The alt attribute should be used to provide alternative content for
those who are unable to see the image. The classic case would be where
you've used an image to show some text in a fancy font (for a site's
logo, for example), you'd use the alt attribute to present the same
text "in plain".
The title attribute is used to provide additional information about
the image, it's generally displayed in a tooltip. You might use it to
show, well, the title of a picture in a gallery.
Internet Explorer will (wrongly) display alt text in a tooltip if no
title attribute is present. If you have an image which needs alt text
but no title, you should add a title="" to stop IE from displaying an
unwanted tooltip.
And if you just want to stuff both attributes with irrelevant keywords
in the hope of gaining higher rankings, don't. It's likely to do you
way more harm than good.
I am using both Title as well as ALT for giving my keywords. and not
giving any non relevant keywords. this means i m not violating any
google Quality guidelines. correct?
> The alt attribute should be used to provide alternative content for
> those who are unable to see the image. The classic case would be where
> you've used an image to show some text in a fancy font (for a site's
> logo, for example), you'd use the alt attribute to present the same
> text "in plain".
> The title attribute is used to provide additional information about
> the image, it's generally displayed in a tooltip. You might use it to
> show, well, the title of a picture in a gallery.
> Internet Explorer will (wrongly) display alt text in a tooltip if no
> title attribute is present. If you have an image which needs alt text
> but no title, you should add a title="" to stop IE from displaying an
> unwanted tooltip.
> And if you just want to stuff both attributes with irrelevant keywords
> in the hope of gaining higher rankings, don't. It's likely to do you
> way more harm than good.
So long as you are not just putting in words... but actual descriptive/
informative/relevant content.
Do not have an image of your fancy logo, then put in Alt and Title
attributes of...
KW1,KW2KW3 and KW4
As that is stuffing.
If your Logo iamge says 'Big Red Fish' all pretty like...
then make your Alt say 'Big Red Fish - Logo'
or similar.
These attributes are designed to provide additional useful
information.
Yes, this may result in using a particular word/phrase in some cases -
but the main focus should be ensuring they describe the image/location/
destination etc.
At the end of the day if you stuff, you wil eventually get caught and
suffer for it.
ChrisHunt gave a great explanation of alt and title. I'm bookmarking
it right now for future linking.
However, Autocrat brings up a good point that keywords stuffed in ALT
text or titles is still stuffed keywords. Rather than seeing them as
places to stick extra keywords, remember their intent--to provide
ALTernate content for people who cannot see images or whose browsers
cannot render them. The text should be a useful description or
replacement for the image so that people who cannot see the image will
get the gist.
For a quick check, I suggest browsing your site in lynx (or whatever
your favorite text-only browser may be). If it still makes sense,
you've done a good job--if it looks like a big block of keywords, then
you may be butting up against the Webmaster Guidelines. It serves as
a good reminder of what will be seen by the visually impaired, folks
with broken video drivers, and people surfing with less fully-featured
mobile phone browsers. Also, some people surf with images disabled
for speed, and still others do it to disarm image-based analytics
packages for privacy concerns.
> So long as you are not just putting in words... but actual descriptive/
> informative/relevant content.
> Do not have an image of your fancy logo, then put in Alt and Title
> attributes of...
> KW1,KW2KW3 and KW4
> As that is stuffing.
> If your Logo iamge says 'Big Red Fish' all pretty like...
> then make your Alt say 'Big Red Fish - Logo'
> or similar.
> These attributes are designed to provide additional useful
> information.
> Yes, this may result in using a particular word/phrase in some cases -
> but the main focus should be ensuring they describe the image/location/
> destination etc.
> At the end of the day if you stuff, you wil eventually get caught and
> suffer for it.
