What should I put in the image ALT and title text for blogger?

[678648631264]

Hello, I wanted to know what should I put in the image ALT and title text for blogger.

I've read so many damn articles about ALT text and Title text for blogger; nothing explained what I put in it though. What am I supposed to put in it that will help me with my on page optimization? (Stuff like do I use spaces or dashes, do I put my keyword in there, how many characters should I not exceed, do I put one word or two words?)

If I have a picture of a backpack, what should the alt text be?

What if I have 10 different pictures of backpacks on 1 page?

How about if I had a backpack next to a tv in an image?

A specific answer or a detailed one is nice!

[678648631264]

Please help me on this:

If on one post I use 'napsack' and 'backpack'

And on another post I use 'napsack' and 'backpack' again, is that Keyword Stuffing? I can't really think of synonyms of the keyword I'm using because 'it is what it is'

[ThompsonPaul]

Nope, just use spaces between words like natural language text.

It gets indexed just like the regular text on the page, unlike file names and URLs which do need the dashes.

[678648631264]

Okay thank you for the reply.

So lets just say this - The ALT text is somewhat like a meta description except it'll only be a few words long?

So take this : My keyword is 'backpacks' and I have 20 images of backpacks (All different styles but 2 colors) on the page. I try to describe each one to how it serves for the post?

Examples:

"Backpacks are used to carry items".

(Backpack image) - This is the image not title

ALT Text = Black Backpack

---

"Let me show you how to zip up a backpack"

(Backpack image with arrows of how to zip a backpack) - This is the image not title

ALT Text = How to zip a backpack

---

"This is what happens when you spill something in a backpack"

(Image of a backpack that is wet) - This is the image not title

ALT Text = Wet Backpack

Also, just like the uploading, do I use dashes for ALT text/Title?

[AgentsofValue]

Hi - i don't use blogger, but generally my policy for image alt text is to make the alt text relevant to the article that I'm embedding the image into.  For instance, if I wrote an article about backpacks to consider buying for a trek to the Himalayas, I would probably mention the brand name of the backpack, and that it was for a Himalayas trek.

I don't recall seeing any kind of rule about how long to make the alt text, but based on my usage, my alt texts tend to be between 2 words to a sentence.

Another thing to consider about is that, you're trying to describe why you're using a certain image on the blog you've just posted.  So in that regard, you could use the same exact image on different posts on your site, but use completely different alt text.  Maybe the first post was about a trek to the Himalayas, while the second post was about how to choose a rugged backpack.  In each case, you might want to draw out different characteristics of the backpack, and thus write a different alt text to match the page.

[ThompsonPaul]

Sorry, missed your question about having 10 backpack images on one page...

In that case, you'll want alt text that describes each in a way that clearly differentiates it from the others on the page. You can also use the opportunity to work in some synonyms and closely related terms to help introduce some variety to your keyword use. (Too much use of the same keyword even in alt text is still seen by SEs as keyword stuffing.)

So...
Lightweight blue backpack ideal for traveling.
Expedition pack for mountain climbing.
Knapsack for women hikers.
Comfortable computer daypack for students.
etc....

Make sense?

P.

[ThompsonPaul]

The primary purpose of alt text (alternative text) is for usability. It is designed to provide an alternative description of the photo for users who either can't or choose not to view images - blind users using screen readers for example.

If you do it right, you'll also get a little SEO benefit as well. Like all good SEO - do what is best for your reader and you'll get rewarded by the search engines as well.

Specifically, alt text should be a natural language description of the photo. Keep it to one sentence long, and my preference is to keep it under 10 words - usually 5 or 6. Since the photo should be relevant to the page, describing it will naturally include the page's keywords. If possible, try to get the keywords towards the beginning of the description, but don't make it unnatural in order to do this, as the benefit just isn't that great.

DO NOT artificially stuff unrelated keywords into the photo's description. That'll defeat the whole purpose, and the search engines will recognize it and ignore it.

Title text is a little different - it's designed to be the text that shows up in the tooltip as you hover over an image. The reason it gets confusing is good old Microsoft. In IE, if an image has alt text but no title text, the hover text will show the alt text. In other browsers, if there's no title text, there will be no hover text.

So best practice is to include both alt and title. NOTE! Title text is pretty well considered NOT to contribute to SEO. It can be used to describe the photo (you can just duplicate the alt text) but more importantly it can be used to create a call to action or instructions that will show when the photo is hovered over.

So... using your example of the backpack photo:
alt text: Lightweight blue backpack perfect for traveling.
title text: Click for more lightweight backpack ideas for travelers

Or for the second example...
alt text: Miniature TV fits in a backpack
title text: See more miniature backpacking TVs

There's no reason not to mention the second item in the photo, assuming it's related to the content of the page.

Don't use generic file names for your images! Before you upload them, give them a sensible file name that includes their keyword. So instead of uploading _DSC459083748.jpg, rename the file to lightweight-blue-backpack.jpg. Sensible means a couple of words long max, and separate words with a dash - not spaces or underscores. (This goes for any file you upload to the web.) Again, search engines assume the file name likely relates to the file contents, so that's another slight ranking signal.

To get the greatest benefit out of your posted images, it's also a good idea to include a caption for the photo that includes a slightly more thorough description of the photo as well. This can be in actual caption code, or just text entered right under or beside the image. Search engines assume text close to the image is about the image (since they can't understand the content of the image on their own).

There's a whole separate area of SEO dedicated to getting images to rank specifically in photo searches, but the above will serve you well to optimize them to help your page rank for your chosen keywords.

Paul