I have a repeating picture on my site that I use in place of bullet points. Do I need alt tags for these? They don't like to anything. And if i don't need them for these, do search spiders like alt tags on pics in general, or only ones that link to something?
The text from the alt text will be indexed by search eninges, for just a little bit it will contribute in serp. more info on alt: http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-HTML-TECHS/#image-text-equivalent Noppid is right, if you don't use a text you should use alt=""
True but they can help get you ranked in Google images without being links and then be a link to your site.
If the images are bullets then the RNIB recommends the following: alt="Option 1" alt="-" alt="Item" Of course which would be most applicable would depend on the nature of your bullet points. Mick
I have a lot of these images so i'm guessing i sould use different alt tags? WOuld it matter that i have like 50 "-" 's in my text?
The best way is to use <ul><li>...</ul> blocks and define the list-style-image attribute in css - avoids the whole issue of multiple images and their alt text, and keeps your content undiluted. Mick
To you question I would suggest you to read the 3rd COMMANDMENT OF ACCESSIBILITY here: http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=41403
I would use them, I think they might help in the SERPs, although I would make them all or most, a little different from each other.
Not would, should! They ARE required. Look at the google webmasters guidelines. The quality of your html, page load speed, and content are judged. No alt tag fails validation.
That would make your page an absolute nightmare for any disabled visitors. Even if you are trying to technically validate, that doesn't mean stuff each spacer.