Alt image tags not being read by on-page optimization tool
-
Can bots see the keyword among other words in aIt image tags? For example, if the keyword is upholstery leather and the image tag says "our upholstery leather collection" will the keyword be recognized? Another example is buy leather. I have a image tag on a slide that reads "free samples before you buy leather" but an on-page analysis in moz does not show an alt tag title for buy leather? Same problem with an moz on-page analysis of the term upholstery leather.
Thanks!
Hunter
-
Good point. Just ran it through W3 and everything was spic and span clean..1.0 Strict compliance! The site is Leather Hide Store if you want to see but again, maybe a question for team moz.
Hunter
-
Sure. If it's only done 3x and genuinely descriptive, you're probably good.
As for why 'moz pro might not be seeing it, it's indeed tough to say, but I'd start by double-checking that you have valid code using http://validator.w3.org. If there's a tag left open or a quote out of place, that can muck things all up.
-
Hi Corey,
Thanks for taking the time to respond. I actually only have upholstery leather mentioned on the page 3x and the moz on-page optimization report said I needed a fourth. Titling the alt img upholstery leather was perfect b/c it is an accurate description of the image and (I thought) would be recognized as the 4th mention of the keyword on the page. My question (or problem) is why is the moz on-page optimizer not reading it? I am glad to here the the googlebots will recognize the keyword even when enclosed by other text. One thought just occurred to me and that is the images are hyperlinked...could that influence it? Maybe a question best posed to the moz team?
Thanks,
Hunter
-
Hi Hunter.
1. Yes, search engines definitely read text inside of image ALT tags.
2. Yes, you should absolutely use them, every time. Among other important applications, they're used by screen readers for the blind. Having a handicap-accessible site, among other things, immediately places your site in a league above the competition in terms of overall quality.
3. Maybe, on the scope of keyword uses that you mentioned. You'll need to be very, very careful on how you use keywords in hidden tags like this. There was a time when keyword density was everything to Google, and black hat SEO's stuffed the crap out of these hidden tags with their keywords. Nowadays, the help that you give yourself, keyword-wise, for Google's standard (non-image) search, from ALT tags, is really negligible. It's much more about the above (having a useful description, just in those scenarios that it's really necessary). Most of the time, when I see a client trying something like this, they've invited massive penalties on themselves from abusing it. It's much easier to hurt yourself than help yourself through "optimizing" a lot of on-page factors like these, so be careful and keep these tags succinct / genuinely descriptive.
Good luck.
-C
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
What would you do about this Pillar Page conundrum?
I am re-organizing site structure for an e-commerce site. Here's the problem I have: The product (shipping container) is available to BUY and HIRE in four sizes, for example a 20ft container is one of them. Now, should I have a 20ft container product page for buying -- and also a 20ft container for hiring? I want the container sales and seperate container hire page to be pillar pages, if I don't have any cluster pages for the different container sizes below them it I'm worried it'll just be floating out there in the ocean while the sales page gets all the cluster love. At the same time I don't want to have something that looks like duplicate content with 20ft hire and 20ft sale page. Any ideas please?
On-Page Optimization | | scjames0 -
On-Page Optimization Question
My company sells Blue widgets and we are located in Denver, CO. Keyword research indicates that the the highest volume phrase is "blue widgets for sale in denver co". Should my meta title tag be: Blue Widgets for sale in Denver CO , and my h1 tag be the same? or should they be semantic phrases? Thanks in advance!
On-Page Optimization | | FicklingCompany0 -
Add multiple H2 tags on a single page. Good or Bad?
Can we add Multipal H2 tags on a single page, Is good or Bad. Here is an example - http://packforcity.com/things-to-do-in-new-york-city/
On-Page Optimization | | ross254sidney0 -
My company's product is referred to by two different names (SVN and Subversion). When cleaning up our Title tags, is it OK to use either name to keep the title tags around 70 characters?
I am cleaning up title tags that are too long or not correct. In our title tag we reference our product (a version of OSS source code). This product is often referred to as both SVN or Subversion. When writing Title tags is it OK to use one or the other depending on the length of the Title Tag? For instance: Contact Us | Free SVN & Git Hosting | Bug & Issue tracking | CloudForge vs **About CloudForge | Free Subversion & Git Hosting | Bug Tracking ** | |
On-Page Optimization | | CollabNet0 -
Product Page Optimization
I work for an ecommerce site and we are currently in the process of redesigning our product page. Any useful, must-do tips for this? If it helps, our site has both hard goods and apparel that can be imprinted and customized to the buyers liking. Thanks for any help!
On-Page Optimization | | ClaytonKendall1 -
Framed Pages and Dynamic Pages
Has anyone else had experience with different CMS's for Ecommerce . Ones that create static pages and others that dynamically create pages. What differences have you seen with rankings on google with the two. Here are two examples of sites using static framed pages and one with a system that dynamically creates pages - http://www.gardeningexpress.co.uk/ - static frames and http://www.floraselect.co.uk - dynamically
On-Page Optimization | | onlinemediadirect0 -
Optimizing for Neighbourhoods
Say I'm optimizing a website for a Veterinarian in North York, a neighborhood in Toronto. Is it important to use Toronto in the keywords/ keyword phrases? When people from within Toronto search for "North York Veterinarian" and "North York Dog Kennel" I want to be found. If I optimize a page for the keyphrases "North York Veterinarian" and "North York Dog Kennel" and only mention Toronto once in the footer with the office address will that be enough for Google to serve up these results in Toronto? Thanks,
On-Page Optimization | | OptioPublishing
Jason0 -
Title tag for category page
I'd like to know your views on the best approach for title tags for category pages for ecommerce sites. 3 examples A) Category name | Free delivery on $50 purchase | Brand name B) Discover best "category name" on brand name C) Category Name | 1st Keyword, 2nd keyword | Brand name Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | walidalsaqqaf0