2 Reasons Why Alt-Texts are Important

Did you know websites have built-in tools to make them more accessible? Utilizing these not only helps to make your posts more convenient but also helps with SEO.  

Alt Text is an excellent example of that.

Alt-text helps screen readers describe the image for visually impaired users. Alt-text is also used by search engines to crawl for information. 

The top two reasons why you should pay attention to your alt text are

1: It makes the internet accessible. 

We all enjoy the internet; we see funny memes on there; its a great place to read articles, and lastly, you have access to so many images. What about people who can't see these images? When W3 laid out the standards for internet accessibility, they wanted to support screen readers for images. By adding alt text to your pictures, you are helping these screen readers describe images to visually impaired users. 

You might be wondering why does this help me? Should I put in the extra work of filling in another field?

Then I ask you this: what if one of your loyal customers was visually impaired? Or a new customer is visually impaired? 

By adding alt text, you are helping your existing customers and making it easier for your future customers. 

2: Helps with SEO. 

Yes, this is another SEO optimization tip. Alt-text is providing more metadata about your site for search engine crawlers. In other words, Alt-text adds information about your website for search engines to display. Think of it like this, if you want to get information of all elements on a site, then wouldn't you also read the description of an image? 

Adding Alt-text to your images can help you rank better on search engines and drive more traffic to your site. 

I am not a fan of just giving information and letting people figure out how to do the work. So I wanted to share some screenshots on how to add Alt-text to your images on Instagram, as it is purely based on pictures. 

Instagram lets you add alt-text to your images in two ways while creating a new post or by editing an existing post. Follow these steps on the Instagram App on Android or iOS. 

1: Adding Alt-text while creating a post: 

• When creating a post on the "New Post" Page, click on "Advanced Settings" where you fill your caption.
• Now click on "Write Alt Text" to open the Alt-text editor. 
• Add your Alt text and click "Save."

2: Adding Alt-text to an existing post: 

• Choose a post you want to edit & click on the three dots on the top right corner. 
• Choose the "Edit" option from the menu. 
• Click on "Edit Alt Text" on the bottom right of the image.
• Add your Alt text and click save. 

Hopefully, these steps help you and congratulations, and you have made the internet more accessible. As a reward, you have taken a small step towards increasing your traffic to your site. 

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