If you’re a blogger or online writer, chances are you spend a lot of time choosing the right images for your content. But here’s the thing. If you’re not adding alt text or title text to your images, you might be missing out on valuable traffic and accessibility wins.
I'll break it down in simple terms and explain why this tiny bit of text can make a big impact.
What Is Alt Text?
Alt text (short for "alternative text") is a description of an image added to your blog post’s HTML. While not usually visible to the average reader, it:
- helps visually impaired users using screen readers understand the image
- acts as a fallback when images fail to load
- tells search engines what your image is about
An example is this photo of banana bread. If I am writing about a banana bread article, A good alt text could be "Freshly baked banana bread with walnuts on a wooden tray"
What Is Title Text?
Title text is a short tooltip that appears when users hover over an image (or other HTML element). It’s not essential, but it can add extra information for sighted users.
For this photo, my title text could be "My favorite banana bread recipe"
Why Bloggers Should Use Alt Text (and Sometimes Title Text)
- better accessibility for screen reader users
- improved SEO, especially for image search
- clearer communication when images don’t load
Alt Text vs. Title Text: When to Use Each
Alt Text
- Always (unless purely decorative)
- Essential for accessibility & SEO
Title Text
- Optional
- Use if you have extra context to add
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Keyword stuffing
- Leaving alt text empty when image carries meaning
- Using “image of…” or “picture of…” in alt text
- Duplicating alt and title text unnecessarily
Blogger’s Image Text Checklist
Before publishing your post, ask yourself:
- Is there alt text for every meaningful image?
- Does the alt text clearly and concisely describe the image?
- Have you avoided keyword stuffing?
- Are decorative images given empty alt (alt="") or marked as background only?
- Is title text used only where it adds extra value?
- Have you skipped redundancy between alt and title?
You don’t need to be a tech wizard to make your blog more accessible and SEO-smart. Just adding thoughtful alt text to your images is already a big win. Title text? Sprinkle it in only when it enhances the user’s experience.
With just a few extra seconds per image, you can serve your readers better, help your content rank higher, and build a more inclusive blog.