Add alt text to background images

[azzacoward]

Hi guys,

I would just like to know if there is a way to add alt text to background images both for sections and columns.
It isn’t pulling through from the media library.

What’s the best way to help the search engines here?

Cheers
Aaron

[nabeel]

Hi Aaron,

Thank you for reaching out to us. Background images are only for aesthetics and should not be used to present data and they don’t use alt text at all. If you need to put an image in the page that has meaning then use an Image element and give it an alternative text in the alt attribute (see screenshot)

Hope this helps!

[azzacoward]

OK.

It seems odd that you can’t apply the alt attribute to the background images or that the theme won’t even pull the alt text from the default as a failover solution.
X was always sold as an SEO friendly theme and having alt tags is quite important for that.

Are there any plans to add it as a feature?

Cheers

Aaron

[rad]

Hi Aaron,

You can’t really add an ALT tag on a background image. They are background images implemented through CSS, it’s not theme, it’s just CSS backgrounds aren’t HTML element that you can add alt tags.

Please check this https://forum.webflow.com/t/alt-tags-for-background-images-for-seo/69195/5

As someone suggested on other sites, you can add title but it means you’re adding the title to a container instead to the actual background image. And it’s up to the tools you’re using how it will understand it. Still, it’s non-standard and it’s not image anymore.

Thanks!