A generation ago, the term “alt text” probably would have been unknown to many in the publishing field. But today, the topic is essential—and hot.
Alt text, in its most basic terms, refers to a brief description designed to replace an image, usually in the web form of an article. It typically appears in the metadata box of an article—or, if the piece is on social media, there might be a separate “alt text” box specifically designed for this purpose.
While alt text might be relatively new, it’s already becoming a double-edged sword; although it has a number of potential benefits, it’s also controversial for multiple reasons. Part I of this two-part series will focus on the ways the publishing community is seeing it as an asset.
The benefits of alt text fall into three primary categories. The first is its ability to improve the reading experience for those with visual impairments. Second, it enhances search engine optimization (SEO) rankings. And finally, there’s the technology issue—even if someone’s computer can’t handle a high-quality image, alt text can help them to circumvent that.
Aiding in Visual Limitations
Alt text serves numerous theoretical purposes, but probably the most well-known one is to assist those who are visually impaired. This includes readers who are legally blind, totally blind, or near-sighted. But the goal remains the same: To provide an equally enjoyable reading experience, regardless of the level of vision that the reader might have.
Of course, image captions—which usually appear in scholarly publishing, with or without alt text—can also help with this, and they can also help with SEO boosting (more on that in a minute). It’s important to remember, though, that image captions and alt text are separate entities that follow separate sets of guidelines. Alt text should be clear, concise (the standard is approximately 120 characters), and descriptive in letting the audience know exactly what appears in an image as far as relevant content is concerned. This, of course, should go beyond just a description of the image’s appearance and should highlight the most pertinent details, if applicable, while omitting those details that aren’t important. A caption, on the other hand, is meant to give the image appropriate context in terms of the rest of the article.
For instance, let’s say a financial article includes a bar graph depicting trends for a company’s automobile sales since the year 2000. The caption might read: “Sales sharply declined in 2008 and did not begin an upswing until 2012, largely due to the Great Recession.” The alt text, meanwhile, might read instead: “Chart shows total sales in dollar values for the years 2000 to 2025, with a minimum of $10 million in 2009 and a maximum of $120 million in 2017.” Both alt text and captions should avoid using obvious phrases like “picture of” or “image of” (which is, in the case of alt text, usually already done by the metadata function anyway). While both pieces of information are helpful, they serve entirely different purposes relative to the reading experience.
The SEO Ladder
In today’s world, a primary factor in an online article’s reach —and, thus, to its success—is how many search engine optimization (SEO) keywords it uses. More keywords mean more eyeballs, and more eyeballs mean a wider distribution.
So, an author’s goal should be to include as many of those keywords and phrases as possible, including within visual content. Using alt text to replace visual images—or, at least, in conjunction with them—gives authors the opportunity to maximize the article’s SEO potential.
Some marketing and SEO analysts are even calling alt text the “new hashtag.” Hashtags on social media—meaning, the pound sign followed by a relevant word or phrase to describe an image—are designed to make sharing content as fast and easy as possible. For instance, the hashtag “#tbt,” which is short for “Throwback Thursday,” has been used for countless photos from the past that public figures have re-posted on a Thursday. By using that hashtag, the author creates a way for the image to show up in more searches and social media feeds, providing it with a much larger potential reader base. Alt text with effective SEO keywords serves the same purpose: creating a pathway for exponentially more readers to see, and share, the content.
Keep in mind that what goes into the alt text to drive up SEO will depend on the main emphasis of the article. For instance, suppose an image shows a group of shoppers in the computer section of a store in California on Black Friday. If the article is about sales of specific computer brands at that particular store over a yearlong period of time, the alt text might read: “At a California electronics store, about a fourth of the customer base is looking at Mac machines, and the other three fourths are looking at Windows PC machines.”
But let’s say the main focus on the article was not about sales of brands over the year, but instead about Black Friday sales of machines as a whole. In this case, using the SEO keywords “Mac” and “Windows PC” might not be as desirable in alt text. Instead, the author might write, “At a California electronics store on Black Friday, the computer aisle is packed with customers looking at the price tags, seeing which Black Friday deals they want to take advantage of.”
In either case, the author should take care not to essentially rehash whatever is in the image captions (if there are any), with just a few words/phrases changed around. Still, it’s a balancing act of using those key SEO words and phrases as many times as possible without becoming overly repetitive—something that no doubt takes practice.
The Technology Factor
Computer technology today doesn’t just mean a software update on a yearly basis; it’s changing literally by the minute. As technology evolves, the visual aids within articles must adapt accordingly.
Realistically, though, not all readers of an article are going to be able to keep up with every single update, every single time. So, while they are scrolling through an online published manuscript, they might inevitably run into an image that either fails to load on their machine, or if it loads at all, it’s distorted and/or incomplete. Readers may not always have the latest hardware or software updates.
This can be another area where alt text comes in. Although nothing can serve as a replacement for a visual aid, the text can, at the very least, provide these readers with a way to get just as much factually from the article, even without the image properly displaying.
On the Other Hand…
Alt text can be a valuable tool for authors, editors, and readers alike. However, it is not without drawbacks. Concerns regarding AI usage, redundancy, and subject matter vetting are already creating debate within the publishing community. Part II of this series will focus on those risks and that contention—and the mitigation steps that the publishing community might be able to take.
By Anne Brenner
