What the heck are alt tags anyway? If you just place your cursor over one of our graphic ads in the sidebar for a second you'll see - for instance hold your cursor over the ad for "IDEAL" - you'll notice the words 'IDEAL' a newsletter for VA's pop up.
These are alt tags.

Search engines can't see your pictures, and for that matter neither can visually impaired internet users - one way you can help both parties better understand what your website is about is to place alt tags in ALL of your images.

Alt tags should give a good, basic description of whatever the image actually IS. For instance, our VA directory ad in the sidebar has an alt tag that is descriptive enough that search engine spiders understand what the image represents. And it doesn't hurt at all that the alt tag includes a few solid keywords.

As a Virtual Assistant with a business website you're one of hundreds, maybe thousands, and that number is growing every day - so one small thing you can do to help increase your own site's search results is to go through your site and add alt tags to your images. This is one way you can optimize your website from the inside out.

Here's how:
Get into your website code or template and wherever you see
<img src="www.yourimagelocationaddr ess.com">
add this little bit of info to the code alt="ENTER DESCRIPTIVE TAG HERE"
so it looks like this instead:
<img src="www.yourimagelocationaddr ess.com" alt="ENTER DESCRIPTIVE TAG HERE" />

And you're all set.
Do this for your logo and any other images you use on your site; and be sure to include good keywords (Virtual Assistant is the most obvious, but there are other variations on this that you can use...)

Any questions on this? Just reply to the thread

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Originally Posted by Tess

What the heck are alt tags anyway? If you just place your cursor over one of our graphic ads in the sidebar for a second you'll see - for instance hold your cursor over the ad for "IDEAL" - you'll notice the words 'IDEAL' a newsletter for VA's pop up.

That's called a tooltip. Internet Explorer incorrectly displays the contents of the alt attribute as a tooltip, but it is the only modern browser to do so. If you want to provide tooltip text to your visitors, use the title attribute instead.

The title attribute should convey supplemental or advisory information only because tooltips will not be available to some visitors (keyboard only users, some handheld device users, visitors that rely on assistive technology...etc.). Alt text is primary content that should convey the same information as the image does. An element's alt attribute and title attribute should not have the same content.

Quote:

Alt tags should give a good, basic description of whatever the image actually IS. For instance, our VA directory ad in the sidebar has an alt tag that is descriptive enough that search engine spiders understand what the image represents. And it doesn't hurt at all that the alt tag includes a few solid keywords.

Alt text should not necessarily describe an image. The alt attribute should serve the same purpose and communicate the same information as the image. If an image contains words relevant to the content, its alt text should include those words. If an image serves a purpose, like a search button, its alt text should convey that function. Images that are purely decorative, like rounded corners, should have null (empty) alt attributes.

Search engines do not heavily weigh alt and title attributes because they are frequently abused. Using these attributes correctly will help you reach a larger audience.

HTH,
CK

Hi and welcome to the forums
Thanks for restating the use of alt tags in websites.

I agree with you that alt tags are not a huge factor in SEO, but every little bit helps and as our membership is primarily not well-versed in programming and SEO we strive to provide easy to implement tips and tricks, with as little jargon used as possible, that will overall have a positive impact on their search results.


If you'd care to elaborate on the use of title tags and how to place them in the code that would be great!

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Originally Posted by CKVA

That's called a tooltip. Internet Explorer incorrectly displays the contents of the alt attribute as a tooltip, but it is the only modern browser to do so. If you want to provide tooltip text to your visitors, use the title attribute instead. The title attribute should convey supplemental or advisory information only because tooltips will not be available to some visitors (keyboard only users, some handheld device users, visitors that rely on assistive technology...etc.). Alt text is primary content that should convey the same information as the image does. An element's alt attribute and title attribute should not have the same content.

That has nothing to do with a tooltip, I say it's just a little popup that shows what the image ALT tag is.
Tooltip is way more general than that.

Also I always see them poping up in my IE, FireFox and Opera, so I guess all the giant browser coders got the point *incorrectly*.

Originally Posted by CKVA

Alt text should not necessarily describe an image. The alt attribute should serve the same purpose and communicate the same information as the image. If an image contains words relevant to the content, its alt text should include those words. If an image serves a purpose, like a search button, its alt text should convey that function. Images that are purely decorative, like rounded corners, should have null (empty) alt attributes.

Basically same stuff as Tess said

Originally Posted by CKVA

Search engines do not heavily weigh alt and title attributes because they are frequently abused. Using these attributes correctly will help you reach a larger audience.

In terms of SEO, image ALT tag actually is a little factor that shows the quality of a page, so it is very important.
BTW, how exactly using ALT tags correctly helps me reach a larger audience?

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Originally Posted by hamidof

That has nothing to do with a tooltip, I say it's just a little popup that shows what the image ALT tag is. Tooltip is way more general than that.

Perform a Google search on tooltip. From the first result (Wikipedia), "The tooltip is a common graphical user interface element. It is used in conjunction with a cursor, usually a mouse pointer. The user hovers the cursor over an item, without clicking it, and a small box appears with supplementary information regarding the item being hovered over."

Quote:

Also I always see them poping up in my IE, FireFox and Opera, so I guess all the giant browser coders got the point *incorrectly*.

My comment was correct as written. You will not see alt text displayed in tooltips using recent versions of Firefox, Opera, Mozilla, Safari, Netscape, Konqueror, or Camino. Each one of these browsers will display the contents of the title attribute in a tooltip however. This link will be helpful: Why doesn’t Mozilla display my alt tooltips?.
Another good resource: The Alt and Title Attributes.

Quote:

Basically same stuff as Tess said

My intent was to clarify the difference between describing an image and providing a textual equivalent for it. Authors often have trouble with that concept.

Quote:

BTW, how exactly using ALT tags correctly helps me reach a larger audience?

If you use accessibility features according to specification, your content will be available to a wider range of visitors and web access devices. That makes good business sense, doesn't it?

HTH,
CK

Originally Posted by Tess

I agree with you that alt tags are not a huge factor in SEO, but every little bit helps and as our membership is primarily not well-versed in programming and SEO we strive to provide easy to implement tips and tricks, with as little jargon used as possible, that will overall have a positive impact on their search results.

Thanks for your comments Tess. I agree that jargon should be avoided as much as possible, but using correct terminology will help your readers build on their knowledge. If you understand the difference between title text and alt text, you can provide useful information to search engines without sacrificing accessibility. I hope you will find the above links helpful.

CK

Hi CK,
I think we're dicing things up here a bit when the point of the post was simply to inform users that there was a simple addition that could be made to the code of their web pages that would allow them to better utilize the space that an image 'takes up' relative to how search engines view that page/space (as well as those with usability issues). But I truly do appreciate your taking the time to elaborate on the topic

I'd welcome your comments on how to insert title text into the code, for the sake of those who are truly interested in learning how to enhance their own website(s).

BTW - have you had a chance to introduce yourself? I'm sure we'd all be interested to learn more about you

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Quote:

Perform a Google search on tooltip. From the first result (Wikipedia), "The tooltip is a common graphical user interface element. It is used in conjunction with a cursor, usually a mouse pointer. The user hovers the cursor over an item, without clicking it, and a small box appears with supplementary information regarding the item being hovered over."

Tooltip is a more general concept than what you're describing.

Quote:

My comment was correct as written. You will not see alt text displayed in tooltips using recent versions of Firefox, Opera, Mozilla, Safari, Netscape, Konqueror, or Camino. Each one of these browsers will display the contents of the title attribute in a tooltip however. This link will be helpful: Why doesn’t Mozilla display my alt tooltips?. Another good resource: The Alt and Title Attributes.

Maybe whoever maintains those documentations (or FAQ) on Mozilla.com should go open up a proper web page (with FireFox of course) and mouse over an image

Quote:

If you use accessibility features according to specification, your content will be available to a wider range of visitors and web access devices. That makes good business sense, doesn't it?

SEO makes good business sense to me

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wow.. cobledigook. is what I say.. Way out my zone.. Have to say..didn't understand any of this... Guess I will stay simple.. and email Tess when I don't understand what I'm doing.. Thanks for all the info though

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Jackie you are so funny
Seriously though, implementing these things on your site is a good move.
I'm going to post the code and info for title text tags as well in a bit...just to round out the thread.

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Originally Posted by hamidof

Maybe whoever maintains those documentations (or FAQ) on Mozilla.com should go open up a proper web page (with FireFox of course) and mouse over an image

LOL! The FAQ was written by Henri Sivonen. Henri is arguably one of the most knowledgeable people about xHTML and xHTML user agents in the world. A short bio can be found here: http://2007.xtech.org/public/schedule/speaker/47. Take note of his contributions to the Mozilla/Firefox project. Some of writings can be found here:http://hsivonen.iki.fi/.

Go to google.com and hover over the Google image using Firefox. Do you see a tooltip? No! This image has an alt attribute, but no title attribute is present. Standards compliant browsers, like Firefox and Opera, do not display alt text as tooltips. Please read the articles I referenced in an earlier post.

Quote:

SEO makes good business sense to me

With a little knowledge, you don't have to choose betweeen SEO and accessibility.

HTH,
CK

Originally Posted by Tess

I'm going to post the code and info for title text tags as well in a bit...just to round out the thread.

Ian Hickson provides a good title attribute example here (item 4): http://www.hixie.ch/advocacy/alt-tooltips

HTH,
Carol

Thanks for the additional info Carol.

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Quote:

LOL! The FAQ was written by Henri Sivonen. Henri is arguably one of the most knowledgeable people about xHTML and xHTML user agents in the world. A short bio can be found here: http://2007.xtech.org/public/schedule/speaker/47. Take note of his contributions to the Mozilla/Firefox project. Some of writings can be found here:http://hsivonen.iki.fi/. Go to google.com and hover over the Google image using Firefox. Do you see a tooltip? No! This image has an alt attribute, but no title attribute is present. Standards compliant browsers, like Firefox and Opera, do not display alt text as tooltips. Please read the articles I referenced in an earlier post.

You're right, it only shows them when they are linked.

Quote:

With a little knowledge, you don't have to choose betweeen SEO and accessibility.

If I don't have visitors, then it doesn't mather if my websites are accessible or not **

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Did I mention the word coggledegook??? Am glad there are some on this forum who understand.. But yes, Tess, I agree totally. As I know you and your hubby knoww what your talking about haha... If you say its good.. Then, what have I been waiting for??
Just as soon as I figure out what it is, I will do it.

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