Keyword Stuffing the Image Alt and Title Tags

Alt vs. Title Tag

    What is the image alt tag? What is the title tag? The image alt tag is the descriptor text that is displayed when the image cannot be displayed on a web page. Sometimes images are disabled or there is not sufficient bandwidth. The title tag is the text displayed whenever the user hovers over an image on a web page. In example A the mouse pointer hovers and the title tag gets displayed. Example C shows the alt attribute, or tag, when the image does not display. Example B is the HTML that would be in the pages overall code.

   The alt tag and title tag can be over optimized by stuffing keywords into them. Keyword stuffing can get your site penalized just as easily in the alt and title tags as in the body of the site. The title tag used for the above image is "This is where the TITLE TAG is displayed." The alt tag is "black 10 point star shape." The caption "Alt vs. Title Tag" in the above image is actually a CSS defined table class but can still be stuffed.

Keyword Stuffing Example

While it may be tempting to place a few keywords in the alt and title tags, it is quite obvious from the HTML snippets to the left that the tags were constructed purely for impact on the index spider and have no useful value to visitors. There was a time when this technique was considered, by some, to be proper SEO. However, it was a scheme and eventually, around 2012, the search engines began penalizing sites that used such techniques. Want to take a guess at what the site owners that stuffed their tags had to do when the penalties came down? That's right, they had to go back and change every single tag on their site that was stuffed. Want to take a guess at what the site owners that properly used their tags had to do? Correct again, they didn't have to do anything at all.

   Time and time again, the search providers(mainly Google) have stated that the best practice is to design your site and its SEO campaign for the user and do not try to manipulate the search engines. The use of schemes and tricks may produce some initial SEO success. But, it can only be imagined the level of difficulty an SEO firm could face when they must undo every instance of such shenanigans on every page of every site and for every client. It's always the best practice to do things the proper way and avoid shortcuts no matter how tempting they may be.