Member Avatar for sonam_2

Hi, can anyone please tell me why do you need alt text on your images?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Ajay_32

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A short, practical primer (building on points from , and ): alt text is a usability tool first and metadata second. The goal is to give the user (or assistive tech) the same information the image conveys in context. Below are concrete rules and small patterns you can apply right away.

  • Keep it short but specific — aim for a concise summary (many screen readers cut long strings off around 125 characters).
  • Describe meaning and function, not the file: for a decorative flourish use an empty alt=""; for a button or linked image describe the action (e.g., alt="Download brochure").
  • For complex visuals (charts, diagrams) provide a short alt plus a longer description in nearby text or figcaption and link it with aria-describedby.
  • Do not start with “image of” or “picture of.” Start with the important info.
  • Avoid keyword stuffing or using alt as your SEO-only field — clarity matters more than repetition.
  • If a visually meaningful image is implemented in CSS (background), move it into HTML so it can have accessible text.
  • SVGs and inline images may need role, aria-label, or an internal <title> — treat them like regular images for accessibility.

Example patterns you can copy:

<img src="decorative-swirls.png" alt="" role="presentation">
<img src="icon-search.svg" alt="Search site">
<figure>
  <img src="revenue-q3.png" alt="Q3 revenue up 12% vs Q2" aria-describedby="rev-desc">
  <figcaption id="rev-desc">North America +8% (USD 1.2M); EMEA +3%...</figcaption>
</figure>

Quick finish: always include an alt attribute (even if empty), test pages with a screen reader or automated tools (Lighthouse/WAVE), and prefer readable, context-aware text over any attempt to “game” search engines.

Recommended Answers

All 5 Replies

Member Avatar for Stucorner

The need of ALT text is to define the description of the content of the file & this tag provide a text alternative for the search engine.

Edited by happygeek because: fake sig removed
Member Avatar for lewisclark019

ALT tags are also shown to the website visitor if for some reason their browser doesn't render the image. Screen readers for the visually impaired will read this text, making your image accessible. So, the ALT text does play a role in user experience since it tells the reader what the image is when they can't see it.

Member Avatar for Webtechnoexpert

You need atl text for image because when crawl your website google bots unable to read images that why we use alt text so that google crawl easily read your image.

commented: I totally agree with you but some people dont realize its importance. +0
Member Avatar for Ajay_32

Providing an ALT text to image is adding the information to the image so that crawlers of search engines like Google, Yahoo etc can understand what the image is all about. Also it helps images rank in Google Image search results for targeted keywords.

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