Alt text inside a link counts

even just to jpg

[Powdork]

Since alt text was demoted to only counting within a link several months ago, i wondered if it would count if the link was just to a larger image. It does.
Searching for keyword1 keyword2 keyword3 keyword4 my page shows up #1. keyword2 and keyword3 can be found numerous places on the page. Keyword1 and keyword2 only appear in the alt text. None of the keywords appear in links pointing to the page. The alt text is these 4 keywords. The image links to only a jpg.

[Crow187]

When you say alt text do you mean the title="blah" in the link or actual alt="blah"?

[caine]

Does G highlight the terms, in the SERPs description of your page?

[MHes]

Crow187

I think Powdork is refering to when an image is being used as a link the alt text is read by google. When an image is just an image, the alt text is ignored.

caine

Did they ever highlight an alt keyword in the description? Even when they used to read it in normal images. If the keyword appears nowhere else on the page, I think they used a dmoz or description tag.

[pageoneresults]

Does G highlight the terms, in the SERPs description of your page?

Yes, I've been seeing this now for a little while.

[Dolemite]

So this demonstrates that ALT text counts for the page on which it appears, but does it also count as anchor text for the page it links to?

[cjtripnewton]

>>Since alt text was demoted to only counting within a link several months ago..

>>When an image is just an image, the alt text is ignored.

Powdork and MHes, you're spreading misinformation here. Google indexes text in IMG ALT statements (which are required elements for WC3 compatible coding). Think for a few minutes and I'm sure you'll be able to come up with a suitable test for your theory.

[Chris_R]

I don't think this is misinfo.

In the old days google counted alt text as text for a users query.

Now the only count that text if it is:

1) In an alt tag.

2) Links to something else.

They are claiming that #2 includes just bigger versions of the thumbnail graphic as well.

[Chris_R]

You can show google doesn't index just alt text by searching for the google store:

google store

first listing is the google store where a sample of products is shown in the middle and given the alt tag "product collage"

google store "Product collage"

yields zero results

[cjtripnewton]

OK, I'm taking my foot out of my mouth to say this: I just checked some of my test urls and can confirm that alt text in img links is counting, but alt text on an image which is not a link is not being counted by Google.

My bad.

[Powdork]

Does G highlight the terms, in the SERPs description of your page?

Yes

but does it also count as anchor text for the page it links to?

Yes, It always has.

[vitaplease]

Google ditches alt image tag:

[webmasterworld.com...]

[Monkscuba]

I agree with Powdork.

ALT in an image does not count for zip, BUT

if the image on page "A" LINKS to a larger image (ie thumbnail photos linking to a larger version of the photo), the ALT text is counted as part of the text for page "A". Any time the image is a link, the ALT text counts and is read by Google

[ciml]

Odd, the consensus of this thread seems to match what I said in the thread vitaplease mentions, yet in a more recent thread I tried to show that this seems to have changed by using these searches:

site:www.google.com Chronicle "press center" awards

site:www.google.com "SF Chronicle" "press center" awards

www.google.com/press/awards.html has alt="SF Chronicle" inside a link, yet it doesn't match.

So is it possible that Powdork's example has incloming link text to the page with the picture, or might the 'whether or not to use alt text in links' rule not consistent at the moment.

[WebWalla]

I think it is indeed inconsistent. Or there's something that escapes our attention, like possibly the number of search terms.

I've been testing this extensively over the last couple of days (with no conclusions reached) and can give examples where ALT text in a link does and does not count.

[vitaplease]

>>>can give examples where ALT text in a link does and does not count.

Is part of the problem not related to Dominics inconsistent update recent backlink show-up?

[WebWalla]

Is part of the problem not related to Dominics inconsistent update recent backlink show-up?

These were normal text searches, not inurl searches, so I'm not sure how the backlinks would have had an influence. Although it's true that the cache said they text only appeard in links, but this was impossible - you'll just have to take my word for it (or sticky me).

[Powdork]

Hi ciml,

[domain.com...]
Since the page it links to has no PR I'm guessing Google hasn't indexed the link, and therefore, not the alt text.