Question about overoptimization and images "alt"

[yuyuyu]

Hello,

I own a shop with lots of categories, in each category there is a lot of pictures, some have already alt, must I put the attribute alt in all images, it would be 100% beneficial for my site or could would I be over-optimizing the site?

Thank you

[customerparadigm.com]

Nadir-

I'd always recommend putting in an Alt tag on images, to describe what the image shows.

The Alt tag was developed originally for text-only browsers or visually impaired visitors to a website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt_attribute

According to the W3C's accessibility site:
http://www.w3.org/standards/webdesign/accessibility
"The power of the Web is in its universality.
Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect."
Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web

According to the w3Schools.com site, the Alt tag (attribute) is one of two required attributes for the tag:
The tag has two required attributes: src and alt.
http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_img.asp

The Mozilla Develper forum says that setting the Alt tag "attribute to the empty string indicates that this image is not a key part of the content"
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/Img

The latest version of Dreamweaver won't allow you to add an image onto a static HTML page, without using an Alt tag either.

So, yes, you should try to always use the Alt tag, in my opinion.

That said, Alt tags shouldn't be stuffed with keywords. If you do that, it will hurt you in the long run.

Best practice is to describe the image.

Hope this helps,
-- Jeff

[Chris.Menke]

The problem with keywords on ecommerce sites is there tends to be lots of images of similar things and people end up using the same keywords over and over, which brings down their value as an indicator of what the image is.  Sure it can help but as page-level factors start weighing less and less and keywords loose footing as a factor, keywords in alt tags become an even lower priority.  My opinion is you're better off having fun with creating your alt tags than tying yourself to using keywords in each of them.

[Gavo]

Hi Chris,

I've heard for eCommerce websites that appropriately naming your image file and alt text are key to good onsite optimisation. As eCommerce sites have little content on core pages, particularly category pages, search engines rely on the filename and alt text to discern keywords. Is there truth to this or has this become outmoded?

[Chris.Menke]

Nadir,

The alt tag is your opportunity to describe the picture to those who cannot see it because they have their images turned off.  Think of the purpose the image has on the page visually and then try to boil that purpose down to a short phrase that achieves the same purpose.  They don't carry a lot of weight algorithmically so don't feel tied to keywords when writing them.

[SebastianDyer]

Making sure that each image has alt text would not be considered over-optimisation. With a site like yours, I would suggest using alt tag keywords that appropriately describes the image, instead of using specific targeted keywords too heavily. When creating your alt text, consider what the user might be searching for - and perhaps do a little research - but make sure that the text you're using really is directly relevant to the image, as opposed to the overall landing page.