Image SEO issue

[valentinelucky]

I know that I have to manually enter the Alt text when inserting an image (though, why Pro theme doesn’t use the alt of the uploaded image is beyond me) but there doesn’t seem to be any way of getting image title, description or caption tags to display. This seems like a MAJOR SEO issue. Google wants to see that data. Wordpress allows me to enter that data on the image when I upload it. Why is none of that data showing on the front end?

[ruenel]

Hello Steven,

Thanks for writing in!

To best explain the Alt text of the image element, please check out the reply of Alex, our developer, in this thread:

• https://theme.co/apex/forum/t/feature-request-image-alt-text-and-titles/63712/12

Hope this helps.

[valentinelucky]

When I try to access that page it says, “Sorry, you don’t have access to that topic!”

[friech]

Hi Steven,

Sorry about that, only beta tester member can access that thread. Here’s what Alex said

@alexander

While we use the media library to retrieve an image URL, it’s not actually referencing the attachment ID so it can’t automatically pull through the alt text. Something we might be able to do is automatically set the alt text once when you select an image, but you’d still be able to override it in the Inspector. I’ll make a note of looking into the possibility.

And additional points about that,

• If we pulled the alt tag through by default, that would result in potentially dozens and dozens of DB calls to check for the existence of an alt tag in the WP media manager, which could lead to performance issues on even moderate page sizes. While I can see this being useful for a blog post with a few images, on a hand-built page with tons of images, it gives us concern for doing this automatically.
• Rather than requiring users to painstakingly enter in an alt tag entry for every image uploaded to the WP media manager, they can simply add it to the images they ultimately use in the builder (and easily update inline with all other content in the builder, rather than have to go to an external source to update one piece of information).

Hope this shed some lights,
Cheers!

[valentinelucky]

You’re only speaking to the alt tag, but what about the meta description and image title? Those are important pieces of information for SEO as well. And those can’t added in the inspector.

[lely]

Hi Steven,

It was included on discussion though no definite answer yet.

@alexander

I’m not sure just yet how that will work. It is unlikely that we will add an actual title attribute. We’ll take some time to figure out the best approach for this feature after going over all the options.

[valentinelucky]

Which discussion? The one that I can’t see because the page is blocked for me? I have to say, I really love some aspects pf the pro theme. It’s easy to use and it looks gorgeous. But it really feels like there has been very little thought put into how it will effect SEO. No support for image titles and meta descriptions? REALLY? That’s a HUGE issue.

[ruenel]

Hello Steven,

This is an what our developers for this image title and descriptions:

At this time we are not going to proceed with this addition for a few reasons:

1.) With the additions of #1186 and #1516, all v2 Elements with images used throughout the builders should support inline alt tags (the graphic partial now supports alt tag entries like the main v2 Image Element). This brings all Elements in line with one another.

2.) If we pulled the alt tag through by default, that would result in potentially dozens and dozens of DB calls to check for the existence of an alt tag in the WP media manager, which could lead to performance issues on even moderate page sizes. While I can see this being useful for a blog post with a few images, on a hand-built page with tons of images, it gives us concern for doing this automatically.

3.) Rather than requiring users to painstakingly enter in an alt tag entry for every image uploaded to the WP media manager, they can simply add it to the images they ultimately use in the builder (and easily update inline with all other content in the builder, rather than have to go to an external source to update one piece of information).

Our developers has taken this into consideration and still finding ways how to make this happen.

[valentinelucky]

Can you clarify, when they state “alt tags”. What are the referring to? Are they referring to alt text? Once again, can someone PLEASE explain what happens with title, caption and description fields (see image below)?? I understand that you can’t (or have chosen not to) pull them from from the media page, but these are still important pieces of information for SEO and user experience. I feel like I’m being ignored here, or there’s some miscommunication somewhere. I COMPLETELY understand how alt text is to be implemented and I’m fine with it. I just need some direction wit the rest of the fields, or are you saying there’s no way to have those fields at all? Which, if that’s the case, seems like a HUGE oversight.

[ruenel]

Hello Steven,

The most image in the image element is the Alt text. The rest of the fields were used by WordPress for different purposes. To better understand how each of those fields being used individually, please check out this article:

• https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/media_handle_upload
• https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/image-alt-text-vs-image-title-in-wordpress-whats-the-difference/

Hope this helps.