Alt tags not saving?

If this is intended behaviour by WordPress then I can see why. Alternative text changes depending on the context that the image is used…

• If an image-link is used for example then the alternative text of that image should describe where the link will lead to.
• If the image is purely decorative in one context then there should not be any alternative text (but still the ‘alt’ attribute).
• If the image is informative then the alternative text should document that information

It would make sense that the Media library doesn’t get updated every time you update the alternative text inside of a post.

Unless this is actually a bug. Was it ever synchronised?

This may sound dumb, but why would an alt tag not matter if the image is purely decorative? From SEO purposes I thought it always mattered?

I do however see your point… My issue is certain images are reproduced on my homepage to promote articles, and the alt tags are not being reproduced alongside the image.

Others must have encountered this problem before? Is there anyway to address this without manually entering the alt tag twice, once when you insert into a post and once in the Media Library?

I am fairly sure it wasn’t always the case as my homepage had alt tags before, and I’ve not changed anything myself.

So you can see what I mean, my website is https://www.drunkenwerewolf.com

SEO is just a bi-product of building a website that works well for a wide audience of people. The easiest way to achieve that is to use HTML in accordance to how it was originally intended.

The ‘alt’ attribute was intended to be used to convey images to assistive technologies. If the image contains information then you should provide that information inside the ‘alt’ attribute. If the image does not contain information and is only used for decorative purposes then most of the time it is not relevant for assistive technologies. Instead of putting “not relevant” inside the alternative text, you can just leave it blank. Leaving the ‘alt’ attribute empty means that assistive technologies can identify those decorative images and ignore them.

My issue is certain images are reproduced on my homepage to promote articles, and the alt tags are not being reproduced alongside the image.

The theme doesn’t necessarily output the alternative text, which theme are you using?

I checked out an image on your Home page and it appeared as though the ‘alt’ attribute and a value was being output:

<a href="https://www.drunkenwerewolf.com/blog/introducing-ulysse/" rel="bookmark" title="Introducing: Ulysse">
    <img src=" https://www.drunkenwerewolf.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Ulysse-225x300.jpg" width="328px" alt=" Ulysse 225x300">
</a>

Can you point out which images have the issue?

Hello,

That’s weird, they’re still still not showing up on any of the alt text/SEO scans I’m doing, including Ahrefs which is usually reliable! This one’s pretty clear too: https://tools.seochat.com/tools/broken-links-images-tool/

T

I’m also using Beuno, had wondered whether it was a theme issue…

I know this topic is 7 months old, but I’m having the same problem. Except the alt text for my images IS THERE in the media editor on WordPress, but not showing up in the SEO checker – Screaming Frog to be exact.

I’ve only just starting implementing alt text properly for every image, as SEO wasn’t taking as big a focus for us as it is now. But since I’ve gone back and updated every image, it’s not reflected in the SEO checker. I can see in the source code that the alt text isn’t there, yet it is in the media editor. I exported the alt text file from Screaming Frog, and I can see that some images are showing the alt text, even though 90% of the images are now optimized. Usually when I make changes on the site, they are updated instantly on Screaming Frog, but this doesn’t seem to be making a difference whether I add them in or not.