Google now indexes alt text NOT within an <a> tag

[Powdork]

I haven't seen any recent threads about this. Used to be Google would only return snippets that included alt text if it were within an <a> tag. This is no longer true. I have an image where I just discovered a misspelling in the alt text. The misspelling now appears in the snippet when I perform searches that would return the result. I am not using quotes or any other limiting filters.

[DerekH]

Are you sure, Powdork?
I've always added ALT text to my images, and as far as I'm aware, that ALT text has always been indexed. I'm as confident as I can be about that, because on one page I included two spellings of a word behind an image, and I'm pretty sure I was getting search results for both words.

DerekH

[Simsi]

It's possible there is a differentiation in how Google treats an image as a link, and one that is simply decorative. I remember reading a while back that ALT text was only encouraged in images which linked as it had a user benefit.

[Powdork]

because on one page I included two spellings of a word behind an image, and I'm pretty sure I was getting search results for both words.

Don't take this the wrong way, but are you sure you know what alt text is? Cuz it is definitely not words you put behind an image.

I am not sure when it changed, but I am sure it used to be that way. It may have been as long ago as 2004.

[Powdork]

I remember reading a while back that ALT text was only encouraged in images which linked as it had a user benefit.

Alt text is ALWAYS encouraged as it lets visually impaired know what the image represents. It always has benefits, but the benefits with Google used to only happen if the image linked to anything else.
There is even a lawsuit ongoing involving an e-commerce site where a disabled person was unable to shop there because of the lack of alt tags.
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[g1smd]

>> are you sure you know what alt text is? Cuz it is definitely not words you put behind an image. <<

The alt text appears within the image box until such time as the downloaded image overwrites it, so it could be said to be "behind the image". It sure looks that way as the page is loading.

The alt text will specifically be shown to users when image loading is switched off or when the image fails to load. That is the correct usage of that attribute.

If you ever see the alt attribute text on a popup tooltip on image mouseover then you are merely seeing a Bug in IE, a non-standard usage of the attribute.

Text on a popup tooltip associated with an image is supposed to be the title attribute text, and all other browsers (other than IE) do render this correctly.

[steveb]

I haven't check exact dates but about two years ago Google stopped indexing alt text not linked. About a year agao they reversed course and again started indexing alt text that was not linked. So this is old news. There were threads here about the change.

[Powdork]

I tried a site search (not a site: search) but couldn't get to those threads. I wonder if that was during our brief stay at "alt webmasterworld".

[Marcia]

They've been showing unlinked alt text in the text only cache for around two years. I first saw it summer of 2004, it might have been that way longer.

Text-only cache for Google homepage, showing alt text for logo [72.14.203.104]

If it's cached, it's been indexed.

[steveb]

One thread:

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