Using Alt Text Field for Images to Improve SEO

So you crocheted a fabulous amigurumi doll that looks exactly like your husband’s Jiu Jitsu instructor but nobody can find it on the internet – it’s probably because you didn’t include any text with your image. 

Search engines CANNOT read pictures.

You may be missing out on an opportunity to get your Blog noticed if you are not adding a Title, Alt Text, and any other text to your images.

This is especially important if your images are for items that you are trying to sell on your Etsy shop or some other website. If you use a WordPress blog to advertise or promote crafts that you want to sell I will show you the way to stuff your blog images full of keywords.

What are Keywords and Why Should You Use Them?

Keywords and keyword phrases are the magic little nuggets that search engines, like Google, use to connect people that are searching for something on the internet with content that matches their search. Using such mystical and magical methods like ‘crawling’ and ‘indexing’, search engines find (and rank) all of the amazing things that are on the internet just waiting for people to search for them.

Adding text that contains relevant Keywords and Keyword Phrases will allow these crawling, indexing bots to find your amigurumi look alike dolls. More importantly – using keywords will let people that want to buy amigurumi look alike dolls know where they can find them.

What keywords should you use?

Use keywords that are relevant to what your subject matter is. Keep in mind that if you just type in “crochet doll” there are probably millions of other images out there that have that same Alt Text. Keep it simple while still conveying what the image represents, ten to fifteen words that describe your image. Try to use keywords that are not too general, but at the same time not too specific. Remember – this really isn’t for people to read, it’s for the magical ‘crawler bots’ that honestly don’t care if you use bad grammar. They do care if you use misspell something though. 🙂

I know that doesn’t really sound helpful – but there are marketing firms out there that charge thousands of dollars to help people find the best keywords to use and still never really nail it.

Do your research – track and analyze your sales data, try doing some Google searching yourself to see what results pop up for the items that you want to promote. What text did they use to make them show up for your search? There ya’ go.

Just don’t leave your image out there named 000012345.jpg. 🙂

Thanks for reading – I hope you found this helpful!

~Tami

P.S. My cattle dog Laylee and the Charlie Doll are not really for sale. 🙂