One of the things you can do to improve your website's ranking on Google is to add an alternative text to your images. In this article, we will explain what an Alt text is, what makes a good Alt text and how you can use it for your website's findability.
⚠ Please note: You cannot add Alt text on the images in your shop.
What is an Alt text?
An Alt text is an alternative text and is nothing less than a textual description of the image on your website. This text is displayed when your image is not visible on your website for any reason. This could be because you or your visitor has a bad Internet connection, for example, or when there is an outage on your website.
It also contributes to the accessibility of your website. This way, blind or visually impaired visitors can also enjoy your website, because with the help of utilities they can better understand the content on your page. When you have placed an Alt text with your image, this program translates your images on your website, and they also know what is displayed on your image.
Finally, search engines can't read images, but Alt texts can. If you use a good Alt text, it is immediately clear to the so-called crawlers of search engines what is in the image.
How do I add an Alt text to my images?
Once you have added an image to your website using the Image element, click on the cog icon in the toolbar. You can adjust the shape of the image here, and at the bottom you'll see an empty “Alternative Text” bar. There you can enter the alternative text.
How do you write a good Alt text?
Adding the text, seems like an easy way to make your page visible, but writing the text itself is so slightly less easy. If you want to write good Alt text, pay attention to the following points:
- Describe what is in the image:
Here, it is important that you describe the image as specifically as possible: what do you see?
If you find it difficult to describe this, pretend you have to explain to someone who cannot see your image what is in the image. - Keywords:
Be sure to include keywords in your clear description, but be careful not to add too many of them. 1 or 2 keywords are more than enough. - No repetition:
Make sure you are not going to repeat what is already on your website itself, as this does not apply to your image. This also makes it unclear what exactly is on the image. - Length of text:
Make sure you describe the image as briefly and concisely as possible. It is best if you can describe it in a few words, using no more than 143 characters for this purpose.
Example of a good Alt text:
Bad alt text: Children, running, field, grass, meadow
Better alt text: Children running in open field
Good alt text: Three children running through a grassy field toward a distant forest, captured in black and white, evoking a sense of freedom and adventure.