Skip to content
All posts

Instagram's Alt-Text is Good News for SEO

Instagram has recently added a new feature - the Alt-Text. 

We've discussed many times about being Human in our Marketing efforts and address the emotional and logical aspects. We still need to conquer marketing technologies, especially when they can help you serve your content more effectively to the right audience. So let's talk about Instagram's new feature - the Alt-Text and why that is important.

And why should anyone be that excited about a short phrase used to identify images? 

On a basic level, the Alt-Text served the simple function of allowing users with poor or slow internet connection to know what a photo that refused to load was about. It also helps the visually-impaired to hear the Alt-Text in place of the photo. 

When it comes to modern marketing, the Alt-Text is important because it actually helps to push up your SEO. That is the fun part about getting into Alt-Text in Instagram. It improves your ranking in search engine queries. Websites and Facebook have this and it is only natural that Instagram would catch up next. 

Alt-Text is set to have an important function in the future of post rankings found in Instagram searches. Instagram is continually refining its AI tools to define and determine post contents. It is the algorithm and technology that help to determine what content appears in Instagram Explore pages. With the Alt-Text, you can now include keyword(s) that tell the search engines what your Instagram photos (and videos too) are about. 

Now that you know why it is useful and how to add Alt-Text, the next step is what we absolutely love - getting creative with the text! 

Here are some tips to note when writing your Alt-Text to make your business stand out:

Less is More

Instagram caps Alt-Texts at 100 characters. You can use emojis in your description if it helps you to save character space and only if they align with your brand or message. So use this with caution. 

Relevance and Precision

Include relevant keywords, which is the basic rule in pushing up SEO. Be careful not to overload on the keywords though. Precision is a necessary partner to Relevance. 

Sentence Flow

Your Alt-Text should read like a decent sentence that makes sense, not a bunch of words put together that may not make much sense to the listener or reader even if they may be describing the photo.

Branding or Search Elements

You can include branding elements or your company's name. It helps with arrowing in search results for your brand and you are not limited by the content of the post. 

Edit the Automatic Texts

Alt-Text is automatically added to all Facebook and Instagram photos using object recognition technology and AI tools. What this does is it only provides a very plain, generic description (see image below). To make this work effectively for your SEO, you still need to go in and edit and add Alt-Text to your posts. 

Here's an example: the automatically generated texts for the image below on Facebook - 16 people, people smiling, people sitting may not make any sense. Changing the alt-text on this Facebook post can give context to the photo and help with searchability.

Alt Text example by Vermilion Pinstripes

How to add Alt-Text in Facebook: To add alt-text on a Facebook post that has no links, click on the image, click on options, click on Change alt-text, type your text into the box and click Save.

How to add Alt-Text in Instagram: To add Alt-Text on a new Instagram post, go to Advanced Settings before you share. Look for ACCESSIBILITY and click on Write Alt Text, type your text then click DONE, then share as usual.

To add Alt-Text on an existing Instagram post, edit that post, the click on Add Alt Text, type in your text then click Done.

Adding alt-text into Instagram posts

So, what this new algorithm from Instagram is doing is it searches automatically for new people who may be interested in your photo. This translates to free targeting for you and when harnessed effectively, your SEO improves and your audience increases.

At Vermilion Pinstripes we love it when new tools come up to help businesses thrive happily and with a good dose of fun and creativity thrown in! If you're not sure if your B2B company should embark on Corporate Social Media and how, then Book a Consult.

Corporate social media by Vermilion Pinstripes

 

Vermilion Pinstripes is a full service integrated sales marketing and communications agency based in Australia and Singapore. 
It’s amazing how we have a team who use maths, science, creativity and psychology in this modern marketing era to help small businesses and B2B organisations connect with MORE of their most profitable customers using a simple, clear and structured purpose-driven sales, marketing and communications plan to gain brand clarity so that they can grow their business and achieve returns on investment (RoI). 
We are proud to journey with growing local, regional and global businesses as they gain business confidence. Now let’s build your business confidence!


e/ info@vermilionpinstripes.com
 
Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia: t/ +614 0777 9828
Melbourne, Victoria: t/ +6144 950 1277
Singapore: t/ +65 9681 7045

Vermilion Marketing | inbound sales, marketing and communications services for Port Macquarie businesses Vermilion Pinstripes | Everything you want to know about modern marketing techniques to grow your businesses in Port Macquarie Australia and Singapore