Images and Media Items: Meta-data and SEO Settings
Every media item has settings that you can use to optimise the page for accessibility, search engine results, and indexing on your website. Meta-data for media items can be assigned for each item through the Media Library (via the WordPress Dashboard sidebar).
Image Meta-data
Title
Titles are an advisory attribute, appropriate for a tooltip. Titles are populated automatically from the file name when uploading media items, but are best replaced with a caption in the caption field. If left blank, WordPress will attempt to construct one from other meta-data. This is preferred if you add a caption, and include an author/creator.
❗ Alternative Text (Alt-Text)
Alternative text, or alt-text, is an important tool to make our website accessible and non-discriminatory. Alt-text provides visitors unable to view images to have an experience that is analogous to those who can. This could include people who are unable or unwilling to download images, those who have a visual impairment, and bots that are scraping or indexing our content. It is also displayed if the image fails to load.
Alt-text should be assigned in almost all cases where the image is not strictly decorative. If in doubt, add alt-text.
Alt-Text should be helpfully descriptive, yet concise. 125 characters or less is ideal. Include the item’s subjects or features, activities and setting; use adjectives to include interesting and relevant details.
Description
Descriptions are used on media attachment pages, and may also be displayed in image search engine results. Our websites do not use media attachment pages generally so descriptions have limited value presently. To add descriptions to media items, consult the suggestions for Meta Descriptions.
Caption
Captions provide additional information about the image and its subject, for people who can see the image and want to know more. Unlike the alt-text or description, the caption shouldn’t simply mirror what the image actually shows. When uploading paintings or other visual art, add its title in the caption field.
Image Focus
In some applications, images are automatically cropped to respond to smaller device dimensions. To ensure an image’s subject is kept within an observable frame, select the focal point closest to the subject’s center—usually this is a person’s face/eyes. If there is no obvious subject matter, use the center focal point to crop equally from the image’s outermost edges. The center focal point is selected by default.
Video, Audio and Other File Meta-data
Most other media types will have the fields listed above, excepting the alt-text and image focus fields.
Copyright
All website content must strive to reflect the University’s commitment to academic integrity in its ethical, honest and responsible use and communication of information. An extensive array of licensing agreements exist to cover different types of image usage. If the content you are using is covered by a Creative Commons license make sure your use is covered by its license. A non-commercial Creative Commons license does not cover commercial uses, like marketing, even for non-commercial organisations.
Sourcing Images
- Unsplash is a collection of high-quality, free images with unrestricted use for University purposes, including marketing.
- Wikimedia Commons is a useful repository for images, especially art and historical artefacts. Images on Wikimedia Commons are not necessarily available for unrestricted use. You must confirm each image’s license before uploading it.
Citing Images
As a content manager, you’re responsible for ensuring that the University has the relevant license for the use of the images you upload. Do not use content, including images, without possessing the usage rights or permissions to do so. Citing the creator or copyright holder is not a substitute for usage rights or permission. Consult the canonical URL for re-publishing existing content under the Theme SEO Settings.
Copyright Meta-data
To properly cite an image, use the image meta-data fields below as needed.
Author/Creator
It is always nice and helpful to give attribution to an author/creator. So even if the license does not demand it, add the creator’s name. If there’s no known author, you can leave this field blank.
Publisher
The publisher is the organisation that originally hosted the image. If there is no known publisher, or it does not differ from the author, leave blank.
Source URL
Use a URL to direct a visitor to the source of the image from where it was downloaded, so that they can identify that image, its context and any additional information.
Copyright Year
The year that copyright was asserted. If the year is a date range, just include the latest year. If no copyright has been asserted, or it is not known, you can leave this field blank.
Year Created
The year that the object was created. If the year is a date range, include the date range. If no creation year is known, you can leave this field blank.