In the cutthroat world of search engine optimization, site owners, designers, and webmasters are looking for every advantage to improve their search engine rankings. Their efforts have even extended to adding keywords to the lowly ALT tag. Does it work? Yes and no.

In the cutthroat world of search engine optimization, site owners, designers, and webmasters are looking for every advantage to improve their search engine rankings. Their efforts have even extended to adding keywords to the lowly ALT tag. Does it work? Yes and no.

The ALT tag is used to provide extra information about images. By putting an ALT attribute in your image tags, you can use text to describe the image. This is helpful in a number of scenarios:

* Users on slow connections will see the ALT text until the image downloads.
* If the image fails to load in the user’s browser, the ALT text appears.
* People using text browsers or browsers with images turned off will see ALT text instead.
* Vision-impaired people using audio browsers will hear your description of the image.

But search engines also read ALT information. Because search engine “robots” — the applications that crawl the Web and compile information about its contents — can’t “see” the images, they depend on the ALT tag for information. The search engines compile ALT tag information with all the other elements of the page, including meta tags, keywords, file names, and myriad other factors, to determine the content of every page of the Web.

This has led some site owners to “spam” their ALT tags, or load them with keywords. While this practice may have worked to briefly improve the search engine ranking of the site in question, search engine technologists quickly caught on. They lowered the weight of ALT tags in their ranking schemes and developed ways to discern between “good” ALT information and spammed ALT tags. The moral of this story? The techs are never more than a step behind the people who seek to exploit the shortcomings of search engine technology.

So what should you do with your ALT tags?

Do: use ALT attributes to accurately describe your images, for all the reason listed above. They may even help your search engine rankings, and they certainly can’t hurt it.

Do not: spam your ALT tags. Search engines are way too sophisticated to fall for that — and abusing the ALT attribute may even get you labeled a spammer and lower your search engine ranking.

As with any aspect of Web design, the goal should always be to make your site easy for users to navigate. This will help ensure that users find what they’re looking for and complete whatever transaction you want them to, be it to register, purchase, or just return to your site later. Judicious and proper use of ALT tags can contribute to a good overall site experience, which will help keep your users happy. Source

Search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) are two important ways to promote your business to online customers. SEO requires making your site search engine-friendly, and SEM involves targeting potential customers by purchasing relevant keyword ads on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Alta Vista.

SEO: There are many ways to optimize your site so that search engines will list your site higher in their rankings. Start with the following:

• Links from other sites: Search engine spiders move from site to site across the Internet by following hyperlinks. The more high quality and high trafficked sites you have pointing to your site, the more important the search engine will think you are. Make sure to register your site with directories such as Yahoo and the Open Directory Project.
• Internal links: Make sure your site is well-organized and easy to navigate. A site map will help visitors — and spiders — navigate your site.
• Meta tags: Meta tags are hidden HTML directions for Web browsers or search engines. They include important information such as the title of each page, relevant keywords describing site content, and the description of the site that shows up when a search engine returns a search. Make sure your meta tags accurately describe your content.
• Keywords: Consider likely words or phrases that users might type into search engines to find your site. Make sure your content contains those words or phrases, and include them in your title portions of your site and in relevant content.
• Search engine optimizers: Businesses often enlist the help of optimizers who specialize in improving the visibility of their clients’ sites. Among other things, they’ll register your site with major search engines, list it in the appropriate directory, write optimized content for your site, and recommend changes to your site to specific search engine keywords that a user might submit.

Traffic Blazer makes it a snap to promote your business online. increase your online visibility and make money on the Internet…in four simple steps! NO technical expertise is necessary. If you can type and click, you can use Traffic Blazer! Still not sure? We even included the comprehensive Traffic Blazer Help System, offering tips, guidance and detailed tutorials on search engine optimization and the search engine industry.