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Image Targeting Guide
How ImgAff decides which products match your photos — and how to describe images so the right products appear, without hurting your SEO or your readers.
What ImgAff actually reads
For each image, the matcher reads three things:
- Your alt text — this counts most. The full text is read; you are not limited to a word count.
- Your page title and main heading — they tell the matcher what the article is about, so the same photo can match differently on different posts.
- Visible text near the image — the text of the image's container and up to two levels around it, plus immediate neighbors (a caption right under the photo counts), limited to the first ~500 characters.
It does not read the title attribute, the filename, or the image pixels. From all of that, the matcher works out what a reader looking at this image would shop for, distills it into a few focused product searches, and runs those against the product names (weighted most) and descriptions in your feed.
The rules, in order
Rule 0 — Write for humans first. Always.
Alt text exists for screen-reader users and search engines. Describe what's visible, accurately and naturally. Purely decorative images get alt="". Never stuff keywords, product codes, or invisible text — Google can treat that as spam, and it makes your site worse for real people. Everything below happens inside an honest description, never instead of one.
Rule 1 — Name the product type + 2–4 visible attributes.
Lead with what the product is and what it looks like: type, color, length, material, occasion, in the language of your feed. There is no word limit — a naturally rich description helps — but the product words still matter most, so don't bury them.
Rule 2 — One image, one product intent.
If the photo is about the dress, describe the dress. Mixing hairstyle + dress + shoes in one alt blurs the shopping intent and the matches scatter.
Rule 3 — When natural, prefer the words your feed uses.
Matching is word-by-word (no phrases, no singular/plural merging): if your feed says dress, "dress" in your alt matches better than "dresses". Accented characters are normalized — é and e compare the same — so write words correctly for your readers, in whatever language your feed uses.
Rule 4 — Cut filler; it evicts signal.
Words like "recommended", "product examples", "click here", retailer names ("from Nordstrom") occupy the limited word slots and match nothing in product names.
Rule 5 — Product codes: not yet.
Codes like 97778 have no special lookup today (they only match if the code literally appears in a product's name or description — rare). Don't put codes in alt text. An "exact pinning" feature (a data-imgaff-products attribute that pins a specific product from your feed to an image) is planned.
Examples — before and after
Attributes beat codes
alt="red short skirt casual summer look I love, product code 56799 from Nordstrom"
alt="red short pleated mini skirt with high waist"
Type + attributes fill the word slots; the code and "from Nordstrom" matched nothing and evicted useful words.
One intent per image
alt="bridal updo hairstyle that pairs beautifully with a short dress and neckline, product examples 97778"
alt="short white bridal dress with V-neckline"
One intent (the dress, if that's what you're selling); "pairs beautifully / product examples" was filler; the code did nothing. If the article is about hairstyles and you sell hair products, describe the hairstyle instead — one intent per image.
Almost right — trim the filler
alt="gorgeous summer nails, recommended products: pink nail polish"
alt="manicure with pearly pink nail polish"
"pink nail polish" are exactly the words a feed product name uses; "recommended products" was filler. Note: matched word-by-word, not as a phrase — that's fine, shared words are what count.
No product in the photo? Name the place and the moment
alt="beautiful mountains at sunset"
alt="Tre Cime di Lavaredo peaks at sunrise, Dolomites, Italy"
Travel, food, and lifestyle images often evoke an intent (book a hotel, take a tour) rather than show a product. Precise proper nouns — peak, region, town — are your matching hooks against travel feeds (hotel and tour names carry locations). Put the offer itself in a caption near the image ("Where to stay: hotels in Cortina d'Ampezzo"), which counts as context. Note: intents with no shared words at all (a landscape photo matching a car rental) are beyond text matching today — an exact-pinning feature for attaching specific offers to an image is planned.
Quick reference: what helps what
| ImgAff matching | Google / readers |
|---|
| Accurate, natural alt text | ✓ (primary input) | ✓ |
| Caption under the image | ✓ (nearby text) | ✓ |
title attribute | — not read | ~ minor |
| Descriptive filename | — not read | ✓ |
| Product codes in alt | — no lookup | ✗ noise |
| Keyword stuffing | ✗ evicts signal | ✗ spam risk |
Questions, or want us to look at a specific page of yours? [email protected] — during beta we're happy to review your top articles with you.