Do alt tags inside of anchors help with SEO?

[smithaa02]

Do alt tags inside of anchors help with SEO? Can you even put alt inside of anchors (for hyperlinks), and if so, do people do it?

[tedster]

Alt attributes are indended for visual elements

Attribute definitions
alt = text [CS]
For user agents that cannot display images, forms, or applets, this
attribute specifies alternate text... Several non-textual elements
(IMG, AREA, APPLET, and INPUT) let authors specify alternate
text to serve as content when the element cannot be rendered
normally...The alt attribute must be specified for the IMG and AREA
elements. It is optional for the INPUT and APPLET elements.

[w3.org...]

Within an anchor element, you can use the title attribute (and I often do for usability's sake, especially with links like 1 - 2 - 3) However, as of my last test in June, unique title attribute text does not show up on a search result.

[smithaa02]

Does anybody know for sure whether search engines recognize anchor titles? Specifically google? Can anchor titles lead to stuffing or over-optimization penalties from search engines?

[caveman]

I would treat them like everything else: careful not to overdo things these days. ;-)

Like tedster says, they're at least good for usability. Make the site seem together IMHO. I get the feeling they count a tiny bit in SEO too, but I view that as pretty secondary compared to the more important elements to focus on.