How to Check Alt Text of an Image: A Quick Guide for Web Accessibility

Alt text plays a crucial role in making web content accessible and improving search engine optimization. This hidden text provides a description of images for users who rely on screen readers or when images fail to load. It also helps search engines understand and index visual content effectively.

Checking alt text is essential for website owners, developers, and content creators. To check if an image has alt text, right-click on the image and select "Inspect" to view the HTML code. This method works in popular browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.

Ensuring proper alt text implementation enhances user experience and boosts SEO performance. By providing accurate and descriptive alt text, websites can improve their visibility in image search results and make their content more accessible to a wider audience.

Understanding Alt Text and Its Importance

Alt text plays a crucial role in making web content accessible and improving search engine optimization. It provides essential information about images for users who cannot see them and helps search engines understand visual content.

Defining Alt Text and Alt Tags

Alt text, short for alternative text, is a brief description of an image that appears when the image can't be displayed. It's added to the HTML code using the alt attribute within an img tag. Alt tags refer to the entire HTML element containing the alt text.

Alt text should accurately describe the image content and context. For example, instead of "dog.jpg", effective alt text might read "Golden retriever puppy playing with a red ball in a grassy park".

Screen readers and other assistive technologies use alt text to convey image information to users with visual impairments.

Significance for Accessibility

Alt text is essential for making web content accessible to people with visual impairments. It allows screen readers to describe images to users who can't see them.

When images fail to load due to slow internet connections or broken links, alt text appears in place of the image, ensuring all users can understand the content.

Alt text also helps users with cognitive disabilities by providing additional context and reinforcing the meaning of surrounding text.

By implementing proper alt text, websites comply with accessibility guidelines and laws, making the internet more inclusive for all users.

SEO Benefits of Alt Text

Alt text significantly impacts search engine optimization. It helps search engines understand image content, improving a website's visibility in both regular and image search results.

Search engine crawlers can't "see" images, so they rely on alt text to interpret visual content. Well-crafted alt text can boost keyword relevance and help pages rank for targeted search terms.

Alt text provides opportunities to include relevant keywords naturally, enhancing on-page SEO. However, it's important to avoid keyword stuffing, which can negatively impact rankings.

Images with descriptive alt text are more likely to appear in image search results, potentially driving additional traffic to a website.

Implementing and Verifying Alt Text

Alt text is crucial for image accessibility and SEO. Proper implementation and verification ensure images are understood by all users and search engines.

How to Add Alt Text to Images

Adding alt text to images is straightforward. In HTML, use the alt attribute within the img tag. For example:

    <img src="example.jpg" alt="A red apple on a white plate">

For content management systems like WordPress, look for the "Alt Text" or "Alternative Text" field when uploading or editing images.

When writing alt text, be concise yet descriptive. Aim for 125 characters or fewer. Include keywords naturally, but prioritize clarity for users.

Avoid using "image of" or "picture of" as screen readers already indicate it's an image. Focus on conveying the image's content and purpose.

Tools for Checking Alt Tags

Several alt tag checkers are available to verify proper implementation. These tools scan websites and report missing or inadequate alt text.

Popular options include:

1. WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool
2. WebAIM's Web Accessibility Checker
3. SEOptimer's Image Alt Tag Checker

Browser developer tools also allow for manual inspection. Right-click an image and select "Inspect" to view its HTML, including the alt attribute.

For bulk analysis, SEO tools like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb can crawl entire websites and generate reports on alt text usage.

Correcting Common Alt Text Mistakes

Avoid these common alt text errors:

1. Using generic descriptions like "image" or "photo"
2. Keyword stuffing
3. Leaving alt text empty for decorative images (use alt="")
4. Duplicating image filenames as alt text
5. Exceeding 125 characters

To fix these issues, review and update alt text regularly. Ensure each description is unique, relevant, and concise.

For complex images, use the longdesc attribute to link to a more detailed description. This helps maintain concise alt text while providing additional context when needed.