Images, videos and games

It might seem odd to group such different elements as images, videos, and games under the same heading. The truth is that, in the eyes of a search engine, they look remarkably similar. In fact, they often just appear as an empty black box on the page. This is a problem—but there are ways to explain to search engines what the content on the page actually represents. Most of the time, it’s about what surrounds the media.

In this guide, we’ll go through how to handle images, videos, and games on a website so that Google can read and understand them properly.

Alt attribute

There are several signals that tell Google what an image contains, and the most important of these is the alt attribute. The alt attribute is set directly in the image tag, as shown below:

<img src=”rocket.jpg” alt=”Rocket heading for space”>

The purpose of the alt attribute is to describe the image for those who, for some reason, don’t have images enabled in their browser. One common reason might be a visual impairment, where the content is read aloud instead. In those cases, it’s often the alt attribute that gets read aloud.

Because of this, Google takes the alt attribute seriously. If you describe what the image shows in that short line, you’ll improve your chances of appearing in search results. This doesn’t just apply to image search—studies have shown a strong correlation between the use of descriptive alt text and higher rankings in general search results. Correlation doesn’t necessarily mean causation, but several other studies suggest that the alt attribute does play a role. Besides, it’s worth using anyway for image search purposes, and it’s not particularly time-consuming compared to other SEO actions.

There are a few important things to consider—it’s not just about stuffing keywords into the alt text. The alt attribute is meant to describe the image, and if it doesn’t, that’s a violation of the HTML standard. Google even performs manual checks for this. So, if you want to rank for the keyword “vegetables,” make sure the image actually depicts vegetables rather than a rocket. It’s only reasonable that the image and the alt text should match.

By using an image that clearly represents what you want to rank for, combined with a well-written alt text, you increase your chances of visibility without risking any negative response from search engines.

Title attribute

The title attribute for images is also useful, even if it doesn’t carry as much SEO weight as the alt attribute. In most modern browsers, the title text appears when you hover over an image. The same applies to links. You can take a bit more creative freedom here—it’s meant for the visitor, not the search engine.

You add the title in the same way as the alt attribute:

<img title=”Space” src=”image.jpg”/>

There is some debate over whether a title attribute actually serves as a ranking signal. However, there are strong indications that it can make a difference, and it doesn’t take much time to implement. For example, in an online store, product names and prices can be automatically set as titles for all product images—or perhaps the product name along with its category.