How to Properly Write Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter Alt Text

Alt text, sometimes called alt tags or alt descriptions, is the words that show up in place of an image on a webpage if the image is not displayed correctly on a viewer’s screen. This text assists in providing descriptions of images for those with vision impairments to be made aware of, in addition to enhancing the capabilities of search engines to analyze and rate the website.

No matter what approach you take to marketing your business, optimizing the image alt text on your website is essential for creating a more pleasant experience for your visitors regardless of their origin.

Alt text is an essential part of search engine optimization, as a text element that search engines can read and index. This can positively benefit search engine results page rankings. Alt text facilitates allowing screen readers to verbally convey the content of an image to its user, thereby advancing their user experience.

Prior to continuing, I want to eliminate some general misunderstandings. You can enhance image elements by assigning them various properties, such as including alternative text, and title text, and labeling them with captions.

The importance of alt text in regard to both search engine optimization and accessibility has been highlighted above. Headers are not essential and are not as advantageous for optimizing search engine results as alternative text. When a user hovers over an image, the title text appears, which is not particularly beneficial for those with disabilities.

Captions can be found located directly beneath any image and they are visible to all viewers, both with and without screen readers. Captions are not essential, but they can provide additional information about the image.

Tips for Writing Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter Alt Text

It is significant to include alternative text to the visuals you post on social networks for search engine optimization and accessibility. In order to have the most influence, it is essential to understand how to compose successful alternative texts. Check out these seven strategies to create helpful and precise alternative text descriptions.

1. Describe the Image Clearly

The greater the level of detail you provide when describing an image, the more advantageous it is for both search engine optimization and improved accessibility. What do we mean by clearly?

2. Be Concise

Descriptive doesn’t mean wordy. Overusing words can detract from the essential details. It could be a negative experience for people who use a screen reader, particularly. It is due to the possibility of screen readers truncating the alt text once it reaches 125 characters.

One easy way to cut down on characters used is to avoid qualifiers like “very,” “really,” and “just.” If conciseness isn’t your strong suit, also consider this basic formula when writing your alt text:

adjective + noun + adverb

This method may not be infallible, yet it is an excellent base for people just getting started. Feel free to rearrange parts of speech when it makes sense, or even leave one out entirely. The formula, however, will give you an excellent alt text for both search engine optimization and accessibility.

3. Don’t Feel the Need to Describe Everything

You should understand when to stop being overly detailed when aiming to be brief. You should give an exact account of the image, but you don’t need to recount every single detail.

When creating the alternative text for an image with a lot going on, think about which components of the picture are most necessary for your content.

4. Don’t Editorialize

When writing alt text, you aren’t writing an editorial. That means the alt text should be objective. You should explain what is pictured in the image, not what can be guessed or surmised from its contents.

What does this mean? In general, you should not:

• assume feelings or emotions
• assume the age, sex, or ethnicity of the subjects
• make judgments on the subjects or context of the image
• tell a story

Alt text should be viewed as a method of conveying information. Include only that which is necessary and observable with a simple look. This makes sure that everyone is aware of the same information, regardless of whether they view the image or not.

5. Use Relevant Keywords

Adding keywords to the alt text can help optimize a website for search engine optimization. This could be the prime search term, associated terms, or associated topics.

Adding keywords to your content is advantageous, but you should stay away from cramming in excessive amounts of them. Do not place a collection of relevant keyword phrases in the alternate text. For example, if your article is on how to train a cat and the image is of a cat performing a trick:

Bad: cat feline cat training obedience training commands

Good: a trained cat jumping through a hula hoop

If you’re questioning whether your alt text is pushing the boundaries of using too many keywords, try reading it out loud. It is simpler to perceive if the communication is awkward and concentrated on particular words or spoken in a more fluid manner.

How to Add Alt Text on Instagram

Here’s how to add alt text to a new post on Instagram:

1. Open the Instagram app on your phone and follow the steps to add a photo. Click “Next” (iPhone) or the right arrow (Android) in the top-right corner after you’ve edited the photo.
2. Click “Advanced Settings,” towards the bottom of the screen.
3. Select “Write Alt Text” in the Accessibility section on the next page.
4. Write the alt text and click “Done” (iPhone) or the checkmark (Android) in the top-right corner.
5. Click the back arrow on the next page.
6. Write your Instagram caption, then include any hashtags, location, and other details you want to include. Click the “Share” button (iPhone) or the checkmark (Android) to upload your post.

How to Add Alt Text on Facebook

When you upload a picture to Facebook, an alternative text label is usually included. To see and edit the alt text before you post, do the following:

1. Click Photo/Video at the top of your News Feed.
2. Select the photo you want to add.
3. Click the three dots in the top right corner of the image and select “Edit Alt Text.”
4. The automatically generated text will populate the box. Click Override generated alt text to edit it.
5. Write your alt text in the box.
6. To save your alt text, click “Done.”

How to Add Alt Text on Twitter

Here are the simple steps for adding alt text to images on Twitter:

1. Click on the Tweet compose button.
2. Add your photo(s).
3. Once the photo is uploaded, click “+ALT” in the bottom right of the image.
4. Add your description and click Done (the limit is 1000 characters).

The procedure for incorporating alt text while tweeting on twitter.com is comparable, with the only difference being that you will have to click “Add description” directly below the photo when drafting your tweet.

3 Image Alt Text Examples (the Good and the Bad)

1. Keyword vs. Detail

Bad Alt Text

alt="HubSpot office wall Singapore inbound marketing workplace murals orange walls ship it"

What’s wrong with the line of alt text above? Too many references to HubSpot. Placing keywords into the alternative text of images but creating sentence fragments does not focus on providing relevant information about the picture, but instead adds unnecessary and irrelevant material. The publisher may find those keywords to be significant, yet web crawlers likely do not.

Actually, the alt text mentioned above makes it difficult for Google to comprehend how the image associates with the remainder of the web page or post it is distributed in, inhibiting the picture from positioning for the connected longtail catchphrases that have higher levels of enthusiasm behind them.

If you go overboard with keywords, you could receive a punishment from Google.

Good Alt Text

With the bad alt text (above) in mind, better alt text for this image might be:

alt="Orange mural that says 'ship it' on a wall at HubSpot's Singapore office"

2. Detail vs. Specificity

Bad Alt Text

alt="Baseball player hitting a ball at a baseball field"

The alt text above conforms to the initial regulation of alt text – be descriptive – however, it is not portraying a description accurately. The picture depicts a baseball diamond with an athlete swinging a bat at a ball. This is a photo of Fenway Park with Boston Red Sox baseballer David Ortiz hitting a ball over right field wearing his number 34 shirt. Google would require specific information in order to index an image on, for example, an article regarding Boston sports.

Good Alt Text

With the bad alt text (above) in mind, better alt text for this image might be:

alt="David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox batting from home plate at Fenway Park"

3. Specificity vs. Context

The pictures above illustrate obvious reference points which can be beneficial when crafting appropriate alternative text; the first being taken in a HubSpot work area and the second a view of Fenway Park. What if your picture lacks a specific setting or location to be identified?

You should include the subject of the post or page on which you are sharing the image. Here are some bad and good examples of alt text based on the reason you’re publishing it:

For an Article About Attending Business School

Bad Alt Text

alt="Woman pointing to a person's computer screen"

The alt text described would usually be acceptable, however, if the goal is to include the picture in an article related to business school, specific words should be chosen in order to help Google attach the photo to various parts of the article.

Good Alt Text

With the bad alt text (above) in mind, better alt text for this image might be:

alt="Business school professor pointing to a student's computer screen"

For a Webpage on Education Software for Business School Teachers

Bad Alt Text

alt="Teacher pointing to a student's computer screen"

Why doesn’t the alt text that is nearly as thorough as the one from the illustration before sufficient for a webpage about educational programs? This example further explores the topic of business school and pinpoints that the optimal viewers of this webpage are educators. Therefore, the image’s alt text needs to reflect that.

Good Alt Text

With the bad alt text (above) in mind, better alt text for this image might be:

alt="Professor using education software to instruct a business school student"

Image Alt Text Best Practices

In the end, the image alternative text should be clearly stated as well as illustrate the subject of the webpage it’s associated with. Get the idea so far? Here are a few important keys to writing effective image alt text:

• Describe the image, and be specific. Use both the image’s subject and context to guide you.
• Add context that relates to the topic of the page. If the image doesn’t feature a recognizable place or person, then add context based on the content of the page. For example, the alt text for a stock image of a person typing on a computer could be “Woman optimizing WordPress website for SEO” or “Woman researching free blogging platforms,” depending on the topic of the webpage.
• Keep your alt text fewer than 125 characters. Screen-reading tools typically stop reading alt text at this point, cutting off long-winded alt text at awkward moments when verbalizing this description for the visually impaired.
• Don’t start alt text with “picture of…” or “Image of…” Jump right into the image’s description. Screen-reading tools (and Google, for that matter) will identify it as an image from the article’s HTML source code.
• Use your keywords, but sparingly. Only include your article’s target keyword if it’s easily included in your alt text. If not, consider semantic keywords, or just the most important terms within a longtail keyword. For example, if your article’s head keyword is “how to generate leads,” you might use “lead generation” in your alt text, since “how to” might be difficult to include in the image alt text naturally.
• Don’t cram your keyword into every single image’s alt text. If your blog post contains a series of body images, include your keyword in at least one of those images. Identify the image you think is most representative of your topic, and assign it your keyword. Stick to more aesthetic descriptions in the surrounding media.
• Review for spelling errors. Misspelled words in image alt text could hurt the user experience or confuse search engines crawling your site. You should review alt text like you would any other content on the page.
• Don’t add alt text to every image. You should add alt text to most images on a webpage for the sake of SEO, UX, and accessibility — however, there are exceptions. Images that are purely decorative or are described in text nearby, for example, should have an empty alt attribute.

Writing Alt Text on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter: Conclusion

Various techniques can be utilized to improve the quality of your visuals for social media. The addition of alt text is sometimes not given the attention it deserves when making optimizations.

There are two benefits to using alt text, even on social media:

1. Alt text provides context for search engine crawlers which improves image indexing and can increase SERP rankings.
2. Alt text makes your content more inclusive and accessible for users who require the use of a screen reader.