When using ALT tags - are spaces, hyphens or underscores preferred by Google when using multiple words?

[BrooklynCruiser]

when plugging ALT tags into images, does Google prefer spaces, hyphens, or underscores?  I know with filenames, hyphens or underscores are preferred and spaces are replaced with %20.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

[James77]

The Alt tag is primarily there for usaility - ie when you hover the user can see the alt information. Therefore write how you would write normal text

[BrooklynCruiser]

I am confused - I thought what you see when you hover is the Link Title - at least that's how my site has been functioning.

Does alt tag on images not have any SEO significance?

[James77]

It will probably show the link title if the image is wrapped in a link tag and you have no alt tag. Alt tags do have SEO significance - and they do show when you hover on an image. Use normal text

[RyanKent]

Ryan, it depends on your site design but you are correct.

Link Titles will appear when you hover your mouse over the link.

Alt tags are designed to display a text description for those who cannot see the image, such as visually impaired readers or crawlers. You can simply type as you would normally with spaces.

Alt tags do have a SEO significance, as do the image's file name. Both can be used to associate keywords or phrases with your web page, as well as the image search vertical.

[BrooklynCruiser]

Thanks Ryan- so as with filenames, is it advantageous to us:

City-Bikes

or

City Bikes

with filenames, I am told preference is for city-bikes.jpg rather than "city bikes.jpg"

[Alex-Harford]

Yes, use hyphens for filenames, and lower case.

[rhutchings]

1. File names- always use the hyphen.

2. Alt Text - use spaces and normal word structure.  Ryan is correct on the technical intent behind the alt tag, but it can also be a good SEO tool, and you should treat those as exact phrase keywords.  So nobody is searching for "city-bikes", they are searching for "city bikes".  The alt tag should be what the user will put into google.

[gravymatt-se]

YES!!!!

Always use lowercase for filenames because if you use Upper and Lower (sometimes called camel case) for your internal and menu linking Google will crawl it and index the U&l. Then the fun begins when you have to match your sitemap to that!