Alt tag is used to describe an image to search engine robots. Search engine robots are not good at crawling images, so an alt tag gives them a clue as to what the image is all about. Adding alt tags to images is an important SEO practice.
Alt tags are the labels that describe the images on your web page. It’s a descriptive image text tells the search engines about the subject matter of the image. It helps search engines to determine which image matches the user’s query. Also, an alt tag provides important information to people<br /><br />- using screen readers<br />- with low bandwidth connections<br />- with visual impairments<br /><br />
Some examples:<br /><br />If a search button is a magnifying glass or binoculars its alt text should be ’search’ or ’find’ not ’magnifying glass’ or ’binoculars’.<br />If an image is meant to convey the literal contents of the image, then a description is appropriate.<br />If it is meant to convey data, then that data is what is appropriate.<br />If it is meant to convey the use of a function, then the function itself is what should be used.<br /><br />Some Alt Attribute Guidelines:<br /><br />Always add alt attributes to images. Alt is mandatory for accessibility and for valid XHTML.<br />For images that play only a decorative role in the page, use an empty alt (i.e. alt="") or a CSS background image so that reading browsers do not bother users by uttering things like "spacer image".<br />Remember that it is the function of the image we are trying to convey. For instance; any button images should not include the word "button" in the alt text. They should emphasize the action performed by the button.<br />Alt text should be determined by context. The same image in a different context may need drastically different alt text.<br />Try to flow alt text with the rest of the text because that is how it will be read with adaptive technologies like screen readers. Someone listening to your page should hardly be aware that a graphic image is there.
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