pages. This can improve the visibility of your website when people search for related topics.
Writing Good Alt Text
When writing alt text, you want to strike a balance:
Describe the image clearly but don't go into too much detail
Use a short phrase or 1-2 sentence description
If the surrounding text describes the image, keep the alt text brief
Use relevant keywords in the alt text, but don't overdo keyword use
The goal is to accurately convey what the image depicts.
In Summary
Adding alt text to your images is a simple thing to do, but it provides big benefits. It helps make your website accessible to everyone, including the visually impaired.
And it helps search engines better understand your web pages for improved visibility. Taking the time to write useful alt text is worth the effort.