Before I give you a little of writing smarts behind crafting ALT tags, notice how I changed the syntax of my post title. I should have been doing this all along – leading with the meat of the post, rather than the series name.

The ALT Tag ( image alt attributes) names the image.

Visually impaired folks, folks who turn their graphic functions off, and search engines can’t read the pretty pictures on your site, so it’s our job to name them. We don’t have to name all the little bits, bullets, decorative icons, etc. In fact, we shouldn’t as it would be come a huge distraction to someone using a screen reader to listen to your site. But for images that illustrate, amplify and explain key concepts on your page, you want your alt-tags to do their job.

What you should know:

• Your ALT tag text should contain a specific keyword or phrase. Use complete sentences and a different sentence for each tag.
• Don’t stuff your ALT tags with crap (arbitrary keywords) and don’t write extremely long descriptions. Think short, concise and on-point.

For a more detailed look at ALT tags, see Writing Effective ALT Text for Images.

Maven’s Maxim
Don’t keyword stuff your tags. ALT tag text should describe the content of the image. Nothing more.

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