What is Alt Text – & Why You Need It

By MasterWing Creative Agency 

People love images in blogs and social media posts. They love them so much that images are a ranking signal for search engines, and the strategic use of relevant images on your website and blog can help you rank higher on search engines. But Google and other search engines can’t see pictures. ALT tags – short for alternative text – describe the image to search engines.

According to Title III of the ADA (American Disabilities Act), companies cannot discriminate against disabled people “in the full and equal enjoyment of public accommodations.” In the last few years, dozens of lawsuits have been filed against galleries, hotels, universities, restaurants and other businesses because their websites are not compliant with ADA guidelines.

6 Reasons Why Small Businesses Should Use ALT Text on Images

  1. Accurate ALT tags help search engines understand what your website page, blog or social media post is about.

  2. Relevant ALT tags are search signals that impact your rank

  3. ALT text helps people who can’t see your images in Search, which helps your SEO accessibility rank.

  4. ALT tags make your images discoverable in image search.

  5. If an image fails to load, the ALT text displays in place of the image.

  6. ALT text on images is required under ADA to make the internet accessible to the visually impaired. Screen readers allow the visually impaired to hear the ALT text on images.

ALT tags are an important content writing SEO strategy so your images can be understood by people and search engines. Content management systems such as WordPress have long provided a way to add ALT text to images, and recently social media sites including Instagram and LinkedIn have added the ability to add ALT tags to photos posted on their sites. Other content management systems provide options to add ALT text to images also.

Tip: If your blog or website is set up on WordPress, you can select the image Edit option and enter the alternate text in the Alternative Text box.

What is ALT Text? – And Why You Need It | Amanda MacMaster | MasterWing Creative

The ALT text for the featured image on this blog post is: Laptop on Desk: What is ALT Text? –

And Why You Need It | Amanda MacMaster | MasterWing Creative

How to Add ALT Tags to Instagram Images

You can add ALT text to Instagram images when you upload them or add them later to images that are already live.

5 Steps to Add Alternative Text to New Instagram Images

  1. Upload an image on Instagram

  2. Select Advanced Settings

  3. Select Write Alt Text

  4. Add your description of the image