What-is-an-Alt

Adding ALT text to images

5 min read
Learn how to add ALT representations to images to make your site more accessibility friendly, plus gain SEO benefits

Adding an alternative representation to an image (often ALT description or ALT tag) is an important task when adding images to a website. 

It serves two purposes:

  • For a visually impaired user working with an assistive technology a like screen reader, they will know what the image contains, and also if their screen reader can bypass the image if it is purely decorative.
  • It provides an SEO boost to the page in conjunction with other SEO techniques that may used. Images labelled and tagged correctly perform better in Google image searches.

Note: to maximise the SEO benefit, the filename of the image should also descriptive

When uploading an image into the Drupal Library the ALT information can be added into the relevant field as part of the upload.


 

""
Add a descriptive ALT representation to the image
""
If the image is purely decorative and does not need an ALT representation, add two inverted commas ""

Updating the ALT representation in the media library

Go to Content > Media

Filter by Image

If you know the name of the image that you wish to update, add it to the search bar

To the right of the Image, click Edit

Add the new ALT information into the field and click Save