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Does alt attribute affect keywords density?

by Sburator
26 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hello,

I try to avoid keywords stuffing, and I've thought keywords inserted in the alt attributes might be a not so obvious way to increase the kw density.

What do you think? Can alt attributes increase the kw density for a page? Many tools don't take the alt attributes into account when assessing the kw density for a certain page, and that is is puzzling me a lot.

Thank you very much
#affect #alt #attribute #density #keywords
  • Profile picture of the author moreland007
    No,

    Alt attribute is not affecting keyword density, but alt helps to describe image so if we include then it's good for SERP.
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  • Profile picture of the author techugo
    No, It's not affecting on keyword density but It will describe image name that's called image optimization, and it will be good for SERP.
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  • Profile picture of the author David Jones42
    no any attribute affect density. density is about word like how many word used in content and which word use twice or more. where no relation between attribute.
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  • Profile picture of the author SEONinjaa
    No, alt attribute does not affect keyword density. Alt attributes doesn't get counts in Keyword density for a page. Keyword density depends on the content based on the site.
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  • Profile picture of the author InternetMarketingMasters
    Yes alt attributes do count towards the kw density of a page. I dont know about other tools, but surely Google takes them into consideration.
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    • Profile picture of the author fernando25
      Luckily for us Google is not the only search engine on the planet.

      But you are correct with the alt tag keywords will count towards the rest of the pages. Which is good so you don't have to stuff as many into the text.
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      • Profile picture of the author paulgl
        Originally Posted by fernando25 View Post

        Luckily for us Google is not the only search engine on the planet.

        But you are correct with the alt tag keywords will count towards the rest of the pages. Which is good so you don't have to stuff as many into the text.
        ROTFLMAO! You could not stop with one ridiculous statement, you had to do two?!?!?!?!!??!?!

        You people do not know anything about matt cutts.

        You people do not know anything about google.

        You people do now know anything about alt.

        You people know nothing about spammy, except how to do it.

        You people know nothing about keyword density. Knowing about keyword density, is like knowing what unicorns eat for breakfast.

        You people ARE living on a different planet.

        Paul
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        If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

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  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    Originally Posted by techugo View Post

    No, It's not affecting on keyword density but It will describe image name that's called image optimization, and it will be good for SERP.
    Originally Posted by SEONinjaa View Post

    No, alt attribute does not affect keyword density. Alt attributes doesn't get counts in Keyword density for a page. Keyword density depends on the content based on the site.
    Originally Posted by InternetMarketingMasters View Post

    Yes alt attributes do count towards the kw density of a page. I dont know about other tools, but surely Google takes them into consideration.

    How in the world do any of you know that?

    Google has never said here is what does and doesn't count for keyword density.

    OP, don't worry about it. Google really does not care about keyword density. Not enough that a alt tag is going to tank your page anyhow.
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    • Profile picture of the author sarge1978
      Google definitely takes KW density into consideration - I heard it come directly from Matt Cutts mouth.
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      • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
        Originally Posted by sarge1978 View Post

        Google definitely takes KW density into consideration - I heard it come directly from Matt Cutts mouth.
        They take it in consideration at the point where someone is just stuffing a keyword over and over into the content.

        Do they care though if your page has a keyword density of 3% or 4%? Why would they?
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        • Profile picture of the author sarge1978
          Why would they? Because there are ppl trying to rank for 10 different KW's on one page.... (that all share a partial exact match KW)

          example: lock smith, lock smith experts, lock pickers, lock replacement, lock replacement experts, lock smith NY, locksmith New York, lock smith Brooklyn....

          can you see that this example has the KW "lock smith" like 10 times? yet he is going for diff KWs?

          So yeah KW density matters (and Alt text)... most of these ppl commenting have prob never had a competitive KW rank even at the bottom of 1st page.
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      • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
        Originally Posted by sarge1978 View Post

        Google definitely takes KW density into consideration - I heard it come directly from Matt Cutts mouth.
        Really? You mean like here, where he says after the first one or two times it really doesn't do much good and could, in fact, get your page penalized for keyword stuffing? - Where he actually says "I wish people would stop obsessing about keyword density"?
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        • Profile picture of the author paulgl
          Keyword stuffing and keyword density are two different animals.

          Google could give a rat's behind about keyword density.

          You have one sentence on your page with an image. BOOM! 100% density....who cares?

          Alt is all about KEYWORD STUFFING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

          And yes, google tells you up front to not keyword stuff....INCLUDING what you put in alt.

          Now, putting you keyword in the alt attribute has nothing to do with density. How could it?

          Man my pages use tables like a mad person....so the code has the word Table in it a zillion times.

          You people do not know your rear end from a hole in the ground.

          It comes from buying a domain and WP....never having to learn a dang thing about websites.

          And if you never read what google says for yourself.....you should start now.

          They have tons of WM info on blogs and PRs, as well as a plethora of guidelines.

          Paul
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        • Profile picture of the author savidge4
          Originally Posted by dave_hermansen View Post

          Really? You mean like here, where he says after the first one or two times it really doesn't do much good and could, in fact, get your page penalized for keyword stuffing? - Where he actually says "I wish people would stop obsessing about keyword density"?What is the ideal keyword density of a page? - YouTube
          He always says 1 or 2 times but like right at minute 2:30... "There are no hard and fast rules" and he talks about how there does become that point of diminishing return.. red widget this red widget that. BUT 1 to 2 times? that is a hard and fast rule no? Read the post I made right above this... start in the 1.8 area... some instances will be higher.. some will be lower. Cutt's pretty much says just that.

          I like watching Cutts... and there are a few reasons. #1 He is very clear on what Google doesn't want, #2 more often than not he tempers what they DONT want.. with what is actually acceptable. This video is a very good example of this... WE WANT 1 to 2 INSTANCES tempered by there are no hard fast rules... there is a point of gain, and beyond that is a point of diminishing return.

          He is saying.. yes we consider keyword density.. there is a point of Gain, and there is a point of penalty - he is very clear that depending on who knows what factors there optimal percentage could be less or more. The ONLY thing he commits to in this video.. there is no set recipe for success - IE its not 3% ( or 7% as the example from the video. )
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  • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
    Frankly, I'm amazed people are still talking about keyword density. That's something people stopped worrying about years ago!

    Get it in the title tag, a header and at least once on the page. If it happens more than that, fine but it doesn't really matter. I'd be more concerned with getting related keyword phrases on the page once my main phrase appeared at least once.
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    • Profile picture of the author fernando25
      You are aware that Google is not the only search engine and that Google is way behind in enforcing their "Content is King"

      Content is nothing without Backlinks
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  • Profile picture of the author John Cage
    No, it describes images in your post that means image optimization.
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  • Profile picture of the author sarge1978
    It totally matters.... your alt tag does contribute to your KW density.

    After reading the 'experts' on this thread - my confidence in asking SEO questions on WF has nosedived.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alinajaini
    why its does not effect your uploaded images is nothing without alt
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  • Profile picture of the author Way Totraffic
    I think alt tag is very important for an image because if in case our image has not been showing then it will show alt tag to tell them the image is there but site is not supporting.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sburator
    Hello,

    I want to thank all of you for your help. I really appreciate it, and this is a wonderful way for all to learn from each other.

    Personally, I tend to believe keywords in alt attributes influence keywords density at least for the following reasons:

    1. alt attributes are seen as text when pictures are used as anchors, and there is some evidence for that. Alt text is seen as a replacement for text when using images as anchors.

    So, if Google perceives the keywords within the alt attributes as text in this instance, it seems pretty logic to me it takes them into account when assessing the overall keyword profile for a certain page, thus influencing the keywords density.
    2. Google can read HTML code. Alt are HTML attributes, so keywords inserted in these attributes are read, understood and can influence that keyword density, like any other text formatted in HTML code.

    So, I think keywords within alt attributes can increase the keyword density.

    Now, if this keyword density has or has not an impact, well this is another story. As a side note, I over optimised, like an idiot, a website with many exact match anchors, and I managed to save that site when I started to reduce the density for that keyword, on the targeted page, in the first stage, with clear results. After that I started building new inbound links, with new anchors - anchor text variation.
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  • Profile picture of the author Uchiha Itachi
    I am sure the Alt attribute is not affect keyword density and it depends on the content based on the pages, the goal is to describe the image for the search engines, because of the way the look of robots.txt is very different.
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  • Profile picture of the author Cloudsair
    Banned
    No, but I think that it is very important to have alt attributes as it will definitely help in the long run, whether it be SERPs or any other type of Image Optimization it is always better to have something in those values.
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    • Profile picture of the author fernando25
      Yes you are correct.
      Only in the long run as master Google need up to 6 Month to rank a Website these days.
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  • Profile picture of the author savidge4
    Matt Cutts Reveals Google's Updated SEO Copywriting Strategy

    This little nugget... "In general, though, if the words are on the web page (not in a spammy way, of course), that makes our job easier because we don't have to rely on synonym matches to find good documents." - Matt Cutts

    No you don't have to have the term on the page. Sure that's great.. but if there are pages within a serp you are competing for that dont have the term on the page, that means more than likely those pages could be beat out.

    Let me lay this out for you.. you have actual text on the page... you have code. Keyword density is determined by the number of words IE text compared to how many times a "phrase" appears collectively within the code. The URL, the title, Alts, image files, text, H tags etc etc.

    This really isn't rocket science to figure out here.. super easy to test.. take a page that say is ranked on page 3 if you like... add some instances of the term - see what happens after a few days.. it may go in the wrong direction... then take some out.

    I have found there is not a static percentage to shoot for.. I start with around 1.8% and go from there ( that's 9 instances for 500 words of text ) I have pages that are at close to 5% some that are more towards the 1% mark.

    Any and all of us can say yeah it has value.. and we can say "what are you nutz?" Test it for yourself... it takes all of what3 minutes to alter a page.. and a week to get some results back?

    I can show you case study after case study the effect of keyword density... I could show you case study after case study the effect of keyword proximity as well.. but you all would not believe any of it.. you would argue there was other cause to the effect.

    Like I said.. its just to damn easy not to test. And honestly what is there to lose?

    And think about this for a moment.. no one here will disagree that Google will penalize a page where the density is to great no? "not in a spammy way" as Matt Cutts put it. Name me another variable where there is Penalty that there is opposing that, not gain? That's what you are saying when you say - no Google doesn't look at Density.. yes they will penalize you for having to much... but No, there is no benefit for finding a sweet spot. I would say you are kidding yourself.
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  • Profile picture of the author nguyennguyenhung
    No, angular position attribute doesn't have an effect on keyword density. angular position attributes does not get counts in Keyword density for a page. Keyword density depends on the content supported the location.
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