H1 around image tag - should I?

[gtbikerider]

We're told to make use of H1 tags. However a need to use a specific font and hence need to use an image (I realise text would be better). Does surrounding the img tag in H1 provide any benefit? And would I gain advantage from using the title tag?

ie
<h1><img src="image.gif" alt="Some interesting text></h1>
or
<p><img src="image.gif" alt="Some interesting text></p>



--
John

 

[feherke]

Hi

Yes, as I know, if you provide the alt text, that will be considered heading. Additionally I should take care to be closer to the begining of the page and to not appear to many times, to not make robots to think it is fake keyword.

About the title tag, I did not read anything SEO related. By default, they not provide proper content, so theoretically robots should not index them as text. But they may provied better keywords for the image search, then simply reading the most closer paragraph. For titles, bullets and delimiters I would not use it, only for the other images. Although Google say :

Make sure that your TITLE and ALT tags are descriptive and accurate.

Feherke.

http://rootshell.be/~feherke/

 

[ChrisHunt]

I think the rule of thumb should be: If you'd put it in <h1>s if it was plain text, put it in a <h1> when it's images-as-text. The [tt]alt[/tt] attribute should contain whatever text is in the image, I'd suggest a [tt]title=""[/tt] to suppress any tooltips.

Having said all that, there are aother, perhaps better, ways to get your choice of font out there. If you have access to Flash, take a look at sIFR:

http://www.mikeindustries.com/blog/archive/2004/08/sifr

- where you can write ordinary <h1>s with text in, and have them magically converted into lightweight flash images using your choice of font.

Alternatively, although it'll currently only work in IE, you could explore the CSS2 [tt]@font-face[/tt] declaration. See faq215-1525 and faq215-4042 for more information.

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[ChrisHirst]

h1 tags are only given real ranking weight when used correctly as structural elements. There is no conclusive evidence that used any other way they make any noticeable difference.
The only question you need to ask yourself is "would I being looking at this action if search engines didn't exist?"
The answer is probably No.

This is simply not true BTW

Additionally I should take care to be closer to the begining of the page and to not appear to many times, to not make robots to think it is fake keyword.

and one of the many myths that are propgated around forums and becomes fact. It simply does not matter where the words are on the page or how many times a word appears on the page.

I assume when you say title tag you actually mean title attribute. The title attribute is important for accessibility by has no value for SEO.


Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Woo Hoo! the cobblers kids get new shoes.
People Counting Systems

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

 

[feherke]

Hi

It simply does not matter where the words are on the page or how many times a word appears on the page.

All articles I read until now, contains the contrary.

I would like to know, how can a search engine make the difference between a relevant word related to the page content and another word not related to the current content, just present in the menu or an advertisement.

Feherke.

http://rootshell.be/~feherke/

 

[ChrisHirst]

All articles I read until now, contains the contrary.

Maybe you should read in some different places or better still do not trust anything you read on the internet until you have tested the "fact" for yourself.
There are many self styled "experts" who spout absolute garbage but repeat it often enough for it to become fact.

I would like to know, how can a search engine make the difference between a relevant word related to the page content and another word not related to the current content, just present in the menu or an advertisement.

Actually they don't! All words on the page are considered no matter where they are or how many times. The SE indexing algo has various criteria that dictates the weighting of various elements and therefore the relevancy of each and every page to the words on that page. All of which and the level of said weighting we are not privy to, So some "experts" guess and present it as fact.
So a page can rank for a single word at the end of, the middle of or the begining of the page, in the navigation, the body, the page title (most important element), image alt attributes etc etc.
content is content is content, only you determine the page subject by using the appropriate words/phrases in the correct elements for HTML mark up. Common sense optimising NOT "algo chasing" formulas is what works for the long term.


Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Woo Hoo! the cobblers kids get new shoes.
People Counting Systems

So long, and thanks for all the fish.