Not using alt tags for decorative images?
-
Hi everyone,
My coworker recently stumbled across this article that instructs you to not to alt text for "decorative images" as you might get penalized you for over optimization
https://www.shopify.com/blog/7412852-10-must-know-image-optimization-tips
Has anyone heard of this or have any thoughts?
-
Thank you!
-
It's more of an accessibility issue than an SEO issue. If your visitor were using a screen reader, would it add any value for them to hear the alt text? If so, keep it. If instead you're describing "curly swash with a heart" and it has no bearing at all on actual content, leave it blank. Generally speaking, things that improve your accessibility are good for SEO.
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
-
Optimal Image Size for Website
What is the recommended size for an image on our website? What is the largest image size we can use without being penalised by Google? Thank you.
Image & Video Optimization | | CostumeD0 -
Can i use base64 images (URI) for better SEO performance - faster site loading?
Hi, Do you think the use of image data URI is SEO friendly? I got 20 JPG icons on each site, but use too many HTTP requests. So can i use base64 (URI) images for my small icons? Thank you for answer!
Image & Video Optimization | | Termex0 -
Alt-text on all my images or only my contextual images?
Hello everybody, I have a question regarding Alt-text. Is it important, regarding SEO, that I add alt-text to all my images, or only on my contextual images? Hope someone can help me.
Image & Video Optimization | | JonathanLinda910 -
CDN image links passing SEO benefit?
We used a CDN to host all of the images on our site, and the paths are such:
Image & Video Optimization | | PixelKicks
http://cdn.onedirection.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/harry-styles-tongue5.jpg Frequently we get a lot of other websites using our images, which we're fine with, but I would like to know if we get any SEO value from these image links? Interestingly they do appear in the "Just Discovered" section of OSE. Cheers, Chris.0 -
How do I improve positioning in Google Images?
Looking around in Webmaster tools today and I noticed we have hundreds of thousands of impressions in Google Images, but a very low CTR. I understand normal SEO, but what about increasing rank in Google Images? It is hard to get links straight to an image, and we already use proper alt tags. Any other ideas?
Image & Video Optimization | | EcommerceSite0 -
Do I need to use a CNAME for wistia video hosting?
I'm using Wisita for video hosting. My strategy is to allow other sites to embed videos to get links - I want the video linking back to my site not wistia or the embeding site. Do I need to use the Wistia CNAME or is a wistia subdomain acceptable?
Image & Video Optimization | | BruceMcG0 -
Correct image alt-txt length
Hi all, I am new to SEO, and just getting up and running optimising our company's website. We have a lot of images of our products on the website, and I would like to optimise the alt-text. Is there a recommended maximum length for alt-text, as there is for title tags etc? Thanks in advance, Gareth
Image & Video Optimization | | gdavies090319770 -
Image SEO - Does having multiple sites using same image help?
I'd assume that if many websites reference the same image on a server that this image would rank higher in image results than a similar image that is only used on 1 website.I have yet to do any testing with this to be certain, but how important does this factor seem to be in regards to image SEO?
Image & Video Optimization | | art-boy0