text link w/no kw vs. img link with kw as alt text

what's better in this situation?

[valeria_vi]

on our site we have links to different products. then, each product has several links from its "homepage". the problem is that most product pages have no keywords in those links.
here's an example:
the page is about a product x. the links on that page are "features/benefits", "kits", "designs", "brochure".
as far as i understand (and i am only starting to learn, so correct me if i'm wrong), the best way to link is use text links with kw as a part of your anchor tag text, and then, the page linked to should have those keywords on it as well.
here's what would happen in our situation. the page is already abou a product x, so i feel it would be redundunt if the links on it read "x features/benefits", "x designs" etc.
so wouldn't it be better to have all those links as images incorporating "x" into the alt tags for them (like "x designs")? after all, the page is about product x, so it should not be concidered spamming, or is it?
on the other hand, pages like "design" hardly have any text on them anyway, so may be it would not matter, 'cause a page like that wouldn't rank high due to lack of text on it.
what do you think is a better solution for this dilemma?

[erikv]

Hi Valeria_vi, welcome to Webmaster World!

If I understand you correctly, your page is already covering the keywords in the text on the page? Have you checked keyword density with the tool on Search Engine world? If so, did you reach about 10 to 15 percent for your targeted keywords?

Personally, I don't use alt tags to put keywords in there unless the image relates directly to the alt tag. My philosophy is that alt tags are for visually disabled people or for those who turn off images in their browser. If you scatter these keywords all over the place, this would not benefit these visitors. My personal experience tells me it doesn't get you ranked higher if you do use them in alt tags. IMMHO--but I could be very wrong and hopefully one the "older" webmasterworld members will jump in--keywords only contribute to better SE placement when used in context, not by themselves.

I hope this helps a bit...

[tarheel2002]

My philosophy is that alt tags are for visually disabled people or for those who turn off images in their browser.

Can someone be visually disabled so that they can see an alt tag but not an image? Just my flip comment of the day.

I do, however, share your opinion the use of img alt tags should be reserved for only applicable image descriptions and not random keywords lists.