Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
[HELP!] File Name and ALT Tags
-
Hi, please answer my questions:
1. Is it okay to use the same keyword on both file name and alt tags when inserting an image?
Example:
File Name: buy-lego-online.jpg
ALT tag: buy-lego-online
Will it trigger Google Panda? Will I be penalized for that? Or the file name and alt tags should be different from each other? Because when inserting an image on Wordpress, the alt tags are always the same as the file name by default.
2. For example, I have 2 images in a page (same topic/niche) and I will put "cheap-lego-for-kids" and "best-lego-for-sale" as alt tags. Considering that I repeat the word "lego", is it considered keyword stuffing? Will I be penalized for that?
Thanks in advance!
-
I know this is like beating a dead horse, but thought I would link to Search Metric's 2014 ranking factors study. What is missing in what they see as factors that increase rank is ALT tags on images.
You can see the infographic below, you can also download the 80+ page report which I would highly recommend
http://www.searchmetrics.com/wp-content/uploads/infographic-seo-ranking-factors-2014.jpg
~Cheers
-
Using a word twice on a page is indeed, not keyword stuffing - where did I say that it was??? I don't believe I have EVER said that in all the years I've worked in digital marketing!
I said that using the same alt tag would be spammy - the reason I think that is that it either implies that you don't have unique images on the page (so what's the point of them?) or that you have been lazy with your alt tags by repeating the same one over again. Both bad user experiences for folk that need them.
-
Hi Amelia, you're right about that alt tags are for people who use screenreaders. Though search engines like google also use the alt tag to recognize there is an image file.
The alt tag is an onpage factor that influence ranking (http://moz.com/learn/seo/on-page-factors)
Although the alt tag may looks like as not important, it's worth using it.
About the spammy thing, using a word twice on a page has nothing to do with keywordstuffing
Grtz, Leonie
-
Hey Amelia.
Yes you are absolutely correct, alt tags are for people, and should be used to that end. When I said it 'tells' Google what the images is about I was responding directly to Shawn's comment that ALT tags are for accessibility, not SEO...
Technically yes, but Google does use the alt text as a relevancy signal (at least as far as we know). And ranks your image (in Google images) based primarily on that information. It’s a part of SEO for better or worse. Besides, you can both improve your on-page AND give relevant and meaningful info to the user, i've never had to choose. If it came down to it I’d always prioritize the user.
-
Amen Amelia. I said the same, but not nearly as thorough as you did.
-
Hi,
I just wanted to dispel a few myths going on here...
- ALT tags are NOT to 'Tell Google' what the image is about, they are there for people who use screen readers to enrich their use of the internet.
- Screen readers can be set up to read out alt tags, file names or title attributes - depending on the user's preference and presumably on the site they are looking at
- Google can and does read image file names: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/32567/A-Marketer-s-Guide-to-Optimizing-Images-for-Google-Search.aspx
If you pick relevant images for your pages then you probably will be able to get keywords into both the alt tag and the file name. I don't think this is spammy! It's accurate.
What would be spammy, and this has already been covered by Issac, is if you repeat the same alt text on the same page - vary it! - 'Blue lego bricks' etc. I personally would avoid saying stuff like 'cheap', 'buy' etc UNLESS the image has that text within it (say a picture of lego with a headline within the image saying 'cheap lego') in which case you are doing exactly what the alt tag is there for - enabling screen reader users to experience as similar experience to us sighted folk as possible.
Sorry for the rant, but it annoys me that something that is meant to help people who are (to my mind) at a disadvantage is abused for SEO purposes!
Best wishes,
Amelia
**EDIT: I am well aware that Google and other search engines use alt tags for rankings. What I wanted the OP to be mindful of is that alt tags were not invented 'to tell google what an image is about'. And to point out their value and use for people using screen readers. Most people do not fully understand how blind users navigate the inter-webs, me included. I just think if I can do something to make it easier for them then I will. If you'd prefer to write alt tags purely for the search engines, that is entirely your prerogative! **
-
No you won't be penalised for that.
But do check out my initial response below for a more detailed answer.
-
Thanks so much, Isaac! Sorry for the newbie question. For you, is it okay to use the same file name and alt tags in an image?
For example:
File name: cheap-lego-for-kids.jpg
Alt tag: Cheap Lego for Kids
Will I be penalized for this?
-
A space between each word
Think of the user. Some poeple don't have their images active when useing the web. What would they want to see?
Isaac.
-
Hi Mai.
You should be fine with the example you give. So long as you don't just repeat 'lego for kids’ over and over on the page!
Just add your keywords into natural writing style that your users will find usefull and infomative.Alt tags are useful for SEO. They 'tell' Google what the image is all about. The images and the alt text should be relevant to what's on your page. So I hope your page is about lego products
Alt tags also makes your images more likely to rank in Google images for relevent keyword searches. This is becoming more popular with people who like to scan through products visually.
Hope that helps.
Isaac.
-
Thank you very much! Last question, which one is better to use on alt tags?
SPACE or HYPHEN? Cheap Lego for Kids or cheap-lego-for-kids?
Thanks again!
-
ALT tags are for accessibility, not SEO. Screen readers will look at those tags and read to those that have trouble with seeing the page what the image is.
As long as the ALT tags are accurate representations of what the image is, you should be okay. If you are attempting to stuff keywords into ALT tags and they do not accurately describe what the image is, then you may not receive any benefit and could potentially get some kind of penalty.
-
Hi, Google can't read (yet) image filenames, that's why we use the alt tag, to tell google what's the image is about. So you can use the image file name as alt tag, no problem. If you use the word "lego" twice it's not keyword stuffing.
here's something to read about keyword stuffing: http://moz.com/community/q/what-constitutes-keyword-stuffing
Grtz, Leonie
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
-
Tags - Good or bad for SEO
We are getting Moz errors for duplicate content because tag pages share the same blog posts. Is there any way to fix this? Are these errors bad for SEO, or can I simply disregard these and ignore them? We are also getting Moz errors for missing descriptions on tag pages. I am unsure how to fix these errors, as we do not actually have pages for these on our WordPress site where we are able to put in a description. I have heard that having tags can be good for SEO? (We don't mind having several links that show up when searching for us on google...) As far as the SEO goes, I am not sure what to do. Does anyone know the best strategy?
On-Page Optimization | | Christinaa0 -
Multiple H1 tags on Squarespace blog page?
Hi All, I use Squarespace and while running my site (https://www.growmassagebusiness.com) through programs am seeing that my blog posts are being seen as one page with multiple H1 tags. I read through the SS help desk and found back in 2015 someone wrote that it's not a bit deal b/c of HTML5 and that the search engines will read each blog post as a sub-page. I'm not so sure about that and wondering what the experts think? If that is screwy then I'm considering possibly making each blog post it's own page rather than using their blog posting format.
On-Page Optimization | | rajam0 -
Background Images and ALT text
We pretty much exclusively use background images for our sites. How do I add in alt text? I tried a Google search for this issue and the best answer I could find was "Use the 'title' tag in the containing div", but that was from 2010. Is there a better way to do it? And no, we're not going to switch to using standard images, because background images are way more slick for UX.
On-Page Optimization | | MichaelGregory0 -
Is there any benefit to removing brand name from the title tag?
I just signed up for Moz recently, and have noticed that in my crawl errors, I have hundreds of issues with my title tag being too long. My business is selling prints for landscape/travel/nature photography, and I've built these pages dynamically to where the title tag for pages selling individual photos has the title of the photo for sale followed by a hyphen and then the brand name. The same goes for gallery pages "Gallery Name | Brand Name". Would it be worth it to shorten the title tags by removing the brand name from these pages? Or will that actually harm more than help? Thanks in advance!
On-Page Optimization | | shannmg10 -
Colons in title tag?
Does Google view the colon as a keyword separator like it does with the pipe (|) character? Currently, our site automatically constructs the title tag based on the page name given by the user. Long ago, we started using the colon character to visually separate the brand & model of the product from the size, and as a result, all of our title tags have been constructed this way. This was done more to make it easier to read for humans than for search engines. My question is - should I consider getting rid of the colon from our title tags? To give more info, our website sells tires. So, for any given model of tire, there might be 25-100 different individual sizes. The tags are constructed as follows: (brand)(model) : (size). Here's an example from our site: GENERAL ALTIMAX ARCTIC : 225/45R17 91Q The brand is General Tire, the model is the Altimax Arctic and the size is 225/45R17 91Q Since this entire string really constitutes the full product name, should I remove the colon so that Google views it that way? Or, since I have used a colon instead of a pipe, will Google simply ignore it and treat the entire string as one keyword phrase?
On-Page Optimization | | kcourtem0 -
How do I remove a Canonical URL Tag?
Some of my report cards say I have too many canonical URL tags. However, there is no information no how to delete one. Can someone give me a link or explain? Thanks.
On-Page Optimization | | dealblogger0 -
Keyword Stuffing in Alt Tags!
Hello, I have on a main page over 50 images. The first page i want to optimize it for MAINKW (let's say). Now, if i use in the alt tags "MAINKW KW1", "MAINKW KW2", "MAINKW KW3" ... "MAINKW KW50" then Google may say that i stuff the MAINKW in that page? Those images are reprezentative for main Categories and i have direct links to them from the main page with the anchors KW1, KW2...KW50.
On-Page Optimization | | VertiStudio0 -
Alt tag using photoshop
Simple question i think. Ive started adding alt tags to images using the slice tool in photoshop. This takes up a menu were the last part of is alt tag: This way to add alt tags does work right? I used SEO-browser afterwards and couldnt see the tag. There are maybe other better ways to see if your tags are in there ? Dan L.
On-Page Optimization | | danlae0