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
-
Any Advice for Image SEO?
I have a client who is very concerned about reputation management ... Google his name and some very provocative photos show up in Google Images. There are a couple of semi-famous people who share his name, and my plan is to backlink their images that currently rank positions 50 - 100 to try and push them up. Should I backlink the page that contains the image or the image itself? Any other recommendations?
Image & Video Optimization | | julie-getonthemap1 -
Will background images get indexed?
Will images, loaded via css class, get indexed? For example something like : style="background-image: url(https://www.mysite.be/content/dam/homepage-mama.jpg/_jcr_content/renditions/cq5dam.web.2000.9999.jpeg);"
Image & Video Optimization | | nans0 -
Images not being indexed by Google
Greetings, we have an image heavy site (it's a fashion blog that is over 11 years old) and for some reason our images aren't being indexed by google. We've looked at the robot.txt, CDN (we're using cloudfont via Amazon), etc as well as searched google webmaster. We still can't figure it out. None of the images on our pages are being indexed. Any help you could provide would be GREATLY appreciated Site: http://www.thebudgetfashionista.com Sitemap: http://www.thebudgetfashionista.com/sitemap_index.xml Image sitemap: http://www.thebudgetfashionista.com/sitemap-image.xml
Image & Video Optimization | | digitalundivided0 -
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 -
Can I use PO boxes as an actual business Address?
Hi mozzers, A potential future client(electrician) covers 40+ locations in one region(local SEO) but only has 1 address. He wants to rank for at least 5 to 7 main locations which he has PO boxes for. Can I use these as addresses on his website or will it be seen as violating the google guideline? If it is no good what should I do? Thanks
Image & Video Optimization | | Ideas-Money-Art0 -
Metadata stored in images read by search engines?
Does anyone know if metadata stored in images is read by search engines?My company stores images in digital asset management systems and metadata keyword tags are added to the images, so they can easily be found within the system. Since these keywords are stored in the image file, I was wondering if search engines can read them once the image is placed on the website, but I'm not finding any evidence of this in my research.
Image & Video Optimization | | unitedairlines0 -
Using Facebook for Places page
I have been using Facebook for my website for some of my client, Previously it use to get ranked fast and I have one of my client of the very top for one of my clinets main keyword. I took another the same Nitch but in a different location, but they don't seem to be getting ranked.
Image & Video Optimization | | joeuglyhat0
