ALT tags on images

[Joelsim]

Hi all,

Bing webmaster tools is suggesting that I don't have any ALT tags associated with my images. From what I've read this should be on a default setting to the image name.

Can anyone enlighten me please?

Thanks

Joel

[peblaco]

Which version of the software are you using?. See your Help menu > About.

[Joelsim]

Which version of the software are you using?. See your Help menu > About.

12.0.02 Louise

[peblaco]

Firstly if you have upgraded your site from an earlier version of the software, go into the outer / primary layout and make sure that in the header area you have the meta tags before the basehref tag like this:

<actinic:variable name="MetaTags" >
<actinic:variable name="BaseHref" >

This change was introduced in SellerDeck 2013 see this post because some validators were not correctly viewing the page if the basehref was above meta tags in the code

Secondly, in a default SellerDeck 2013 site there are alt tags set on images, in the logo image, fragment images, section images, product images, marketing lists.

If you run a validator and it reports an issue with images it should tell you which images are found on the page and then you can examine the issue further.

[Joelsim]

Firstly if you have upgraded your site from an earlier version of the software, go into the outer / primary layout and make sure that in the header area you have the meta tags before the basehref tag like this:

<actinic:variable name="MetaTags" >
<actinic:variable name="BaseHref" >

This change was introduced in SellerDeck 2013 see this post because some validators were not correctly viewing the page if the basehref was above meta tags in the code

Secondly, in a default SellerDeck 2013 site there are alt tags set on images, in the logo image, fragment images, section images, product images, marketing lists.

If you run a validator and it reports an issue with images it should tell you which images are found on the page and then you can examine the issue further.

Bing webmaster suggested that none of my images had alt tags associated to them.

[Joelsim]

Weird. But good news I guess.

Just trying to work out why Bing has only crawled 5 of my pages and listed just 4 of them.

[Onestop]

While you have ALT tags on some generic images, I could not see ALT tags on your product images (see screenshot from Firefox with ALT tags switched on). You should be including ALT tags on your products for both accessibility and for SEO.

Not sure why Bing has only indexed 4 pages. This is your product sitemap. Bing should be indexing these. I would suggest you manually submit this sitemap to Bing if you have not done so already.

[Webfaced]

Hi Joel, it looks like the coding has been removed from some layouts. If you want to send us your snapshot we can add them back in and run some tests to ensure everything is working.

[Joelsim]

Thanks very much for the feedback.

Joel

[graphicz]

Looks like your developer must have removed the alt tags

Ok, stop chucking those nasturtians...

This is the product image code used on musicforyourears.co.uk:

<!-- LBOX prefix V4 -->
<actinic:block if="%28%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightboxImage1%22%20%2f%3e%20%0d        %2e%20%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightboxImage2%22%20%2f%3e%0d        %2e%20%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightboxImage3%22%20%2f%3e%0d        %2e%20%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightboxImage4%22%20%2f%3e%0d        %2e%20%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightboxImage5%22%20%2f%3e%0d        %2e%20%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightboxImage6%22%20%2f%3e%0d        %2e%20%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightboxImage7%22%20%2f%3e%0d        %2e%20%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightboxImage8%22%20%2f%3e%0d        %2e%20%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightboxImage9%22%20%2f%3e%0d        %2e%20%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightboxImage10%22%20%2f%3e%29%20%21%3d%20%22%22" >
	<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightBoxProductIconsPosition%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20%22Above%22" ><table class="lbo-tab-above"><tr><td class="lbo-ico-above"><actinic:variable name="Lightbox" value="Lightbox Image List" /></td></tr><tr><td class="lbo-img-above"></actinic:block>
	<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightBoxProductIconsPosition%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20%22Below%22" ><table class="lbo-tab-below"><tr><td class="lbo-img-below"></actinic:block>
	<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightBoxProductIconsPosition%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20%22Left%22" ><table class="lbo-tab-left"><tr><td class="lbo-ico-left"><actinic:variable name="Lightbox" value="Lightbox Image List" /></td><td class="lbo-img-below"></actinic:block>
	<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightBoxProductIconsPosition%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20%22Right%22" ><table class="lbo-tab-right"><tr><td class="lbo-img-right"></actinic:block>
</actinic:block>

<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22IsPopUpDisplayedByImage%22%20%2f%3e" >
   <actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22ExtendedInformationType%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20%22Opens%20in%20a%20Pop%2dUp%20Window%22">
      
<a href="<actinic:variable name="ExtendedInfoPageName" />" rel="lightbox" title="<Actinic:Variable Name="ProductName"/>" rev="width=<actinic:variable name="ExtInfoWindowWidth" />, height=<actinic:variable name="ExtInfoWindowHeight" />" />

   </actinic:block>
   <actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22ExtendedInformationType%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20%22Opens%20in%20the%20Same%20Window%22" >
  
     <a rel="lightbox" title="<actinic:variable name="ProductName" encoding="strip"/>" href="<actinic:variable name="ExtendedInfoImage" />">
   </actinic:block>
</actinic:block>

<actinic:block if="%28%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22PageType%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20%22Section%22%29%20AND%20%28%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22ProductListImageLink%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%201%29" ><a href="<actinic:variable name="ProductPageName" />" onclick="AppendParentSection(this, <actinic:variable name="SectionID" />)">
</actinic:block>

<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22IsProductImageDisplayed%22%20%2f%3e">
   <img src="<actinic:variable name="ProductImageFileName" />"
		id="im-<Actinic:Variable Name="EncodedProductAnchor" />"
      border="0"
      width="<actinic:variable name="ProductImageWidth" />"
      height="<actinic:variable name="ProductImageHeight" />"
      title="<actinic:variable name="ProductName" encoding="strip"/>"
      alt="<actinic:variable name="ProductName" encoding="strip"/>" 
		class="image_product_jcxblue" />
</actinic:block>

<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22IsProductImageDisplayed%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20False">
   <img src="<actinic:variable name="DefaultProductImage" />"
      border="0"
      title="<actinic:variable name="ProductName" encoding="strip"/>"
      alt="<actinic:variable name="ProductName" encoding="strip"/>" />
</actinic:block>

<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22IsPopUpDisplayedByImage%22%20%2f%3e%20OR%0d%28%28%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22PageType%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20%22Section%22%29%20AND%20%0d%28%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22ProductListImageLink%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%201%29%29" >
   </a>
</actinic:block>

<!-- LBOX Suffix V4 -->
<actinic:block if="%28%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightboxImage1%22%20%2f%3e%20%0d        %2e%20%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightboxImage2%22%20%2f%3e%0d        %2e%20%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightboxImage3%22%20%2f%3e%0d        %2e%20%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightboxImage4%22%20%2f%3e%0d        %2e%20%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightboxImage5%22%20%2f%3e%0d        %2e%20%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightboxImage6%22%20%2f%3e%0d        %2e%20%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightboxImage7%22%20%2f%3e%0d        %2e%20%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightboxImage8%22%20%2f%3e%0d        %2e%20%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightboxImage9%22%20%2f%3e%0d        %2e%20%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightboxImage10%22%20%2f%3e%29%20%21%3d%20%22%22" >
	<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightBoxProductIconsPosition%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20%22Above%22" ></td></tr></table></actinic:block>
	<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightBoxProductIconsPosition%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20%22Below%22" ></td></tr><tr><td class="lbo-ico-below-blue" align="center"><actinic:variable name="Lightbox" value="Lightbox Image List" /></td></tr></table></actinic:block>
	<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightBoxProductIconsPosition%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20%22Left%22" ></td></tr></table></actinic:block>
	<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22LightBoxProductIconsPosition%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20%22Right%22" ></td><td class="lbo-ico-right"><actinic:variable name="Lightbox" value="Lightbox Image List" /></td></tr></table></actinic:block>
</actinic:block>

The site uses filtering to display all product lists in sections and the filtered search result is based on the default search result as this from a default Sellerdeck v12 site:

<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22SearchResultShowsImage%22%20%2f%3e" >
<div id="ResultImage" style="display:none">
	<Actinic:Variable Name="SearchResultLink"/><img src="<actinic:variable name="SearchResultProductImage" />" <actinic:variable name="SearchResultProductImageSize" /> border="0"/><script type="text/template"></a></script>
</div>
<Actinic:XMLTEMPLATE NAME="ImageLine">
	<p class="product-image"><Actinic:Variable Name="SearchResultLink"/><img src="<actinic:variable name="SearchResultProductImage" />" <actinic:variable name="SearchResultProductImageSize" /> border="0"/><script type="text/template"></a></script></p>
</Actinic:XMLTEMPLATE>
</actinic:block>
<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22SearchResultShowsName%22%20%2f%3e">
	<Actinic:Variable Name="SearchResultLink"/><Actinic:Variable formatting="h3" Name="SearchResultProductName"/><script type="text/template"></a></script>
</actinic:block>
<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22SearchResultShowsSectionName%22%20%2f%3e">
	<p class="product-text"><Actinic:Variable Name="SearchResultSectionName"/></p>
</actinic:block>
<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22SearchResultShowsPrice%22%20%2f%3e">
	<p class="product-price"><br><Actinic:Variable Name="SearchResultPrice"/></p>
</actinic:block>
<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22SearchResultShowsDescription%22%20%2f%3e">
	<p class="product-text"><actinic:variable name="SearchResultFullDescription" /></p>
</actinic:block>
<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22SearchResultShowsProperties%22%20%2f%3e" >
	<p class="product-text"><actinic:variable name="SearchResultProp" /></p>
</actinic:block>

As you can see it is Sellerdeck who has omitted alt tags from the search result product image.

Please can I urge you to exercise caution before suggesting to clients in a public forum that their designer/developer has been in some way negligent or neglectful.

[graphicz]

The reason Sellerdeck doesn't have alt tags on the SearchResultsProductImage is the same reason that ordinary variables do not work in Tabular Search Results. I have tried a few in the last hour and none work. (By the way, I am grateful to Louise who pointed out that you must tick resize specify at least a width in Settings, Search and Filtering Settings, Results, even if you are not resizing, or you get some gobblydegook in the product code.)

Adding alt="" will validate but won't help SEO,

<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22SearchResultShowsImage%22%20%2f%3e" >
<div id="ResultImage" style="display:none">
    <Actinic:Variable Name="SearchResultLink"/><img class="image_product_jcxblue_tenSR" src="<actinic:variable name="SearchResultProductImage" />" alt="" <actinic:variable name="SearchResultProductImageSize" /> /></a><a href=""></a>
</div>
<Actinic:XMLTEMPLATE NAME="ImageLine">
    <Actinic:Variable Name="SearchResultLink"/><img class="image_product_jcxblue_tenSR" src="<actinic:variable name="SearchResultProductImage" />" alt="" <actinic:variable name="SearchResultProductImageSize" /> /></a><a href=""></a> 
</Actinic:XMLTEMPLATE>
</actinic:block>

I commissioned Norman to write some scripting for custom variables in Filtered search results for this site which is what is displaying the Brand image and the product short description (both custom variables). It is up to the client whether he wants to approach Norman and commission more scripting to display the Product Name in alt="". Or maybe Sellerdeck might do this and offer it as a fix?

[peblaco]

I don't think standard variables work in that layout, SearchResultProductName puts in an extra tag probably from the Perl script. It needs a fix for the alt tags.

[Joelsim]

Sorry Jonathan. Just using the forums as I know you have put an awful lot more time into this than I have paid you for.