Correct alt and title attributes

Content:

• Attributes alt and title as optimization assistants
• The attribute is title. Need and basic rules of use
• Importance and nuances of filling the alt image attribute
• Briefly summarize

How to improve the position of your site

Attributes alt and title as optimization assistants

In one of our first articles on internal website optimization, we briefly described how important they can be images for SEO promotion. If you dig a little deeper into this topic, the first thing you will encounter is alt and title attributes.

This is how the empty fields of the parameters that the content manager will see when loading the image onto the web page will be called.

What are alt and title attributes? Do I need to fill them out? What is their role in search engine optimization? Keep reading and you will receive answers to the listed and some other equally important questions.

The attribute is title. Need and basic rules of use

To be honest, the attribute title is far optional SEO optimization element. The main purpose of its use is to give hints to users about the contents of the viewed image. When you hover over the picture, the contents of the title attribute in the white rectangle are displayed.

Despite the fact that search engines do not attach much importance to the contents of this parameter, it can still be observed with some, albeit indirect, influence on the promotion - through behavioral factors.

Agree that browsing the web page on which pop-up clues appear for images placed on it is much more pleasant than if this is not possible. Especially if it is not always clear what exactly is depicted on them . It is important that the title attribute is filled correctly:

1. He did not contain information that did not correspond to the picture in meaning. Otherwise, it will cause a repulsive effect.
    
2. Was not too long. There are no restrictions as such, but a two-three-line tooltip will clearly spoil the impression.
    
3. If possible contained one of the main keywords. Yes, search engines will not count this additional “bending”. But then the visitor will once again be convinced of the relevance of the material viewed to his original request in the search engine.
    
4. Do not duplicate headings on page (main title, H1, H2, etc.) and the contents of the alt attribute. 100 % -th of uniqueness here, of course, is impossible to achieve. But add dilution words like “photo” or “picture” for everyone.

Importance and nuances of filling the alt image attribute

Unlike the attribute title, which is essentially focused on visitors, the completed alt attribute in the pictures is more essential for search promotion.

It is readily indexed by search engine bots and used by them to determine the contents of detected images. And this is important both to improve the relevance of the pages of the site, and to attract additional traffic from the "Search on Pictures" to it.

Therefore, you need to remember that forgetting or not wanting to fill out the alt image attribute, you are depriving your web resource of additional rating points that could well improve its position in the issuance of search engines.

As for site visitors, they can see the contents of the alt attribute in only a few cases:

1. When you disable the graphical content display in the browser (which essentially happens quite rarely).
   
   
   
   In this case, instead of published pictures, the user will observe the standard image icon and the text prescribed in the alt attribute. Hence its name "alt" - abbreviated from "alternative.
   
   That is, we are talking about an alternative option (when the standard display mode does not suit or for some reason is not available to the user), which still allows us to understand in general, what was depicted in a currently hidden photo.
   
   
    
2. When viewing the results of the “Search on Pictures” in the description of the image found.
   
   

 
In order to safely advance in this type of search, you must adhere to the following recommendations when filling out the alt image attribute:

1. Like the name of the graphic file itself, the alt attribute for pictures should, in meaning, correspond to their contents and be relevant to the flowing text.
    
2. The length of the text should not be less than 3 - 4 words and longer than 250 characters.
    
3. You can use keywords, but you should not list several of them at once, since search engines consider this a spam and can exclude from the issue not only the image itself, but also the entire page on which it is placed.
   
   Choose one that is most suitable, and dilute with a couple of additional ones, trying to make its use look as natural as possible.
   
   You can also take the same phrase as in the title attribute (if it is not very long) and replace the thinning words used there (for example, use “photo” instead of “picture”).
    
4. Do not use words like “buy”, “form”, “price”, if they do not directly relate to the image (if it is not a price list, for example).

Briefly summarize

Title Attribute:

• filled out at will;
• does not have a direct impact on the results of promotion, but participates in the formation of behavioral factors;
• focused on the convenience of site visitors, which makes it possible to familiarize themselves with the description of the picture in the form of a tooltip.

Filled alt image attribute:

• taken into account by search bots when indexing;
• allows you to participate in the search in pictures;
• increases the relevance of web page content to search queries;
• enables the visitor to find out about the contents of the picture if the image view function is disabled in the browser.

All of the above points are definitely positive. And therefore, you can completely draw conclusions about the need to fill out alt and title attributes yourself.

Thank you for your attention. We are waiting for your questions under this article.