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Written by Michael Brynjolfson 
search engine optimization picture with alt tags
Improve SEO with Alt Attribute
What's an alt attribute?
We all want our websites to look cooler with images, video and... oh that ever so fun and useful Flash. Unfortunately all of these mean nothing to search engines, at least presently they don't. Luckily, one of the best and easiest things to do is to use the alt attributes or add alt tags to your images.
Basically, an alt attribute provides a place to describe what is in the image/picture and what it is about. The alt tags are a perfect place to put related keywords.
How does the alt attribute work for SEO?
When the search engine spiders are scanning your site, they will read the alt text and take it to mean what that picture's content is. The spider will then include it in the rankings and keyword indexing. But this is where black hat techniques get used and where your site could get penalized if you use them.
Avoid stuffing keywords into your alt tags just to rank for certain terms. Of course use the keywords which are going to help your site, but make sure they match the image. You can take a chance on stuffing but if a human screener ever reviews your site, you will be penalized.
Alt tags are also essential for screen readers, a software that reads a page aloud for visually impaired users, to describe what is on the page. These screen readers are another reason why you should avoid filling your image's alt text with keywords which don't have any bearing on what the picture is about. It would probably be quite annoying if a page is being read to someone and then all of a sudden a bunch of keywords are being blurted out instead of a proper description of an image.
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on Jan 11, 2010
Perhaps Improve but not the best possible strategy
Although it is true that the Alt attribute can help you rank for things like images, the most important thing is to register your domain name as something that is likely to be searched for as this carries a lot of weight with the search engines.
For example if you sell large widgets you might want largewidgets. com as opposed to bobswidgets which may be the actual name.
on Jan 07, 2010
Using alt attributes in
Using alt attributes in images,videos etc. was not something that I was aware of prior to reading this article. I think it has a major role to play in having optimized images.
on Jan 06, 2010
Alt tags do work well for
Alt tags do work well for your images. This definitely helps you with SEO work on your website.
on Jan 06, 2010
I don't think that the alt
I don't think that the alt attribute is playing any significant role in modern seo concepts. I always try to focus on meta and title tags.
on Jan 04, 2010
I was not aware of the
I was not aware of the importance of having alt tags in seo. Thanks a lot for the info.
on Jan 01, 2010
Image Search Engine Optimization Tips
Listed below are key steps in optimizing images:
Again, do not lose a great opportunity to help your site with your images in search engines. Use these steps to rank better on all the engines and drive more traffic to your site TODAY.
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