What is Alt Text (by Kenya’s SEO Authority)

TL;DR: Alt text describes images for search engines and visually impaired users. In Kenya, it helps businesses show up in searches and reach more customers.

Last Updated: March 2026

Alt text is a brief description of an image that appears in your website’s code, helping both search engines and visually impaired users understand what the image shows. 

When someone can’t see your image. Whether due to slow internet, screen readers, or technical issues, alt text tells them exactly what they’re missing.

Picture your website like a matatu stage in downtown Nairobi.

When a matatu conductor shouts the destination, passengers know exactly where that vehicle is heading without having to read the windscreen banner. 

Alt text works the same way. It announces what your images contain to visitors who can’t see them, ensuring everyone gets the complete message about your business.

Why Alt Text Matters for Your Kenyan Business

Without proper alt text, you’re losing customers before they even know your business exists.

Google can’t “see” images the way humans do, so it relies on alt text to understand and rank your visual content. 

A Nairobi restaurant posting mouth-watering photos of nyama choma without alt text is essentially serving invisible food to search engines.

We help you understand that alt text serves three critical functions:

• It improves your SEO rankings by giving Google context about your images
• Ensures your website is accessible to the 2.2 billion people worldwide with vision impairments,
• Provides backup information when images fail to load. A common issue with Kenya’s varying internet speeds. 

Local businesses using proper alt text often see 10-15% improvements in image search visibility, directly translating to more website visitors and potential customers.

How Alt Text Works (With Examples)

Alt text appears in your website’s HTML code as a simple description. When someone using a screen reader visits your site, the software reads this description aloud. 

Here’s how different Kenyan businesses should approach it:

Good Alt Text Examples: 

• Electronics shop in Westlands: Instead of “image1.jpg” → “Samsung smartphone display at TechWorld Westlands showroom” 
• Restaurant in Kilimani: Instead of “food.png” → “Grilled tilapia with ugali and sukuma wiki at Mama Oliech Restaurant” 
• Salon in CBD: Instead of “hairstyle.jpg” → “Kenyan woman with braided protective hairstyle at Nairobi CBD salon”

What Makes Alt Text Effective:

• Be specific and descriptive (not just “phone” but “latest iPhone model”) 
• Include your business name when relevant 
• Keep it under 125 characters 
• Avoid phrases like “image of” or “picture of” 
• Include location details for local businesses

To learn more about terms like these, check out my SEO FAQs page for a glossary. If that’s not enough, check this guide for the steps to execute atl text creation.

Next Steps for Your Kenya Business

Here’s your alt text action checklist:

• ☐ Audit your current images: Visit your website and right-click on images to see if alt text exists 
• ☐ Identify your top 10 business images: Focus on product photos, team pictures, and location shots first
• ☐ Write descriptive alt text: Include what’s shown, your business context, and location when relevant
• ☐ Check your competitors: Search for businesses like yours in Nairobi and see how their images appear in Google Images 
• ☐ Update your image workflow: Train your team to add alt text every time they upload new photos 
• ☐ Test with screen readers: Use your computer’s accessibility features to hear how your alt text sounds

Need a complete walk-through? Download this complete SEO Checklist for everything you need to do.

Ready to make your website images work harder for your business? Let’s conduct a free comprehensive SEO audit to identify exactly where you’re losing potential customers and create a systematic plan to fix it.

Curious to learn more about similar SEO concepts? Check out the posts below

• Learn what on-page SEO is – Since creating ALT texts is under this
• See how to optimise other areas of your site – not just the Alt text
• Apart from images, see other ways to take full advantage of search engines
• See what keywords are and see if you should add them as part of the ALT text

These articles will help you better breakdown ALT text so that you can use Google to get leads in diverse ways.

Have more SEO questions? Our SEO FAQs Kenya page answers the most common ones.

Frequently Asked Questions