alt attributes & optimization

[gardanni]

How important are ALT tags -- i mean alt ATTRIBUTES -- to search engines? Would adding search terms to describe each image on a page improve its ranking?

I recognize that this question has two components — a statistical comonent and a SEO-SPAM component. I've read quite a bit in this forum about the evils of SEO-SPAM, but am still trying to figure out how to achieve my ranking objectives. I invite comments on both components!

Dan

[kalidust]

I can't speak on SEO factors, but alt attributes for images are important for accessibility purposes.

[polarmate]

:hi: gardanni!

As Karen said, alt attributes are important from the accessibility point of view as the text specified therein is used by screen readers to describe the image. It is preferable from the acessibility point of view to leave alt="" when you have nothing to say about the image and it is there merely as a beautification factor.

From the SEO point of view, the alt attribute plays a role similar to anchor text when the anchor tag is wrapped around an image ie when the image is clickable.

[Quadrille]

... And they are one of the (many) factors taken into account by search engines. You serve your visitors and yourself by providing useful and appropriate ALT attributes.

As part of a balanced SEO program, they will be worth the effort of getting into the habit.

[Hope]

Remember when using the alt attribute, don't spam. They are for people who run without images or are visually imapred. They are not meant to have paragraphs.

It is such a pain when I go to a site that uses these wrong. If you mouse over an image that has bad alts, you can get a HUGE box with this long drawn out paragraph, or worse, a huge lists of keywords stuffed into the tag.

Make sure the alt attribute talks about the picture. If the image is your logo, then the company name is approrpiate. If it is a picture of a product, then the name of the product. However if there is an image of the building, don't stuff it with product names.