Confirmation on link text under graphics

Is link text same as alt text for a graphic link

[nyehouse]

I am reading conflicting information on this, confused further by the changes in Google relating to ALT tags on non-linking images.

As I currently understand it, there is no benefit to adding link text under a graphic if the link text and the ALT text are the same.

If a graphic is clickable then the ALT text is the text used as the anchor text to the site it is linking to. Adding a text link under the graphic in the same href does not help.

There is some discussion that adding a title tag inside a HREF is beneficial and I can see that but thats a different issue.

Has anyone any experience if this is true or not true.

Also, from a pagerank point of view, do you think the identical link as a text link, or a graphic link from the same page makes any difference.

Thanks

[Susanne]

If you put keywords in the alt and in the text link, then it is better because your keyword appears more times in the page. I believe text links has more value than a graphic link. Have a look at this very interesting post:
[webmasterworld.com...]