Alt Text
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Published on August 24, 2025
Alt Text
Alt text, or alternative text, is a short description of an image, video, or other non-text element on a web page. It’s crucial for accessibility, as it allows screen readers used by visually impaired individuals to understand the content of the image. Search engines also use alt text to understand the context of images, improving SEO. Context: Properly written alt text is vital for inclusive web design and ensures that everyone can access and understand online information. Examples: Instead of just `image.jpg`, alt text might be `A smiling woman holding a coffee cup` or for a graph `Bar chart showing website traffic increase in 2023`.
Q&A
Why is alt text important for accessibility?
Alt text allows screen readers to convey the image’s information to visually impaired users, ensuring they can understand the content of the webpage. Without alt text, images are effectively invisible to these users.
How does alt text affect SEO?
Search engine crawlers can’t ‘see’ images directly. Alt text provides textual context that search engines can use to index and rank your website, improving its visibility in search results for relevant image searches.
