Use Rank Math Focus Keyword As Alt Text / Title For Images

In a previous doc we looked at how to use Yoast Focus Keyword as attributes for Images. A new and upcoming player in the SEO space, Rank Math SEO plugin, also uses focus keywords.

This doc will explain how to use Rank Math focus keyword in the image attributes such as image title, alt text, caption and description.

What is Rank Math Focus Keyword?

A focus keyword is a word or a short phrase that you want a specific post or page to rank for in Google or other search engines. This typically comes out of SEO keyword research.

Setting a focus keyword will help Rank Math analyse your writing and suggest improvements. These improvements will help improve search engine rankings for your content.

Rank Math focus keyword can be set using the Rank Math meta box in the WordPress post editor.

You can also see and edit Rank Math Focus keyword from the Posts / Products list in WordPress as you can see below.

Should You Use Rank Math Focus Keyword As Image Attribute?

Typically, the focus keyword will be highly relevant to the post, page or product. This makes the focus keyword an ideal candidate to be used as your image attribute especially as your image alt text.

Using Rank Math Focus Keyword As Image Attribute With Image Attributes Pro

With the release of version 2.0 of Image Attributes Pro, it is easy to use Rank Math Focus Keyword as an attribute. In Image Attributes Pro settings, you have the option to define a custom attribute for each of your attributes like image title, alt text, caption and description.

You will find two sets of options:

• You can define attributes for new uploads in the Advanced tab.
• You can decide how the bulk updater should update existing images in posts / products using Bulk Updater Settings tab.

For example, for Image Alt Text, you will find something like this. You can see a list of Available tags. In the list you will see the tag for Rank Math Focus Keyword: %rankmathfocuskw%.

Simply click the tag and it will be added as the custom attribute. No need to copy and paste. Remember to save the settings.

Now when you upload an image or run the bulk updater, the tag %rankmathfocuskw% will be replaced by the appropriate focus keyword of the post / product where the image is used.

You can combine the tag with other tags. For example, using %posttitle% %rankmathfocuskw% will end up being the Post Title followed by the Rank Math Focus Keyword.

What If No Focus Keyword Is Set?

If Rank Math focus keyword is not set for a post / product, the tag %rankmathfocuskw% will be replaced with an empty string for the images in that post / product.

If all your posts do not have focus keyword set, then it is a good idea to combine the tag with other tags (e.g. %posttitle% %rankmathfocuskw%) so that no attribute would be empty.

Pro Tip: Use Rank Math Bulk Editor To Define Custom Image Attributes Easily

Rank Math provides a Bulk Editor in the posts lists that lets you edit Focus Keywords in bulk. Image Attributes Pro is capable of copying this value and use them as image attributes. Let’s see how.

Here is how to use it to your advantage to update all your image attributes in bulk.

• First, go to the post / products list and set the Rank Math Focus Keyword to what you like.
• Head over to Settings > Image Attributes Pro and switch to the Bulk Updater Settings tab.
• Set %rankmathfocuskw% as the custom attribute for the image attributes you wish to update. Save the settings.
• You can decide what the bulk updater should do in the Bulk Updater Behaviour setting for each of the attribute.
• Now head over to Bulk Updater and run the bulk updater.

Important: Remember to take a full database backup before running the bulk updater. Happy SEO!