Whats the min - max words to use in the img ALT tag

Hey guys, Ive done some research on this but the results I got were to wide spread, Can any experienced SEOer give me some advice.

Thanks in advance

 

Dont over stuff. Only place your targeted keywords in there...I typically use 3-4 max.

 

I think 4-5 words should be a nice number. I wouldn’t go for more than that. I think what is more important is the right keywords inserted.

 

dont spam the atl tag.

Describe the image. Briefly.

Just common sense.

 

in our experience alt tags make no difference to anything anymore unless the image is a link in which case treat it like anchor text.

its not going to help your rankings so just describe the image with them for people with images disabled

 

I don't think the search engines would care so much about the length of an alt tag. I think it would be more important to avoid repeating keywords within alt text. Just to be safe, I guess it makes sense to limit it to about 4 - 5 words. You shouldn't need to use more than that.

 

Write the tags for the user not just for SEO and guess what it is optimized for the search engines too, automatically.

 

Google/Yahoo/MSN image search pulls alt tags.

 

Our rule of thumb is the "Targeted Keyword phrase + the company name" or ~32 to 48 characters

 

Here are some tips:

# Limit length of Alt text - avoid stuffing it with unnecessary words or even relevant keyphrases
# Avoid placing alt text on minor images - old spam tactics included paragraphs of alt text in 1px images
# Do use target phrases naturally in alt text
# Do be descriptive - keep in mind image alt text is also providing the visually impaired with content

 

just use maximum 4 keywords are use on image alt tags.