Research what Alt Tags and title tags are in HTML, and discuss how they improve SEO for your E-commerce website (Blog#18)

 Alt tags:

The Alt tag contains the alternative text for an image or visual on a webpage. It is one of the fields that can be filled in the HTML code, and enable you to add description of a picture or video if it is not properly displayed on the screen. 

It is very important to note that the alt tag carries weight in terms of organic search engine rankings, as it enables search engines to identify the content that should be displayed. By optimising the alt tags of your image/visuals on your website, search engines will understand that your image is relevant and logically in relation to the keyword used.

Alt tags role in SEO:

Alt tags provide context to what an image is displaying, informing search engine crawlers and allowing them to index an image correctly. However, not only do alt tags help search engine crawlers, not setting alt tags for your images can have detrimental effect on ranking of your web pages.

Title Tags:

A title tag is a HTML element that specifies the title of a web page. A page's title tag is displayed as part of the search snippet in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). It appears as the clickable headline for the search result and is very important for user experience, SEO and social sharing. The title tag of a web page is meant to be an accurate and concise description of webpage's content. 

Title tags are major factors in helping search engines understand what your page is about, and they are the first impression people get when they discover your page via organic search. Title tags used in three places:

1. Search Engine Resutls Pages (SERP)
2. Web Browsers
3. Social Network

Title tags role in SEO:

Title tags are very important for SEO because they provide users, search engines, with context on the respective page. They are one of the most important on-page SEO strategies that help give search engine an idea of what each page is about.

When looking through the search-engine results page (SERP) the title tag is the first thing the user sees, so it is important you make your first impression count. Users want to find answers fast, so title tag optimization is necessary to compete against the other sites in the SERP and provide users with what they want. In addition to providing context, your title tags can help build your brand, or provide leverage in the SERP through brand recognition.

References:

[1] Internet, A. 2022, Sept 5. Alt tag [Online]. Available: https://www.atinternet.com/en/glossary/alt-tag/#:~:text=The%20ALT%20tag%20contains%20the,not%20properly%20displayed%20on%20screen.

[2] Visual, I. 2022, Sept 5. Why Image Alt Text is Important for SEO [Online]. Available: https://www.innovationvisual.com/knowledge/why-image-alt-text-is-important-for-seo#:~:text=Alt%20tags%20provide%20context%20to,ranking%20of%20your%20web%20pages.

[3] Moz. 2022, Sept 5. Title Tag [Online]. Available: https://moz.com/learn/seo/title-tag.

[4] Interactive, R. 2022, Sept 5. Optimizing Title Tags: Important Title-Tag Best Practices [Online]. Available: https://raddinteractive.com/optimizing-title-tags-important-title-tag-best-practices/.