Adding image alt tag for cart items
Author: Adrian B.
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One of the fundamental ranking items is if an image has an alt tag. All images in the X5 cart system do not.
See the code snip in the image attached; the image source for the cart card is specified, but the cart card does not ask for the alt text - and there is no alt text in the code for the item.
Every time you have an image for a cart item google will penalize your site. The more cart items you have the more you get penalized.
This is one of the very top items google mentions in SEO - images should have alt tags.
I have mentioned this long time ago.... still nothing done.
(I thought I had a workaround which I published here but it doesn't work)
X5 is like having an annoying little brother who never listens......
Posted on the
Hello. I agree that it should be possible to add ALT in the program.
"One of the fundamental ranking items is if an image has an alt tag." - but I don't agree with that. Where exactly did you find this information?
Here is the official documentationhttps://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/guidelines/google-imageshttps://developers.google.com/search/blog/2007/12/using-alt-attributes-smartly Information about ALT is in the section "Use descriptive alt text" which is located after:
Note that ALT is mentioned in the following phrases: "Don't embed important text inside images: ... To ensure maximum accessibility of your content, keep text in HTML, provide alt text for images.", "Alt text (text that describes an image) improves accessibility for people who can't see images on web pages, including users who use screen readers or have low-bandwidth connections.
Google uses alt text along with computer vision algorithms and the contents of the page to understand the subject matter of the image. Also, alt text in images is useful as anchor text if you decide to use an image as a link.".
"This is one of the very top items google mentions in SEO - images should have alt tags." - where exactly did you find this information? I am interested in this question and would like to know more about it. Because judging by the Google documentation, this is not the case.
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/guidelines/google-images
chapter: using an alt text description !!!!!
read carefully please
"read carefully please" - what exactly in this text says that alt: "One of the fundamental ranking items"?
"Alt text (text that describes an image) improves accessibility", "Google uses alt text along with computer vision algorithms", "Also, alt text in images is useful as anchor text if you decide to use an image as a link.", "Bad (missing alt text)" - all of this says that alt is important. But not "One of the fundamental ranking items". Moreover, in the documentation, ALT's main role is to improve accessibility for people who can't see images on web pages.
At the very bottom of the page there is a section (https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/guidelines/google-images#and-finally). If you follow the link from the section and search Alt, then you will find https://developers.google.com/search/docs/beginner/seo-starter-guide#usealtattribute I don't see anything in it that would indicate that Alt is "One of the fundamental ranking items".
I still agree that it should be possible to add ALT in the program. But I still don't see any proof that Alt is "One of the ranking fundamental items". The documentation says more than once that alt should be, but not for ranking, but for understanding the image when it is not displayed. Or when a person does not see the image due to their physiological characteristics. That is, to improve accessibility.
See this:
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/ranking-factors/alt-text/#close
https://www.innovationvisual.com/knowledge/why-image-alt-text-is-important-for-seo
And there are more if you look for it.
I do not use X5 shopping cart - but I think anyway that ALT-tags should be possible for all images.
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Bruce Clay, an SEO guru, ranks ALTS as #5 in importance: #1 Title, #2 Description, #3 Keywords, #4 Headings, #5 ALTS...
Google even ranks your site based on a backlink from another site if the other site has alt tags or not; it is #5 in the "backlink factor" group.
Given how easy it is to put alt tag field in the cart card, this should be a simple fix that will improve rankings instead of penalizes us users of the X5 shopping cart.
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Here is a cart item on store powered by shopify..... it includes an alt tag for the image. See file attached
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Here is another cart (unknown) that has an alt tag for the cart image. see attached
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I think amazon knows a thing or two about shopping carts..... see attached
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Tesco UK online cart.... see attached
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Here is a top online retailer in Italy: Zalando. See attached
I take the alt text manually in my webshop. I have to do this after every modifying of any webpage. This is a hard work.
Now I enclose 2 Google Lighthouse Reports of the same page with alt text (left) and without alt text (right).
I think this problem must be solved by Incomedia.
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If you have only a handfull of pages maybe you do the manual edit of the html.
But in my case it is hundreds and growing.
This is something that should have been on the cart item configuration from the beginning, you know, in order to make X5 the "PRO" it claims to be.....
@Adrian,
Are your serious ???? ... Amazon, Zalando ... And you compare these websites against WSX5 website....
Hoooooooo... WSX5 is obviosuly better to construct e-Commece website.
Don't worry.... be happy !
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Yea its crazy isn't it, why would Amazon choose something other than X5?
I think ECWID will be my cart... widget mode for adding a single product to any page.... category mode to add a complete category anywhere, and complete cart catalog to add to a main page, etc..... Plus full export/import of options and variants from an excel or google sheets.
Shall we take bets when X5 PRO will really be Pro?