SEO - Content Writing Advice - Web Design

Plenty of misconceptions and misinformation abound in SEO. Plenty of myths and snake-oil are spread about by those who have an agenda other than properly applying SEO techniques to a website. Some are just plain wrong. There is none more egregiously offensive than the spreading of the often mis-touted alternate text attribute of the image tag. I have noticed a number of people (even the professor at the college where I was taking web design courses) have talked about alt text being “alt tags”. There are a number of debatable reasons as to why one would make such an obvious mistake time and time again, but brace yourself – all are completely and utterly wrong and should not be used for the sake of convenience, because there IS no significant convenience towards doing so. Let me explain.

The W3C states that the definition and usage of the <img> alt attribute (notice how they do not refer to it as a tag) is that: “The required alt attribute specifies an alternate text for an image, if the image cannot be displayed.” And so, the image itself is loaded by writing the following code (according to XHTML syntax):

<img src=”image source URL” width=”pixels” height=”pixels” border=”pixels” ALT=”Alternate Text” />

Therefore, considering its context and placement within the code, along with its purpose, there is absolutely no way that anyone should refer to it as a tag when discussing something like this in technical terms. As one person brought up during a lengthy discussion I was having with them yesterday, even stating it as “tagging” an image is wrong, because although you’re adding a specific attribute, you’re not really “tagging” an image per se, as you would tag a fish for testing. Nor are you  using an actual “tag”. You’re adding a required attribute that’s part of the main image tag. You are not “tagging” an image with attributes.

Conventional Existence

So, an alt tag does NOT EXIST. While I understand the argument for utilizing language bastardization, adaptation and conventions, and I understand the argument for using a more understandable easier-to-type term vs. a more complex technical term, the fact of the matter is that there IS a correct way to state it in a shorthand way that IS conventional by default. You can simply call it “Alt Text.” There is absolutely no reason to use the term “Alt Tag”. Now, it may be different in certain industry circles where completely different languages are used as the technical term for specific parts, but that is not the case here.

All utilizing the term “alt tag” instead of “alt text” does is it makes you look like an idiot for not discussing tech terms in their correct context and use. Of course there is the argument of using watered down terms at the expense of correctness for a wider, more varied audience, but that argument breaks down when you consider that: there is only a 1 character difference between Alt Text and Alt Tag. AND, there is no language barrier that you have to consider. Remember this in your next article or presentation when you decide to discuss image alt text:  There is no such thing as an Alt Tag. Alt TEXT is an attribute of the IMAGE tag.

And that concludes today’s long overdue new blog post, a.k.a. today’s edition of “The Soapbox.”