Can appropriate alt text be considered keyword stuffing?
-
Hi all,
I just used the Moz page grader on this page: http://giavan.com/collections/earrings/pearl
for the keyword "pearl earrings". It's grading it a "B" and the most important issue is "Avoid Keyword Stuffing in Document". The keyword appears once in the title, once in the H1 tag, twice in the body and 31 times in alt image text. We've recently been taking the time to add alt text to all product images by simply copying the product name. So if the product name is "Pearl & Crystal Beaded Drop Earrings", that text is copied and pasted as the product image's alt text. This seemed like the best way because it's highly descriptive and obviously, quick to implement. But if search engines see this as keyword stuffing, I guess we should rethink it.
I don't know why Google would have a problem with this - it doesn't negatively affect the user experience and clearly those alt tag are serving a specific purpose. Still, the Moz grader doesn't seem to like it so if anyone knows the best way to handle this (or ignore it?) I'd really appreciate your help. Thanks!
-
I believe (please correct me if I'm wrong) that the page grader looks at the ratio of keywords to other text, not just a simple case of counting the number of times a keyword is used on the page - a 200 word page with 15 instances of the keyword would look stuffed, but a 2000 word page with 15 instances of the keyword (and its variations) would not look over stuffed - so long as you don't start listing keywords for the sake of it (this happens a lot with local optimisation - wood flooring london, wood flooring manchester, wood flooring birmingham, etc etc - yuk!)
Hope this helps explain my suggestion.
-
That's correct, each alt tag takes the product name, so all the images have different alt text. I think my question really comes down to - Why is the Moz page grader considering this keyword stuffing?
Increasing the text to alt tag ratio won't reduce the number of instances of "pearl earrings", so the page grader will still count the instances of this keyword and consider that number too high. At this point, I'm not going to worry about it. But it seems like descriptive image alt text shouldn't count as keyword stuffing because these are the best possible descriptions of the images.
-
To get this clear in my head, are you saying that your alt tags take the product name, not that all alt tags are identical?
If the former, then I think you've done the right thing (though I am keen to be corrected if I am wrong) because the reason alt tags exist is to describe the pictures on the page so that people who are visually impaired can still interpret the page correctly and enjoy a similar experience to those of us that can see them.
If your alt tags are identical to one another then you have got it wrong! Make sure your alt tags describe the content on your image.
If the Moz tool is saying your page is stuffed full of 'pearl earrings' then you may need to increase the text to alt tag ratio (seeing as it's the pearl earrings in alt tags that appear to be the problem). Make sure all your product descriptions are unique, as this can be beneficial.
Hope this helps!
Amelia xx
-
Ok, if you are including the same name on images, they not to do that as image name is also considered as the part of the content.
On your website it might look good but images normally get crawled in Google Images and when you are putting the same name on all images it will be difficult for Google understand what image is for what and it might spam the results in Google images for that key phrases.
Hope I cleared my point.
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
-
Noob question about keyword research
I have a client that does commercial building renovations. I looked at a lot of their competitors and did some googling to see what words people were using. Some terms such as commercial fit-outs, didn't really have any search volume. I did pick out some that had some volume, Google KW Tool said anywhere from 46 local searches for something like "commercial construction contractors" to 320 for "commercial construction companies". However, no data really shows up for local specifics like "commercial construction companies philadelphia". I tried looking at competitors in the Moz site explorer, but not too many were doing much link building to look at anchor text. Question 1) When it says "local monthly searches", is it defaulting to MY local area based on my google info? So if im in Philly area that local area is whats displaying? Question 2) I tried to run the same keyword list I pulled from Adwords tool through Moz KW tool, and it tells me some of the terms don't have ANY traffic! So know I am real confused as to whether the KW's i picked are good or crap! I attached image of the stuff. CnYyNb3
Moz Pro | | satoridesign0 -
How can I cancel a running crawl test?
I put in two urls that were incorrect and now I need to cancel the report generation. Is there a way to do this? And if so, would I get my crawl-credits back? Are they cumulative?
Moz Pro | | krenerr0 -
Why can't I get the search volume data from Google in the Keyword difficulty tool?
Hi, For some reason I can't get the traffic data from Google. when I'm doing a keyword research via the Difficult tool then i need to check the keywords volume in Google Adwords and copy the words into MOZ's keyword tool to check feasibility. mZGRSbC.png?1
Moz Pro | | Indiatravelz0 -
Significance of SEOmoz`s keyword difficulty
Hello everybody, currently, I am working on a project that will be available in multiple languages. My problem concerns the difference of the German and English language in relation to the SEOmoz`s Keyword difficulty (KWD). I just finished my German keyword research and got a satisfying collection of keywords I can use according to the KWD, page/ domain authority, Backlinks and Onpage-check. Now, as I am doing my research for the English market I find it hard to find any appropriate keywords with a satisfying KWD. I imagined the ranking on the English market to be much harder but now I doubt to ever rank for any useful, effective keyword on my list, because most of them are over 70 (some important over 80). According to the research it seems to have something to do with the authority strength of the pages, trust, etc, because they do not have more backlinks. Since they are query independent it is very hard for me to get a feeling for those metrics (I am new at SEO). So here are my questions: Due to your experiences, is it even possible to derank such pages or should I simply save the effort? How significant is the SEOmoz`s KWD? Would you always do Onpage optimization (text, internal linking) in case you earn more trust, authority, etc in the future, just to have your site optimized on the best keyword possible, even though you know that you cannot rank for that keyword (Cue: User-experience)? Or would you switch to less significant words (e.g. flashcards -> index cards) where you have a chance to rank but which is not that effective with traffic? Or focus on longtail, if possible? Many thanks
Moz Pro | | cramlr0 -
SEO MOZ keyword ranking tool
Hi Guys, Can anyone please help me! I have a client that has two web pages that he wants optimising, one page is the home page and the other page is within the page.. Does anyone know if the SEO MOZ ranking tool only looks at the home page for jeywords or will it look at what ranking is the the other page within the website?? Or do I have to set up separate campaign jut for one page within the website?? Can anyone answer this please? Thanks Gareth
Moz Pro | | GAZ090 -
Keyword Ranking Fluctuation
Hi, In campaigns, every week we found a big keyword ranking fluctuation. For Example: This week SEO MOZ campaign shows one keyword on 23 position and keyword change number shows 13 position down. When i have checked manually its showing on 13th position. Can you please tell me why its happen? Waiting for your reply Thanks,
Moz Pro | | pulseseo0 -
How many keywords can I look at at once in keyword difficulty tool?
Can I do like 15 at once? I'm also looking at a way to export all the data from multiple keywords in one view, it seems I can only export individual keywords. Is there a better seomoz tool to accomplish this?
Moz Pro | | insitegoogle0 -
Keyword Rankings Question
Does the Keyword Rankings tool track all urls or just the main. Example: Say I put www.domain.com to have tracked. Will the Keyword Rankings tool also track www.domain.com/landing-page and any derivative of the main domain or would this be considered a separate campaign. Thanks
Moz Pro | | montage0