CMS Image Alt Tags

What is image alt text or alt tag, and why are they important?

Image alt tags are short descriptions (75-100 characters) that describe exactly what you see in the image. They are important because they improve the accessibility of a website for users who use text-to-speech, meaning sites that utilise them will be viewed more favourably than those that don't by search engines. You will normally see image alt tags when you hover over an image.

Good image alt tags describe clearly what is in the image, giving as full a description as possible. For example, if the image was a German flag, you would set the image alt tags to "German flag". You could simply put "flag", but this wouldn't be specific enough. If it was someone running, you might go for "woman running along a track leading a race" as opposed to "person running".

Do

• Be specific and describe what appears in the image.
• Be concise. Keep your tags to 75-100 characters.
• Make sure all images are tagged.

Don't

• Be vague; the idea is to help users understand exactly what is in the image.
• Keyword stuff-image alt text might help an image rank on an image search, but Google will penalise you if you are not playing by the rules.

How to edit an image alt tag

To edit the Alt Tag of an image:

1. Go to Vennture CMS.
2. Go to images in the left-hand menu.
3. Click on the image you want to edit.
4. In the window which will pop up, fill in the "Image Alt Tag" field with your desired text.
5. Click Save & Continue.

Please Note: Once an Alt Tag has been modified, you will need to re-publish BOTH your files and the web pages with the image displayed. Guides for both can be found here: Publishing your entire site at once & Publishing your site files.