Are you taking the time to give the images on your website an alt tag or alt text? There are a number of names for it, but basically what it is is a description of what your picture is of. It isn't a caption or something that shows up on the web page when published. It's something that lives behind the scenes and it is telling Google and other search engines, "Hey, this is what this image is of."
See, Google and Bing (and other search engines) want to know what your images are. It helps them determine if your web page is the one that each searcher is looking for. If Google is scanning your site and seeing that there are images that have no alt text, they have nothing to go on. Also, a reason to have quality alt text is that if someone is viewing your website (this applies to emails as well) and has it so the images are turned off, they'll have no idea what the image is. Knowing what the image is makes it more likely that they will want to learn more about what you're offering.
So, how do you do it? It depends on your website or blog. It may be in a simple visual way or you may need to just put in the code. Many of the template sites or blogs have this option. Here is screen shot of Blogger's alt text option.
See, Google and Bing (and other search engines) want to know what your images are. It helps them determine if your web page is the one that each searcher is looking for. If Google is scanning your site and seeing that there are images that have no alt text, they have nothing to go on. Also, a reason to have quality alt text is that if someone is viewing your website (this applies to emails as well) and has it so the images are turned off, they'll have no idea what the image is. Knowing what the image is makes it more likely that they will want to learn more about what you're offering.
So, how do you do it? It depends on your website or blog. It may be in a simple visual way or you may need to just put in the code. Many of the template sites or blogs have this option. Here is screen shot of Blogger's alt text option.
If you aren't sure if your images have an alt text you can look at the source code by right clicking on the page and choosing "view source" or "inspect element". Each browser is a little different. Here's what it looks like in code.
This may seem like a lot of confusing things at once, but once you figure out how to give your images an alt text on your website it'll be easy to do it each time. Just remember to accurately describe your image and don't try and pack a lot of key words or too much in each description. Google frowns on that and will rank you lower for doing that.
Is the image a new product at your shop? Say what it is, like: "New Coffee Travel Mugs from Cafe All the Way" or if your image is for a sale, be specific, with "25% off through March 15th on all Amy Butler fabrics".
Be clear and truthful with your tags and definitely make sure to do them. It can be kind of easy to forget in the midst of writing a blog post. doing a new web page or email campaign. But, remember that all the work your doing is not as strong with out the images being tagged.
Is the image a new product at your shop? Say what it is, like: "New Coffee Travel Mugs from Cafe All the Way" or if your image is for a sale, be specific, with "25% off through March 15th on all Amy Butler fabrics".
Be clear and truthful with your tags and definitely make sure to do them. It can be kind of easy to forget in the midst of writing a blog post. doing a new web page or email campaign. But, remember that all the work your doing is not as strong with out the images being tagged.
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