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.
-
Does it has any positive effect on ranking? (seo)
-
You can't use ALT text to background images.
If your images are loaded as img tag then you have title, alt. Example:
But background images isn't regular images loaded with img tag. They can be loaded only with CSS styling. And therefore they doesn't comes with title and alt. Example:
As you can see you can't use title or alt for image there. Only way is to define title as this:
or better this one:
I know that isn't 100% background but also helps.Alternative way can be ARIA. If you love background images but really wish alt text you can use WAI-ARIA and define them as:
...
But GoogleBot doesn't support aria-label for now. -
Yes for screen readers and using it as alt and title for your images that are there. So you are not trying to trick Google, you are trying to figure out a way to mark what is actually there. For google image search, I have had success ranking images even if used as backgrounds in divs by naming them with what I was trying to rank them for. Since I could not use alt or title I named images with my target in them. These images were all for a brand query.
Example: image on mybrand.com named mybrand-imageName.png
we were able to get most of those images to show up when doing an image search for mybrand
-
I'm going with "Google is too smart for that" on the transparent image alt text front. I guess it would help out people using a screen reader, but I'd like to get some of the images into Google image search. It seems like alt text is pretty much required to rank for that?
-
I think that adding title to the div is the only way for you to do a background image in CSS.
You can cheat a little by then loading a transparent image in the container that the background image is in, make this transparent image have an alt tag and title tag for whatever your background image is about.
If you are doing this for seo purposes this should work, if you are doing it to have the html well formatted, there is only the div tag.
Cheers!
-Erick
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
-
Clickable Images Question
This may seem like a minor issue but it is something that has been bothering me. When I write a blog post and place images within the text, is it better to have the image linking to nothing or link to the image url. I am guessing that unless I wish the image to rank for a certain keyword then it is not worth it linking to the image url. But would just like clarification if there is a more deep seated reason. Thanks Mark
On-Page Optimization | | markmiton0 -
Google index text that I can not find
Hello everybody, As you can see here: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:G-iicHoDJeYJ:www.billigste-internet.dk/&hl=da&gl=dk&strip=1 Google index the text "Forside" as the H1 tag, and "Right" and "Left" as body text, on my website. But I do not want that Google indexes this. But when I look in mine source code (see here: view-source:http://www.billigste-internet.dk/) I can not find "Forside", "rigth" or "Left", so I can delete it. Is there anyone who can help me where I need to delete the text "Forside", "Right" and "Left", so Google does not index this text? Hope someone can help.
On-Page Optimization | | JoLindahl910 -
SMO - Author Image
Hi Friends, I am having some doubts in author image in the social media websites. For example: I am having account in twitter, facebook and Google+ should I use the same image for all these 3 websites. Your Feedback on this is important for me. Thanks for your time.
On-Page Optimization | | zco_seo0 -
Image Tags And Titles
Hi, I am currently revamping my website with a new look. Some questions i have with regards to the images found on a page. I know that we need an alt tag for each image. This should not be keyword spammed. However, what about the title tag for the image? What is the best practice for image title tags? Should it be the same as the alt tag? Should it be different? Should I leave it blank? If I am running a wordpress platform for my website. The defaulted settings for wordpress is that all images inside a post are clickable. When clicked, the page loads from abcdef.com/page/ to abcdef.com/page/image.jpg. This seems to be generating alot of internal links but I don't see the value of loading an image when my visitors click on that. Should I let the image be clickable or remove the link on the image for best SEO practices? Thanks for your advice. paul
On-Page Optimization | | paulgian1 -
How to ALT tag correctly many similar images?
scenario: I have a product page with some text about the product and 12-15 different images af the product: details, colours, different views... how should I name an alt tag them correctly, been them actually really similar? Is it keyword stuffing to use the same name containing a relevant keywords?
On-Page Optimization | | DavideM0 -
Google images hits distorting my results. What to do.
Hit from google images seem to be distroting my results. I sell airport taxis so want rid of any hots that came through google images as there no buying intent Aanlytics shows (when i click in) Traffic Sources > Search Engine Optimisation > Quires 250 clicks All of which came from quires related to generic taxi terms which I do (unfortunately) rank for in search. I imagine these generated because I have a taxi cab image in page one of google images. So when people search for a picture of a taxi they click mine. However in SEO MOZ the traffic data tab shows: google = 219 clicks images.google = 3 clicks This should be the other way round shouldn't it?
On-Page Optimization | | smashseo0 -
SEO for Image only posts
Let's say I have a post where I show 25 different wood textures. I start the post with a small paragraph and then I show several images of wood textures linked to an internal or external page. Since I don't use a text link, then I have to rely on alt tags. It would be very difficult to assign a different alt tag to so many similar images, and I guess there would be a risk of keyword stuffing (walnut wood, oak wood, etc). On the other side, if I assign the same tag to all images, then that clearly is keyword stuffing (alt=wood textures). This is just an example, but it applies to most of my posts. What do you think I should do with the alt tags? Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | enriquef0 -
The SEO and CRO Value of an Image Next to Page Content
If given the choice to add an attractive stock photo to a conversion focused page, do the pros out number the cons in terms of SEO and CRO. Some pros are that you can include the keyword in the image filename and image alt tag. It can also increase user experience by making the page more attractive. Some cons might be that it increases page load time which can have a negative impact on SEO and user expereience. Also the visitor might get distracted away from the lead form button.
On-Page Optimization | | SparkplugDigital0