Our last two Nuggets explained the importance of naming your images more effectively for greater SEO value. But what if you don't have the time, or the ability to name your images?
Built into standard HTML coding is the ability to include an "alt" tag and a "title" tag for every image. These are parameters that would be placed inside the HTML image tag. Here's what it looks like...
Generic HTML image tag:
<img src="IMG_0001.jpg" />
HTML image tag with alt and title parameters:
<img src="IMG_0001.jpg" alt="Zeevoog Diamond in a Diamond pendant" title="Zeevoog Diamond in a Diamond pendant" />
The alt/title parameters serve many very useful functions online, here are a few:
1. When you hover your mouse over the image, you will see the alt/title text in a popup bubble.
2. Screen reading programs will read the words aloud.
3. The text will appear in the browser while the image is downloading over a slow connection.
4. The text will appear in a browser if the image is blocked or accidentally broken.
Although those 4 functions are pretty easy to see and understand, we're suggesting additional SEO value to using the alt/title parameters. Take a close look at the image above; the name is IMG_0001.jpg. Without looking at the image yourself you would never know that it's a black diamond embedded with a colorless diamond. You need a clue, and Google needs a clue. That clue is provided in the alt/title information.
Google will trust the "Zeevoog Diamond in a Diamond pendant" description and include it in the image search results. The alt/title information should be limited to about 10 words, and we recommend not writing in complete sentences.
This technique will only work on your own jewelry store's website, or your blog. Your content management system should have a way to set the alt and title parameters for every image you upload.
If you really want to set the web on fire with tons of images in Google's search, you can have your product catalog programmed to automatically include alt and title information for each style in your jewelry catalog.
