In a word, no. Not anymore. Just like a lot of other meta data like keywords and description.

Well, they don’t matter like they used to anyway.

But, should you stop using them? In a word, no.

Think about it…it’s extra work to have good meta keywords, meta descriptions, and alt text. And if search engines don’t care, why should you put forth the effort, right? Well, I think there’s at least 2 good reasons:

1. Search Engines may consider this data a bit and may increase it’s usage in the future. Be prepared.
2. It’s just good practice. It helps keep your articles on topic.

I don’t always do a good job at providing good content for these things either. I confess. There are other more important meta data and other SEO tips to follow (like meta title and using h1 tags). But if you pick keywords and write a description of your article that match what the article is about, then it just makes sense. It helps keep you on topic. People know they’ve found what they wanted to find…and search engines know it too.

For the inspiration of this post today, read the article How Important is ALT Text In Search Engine Optimization?

UPDATE: A great comment was left on this post so let me retract and expound. Does ALT Text matter from a SEO perspective? No. Does it matter for visually impaired visitors? Absolutely! So add that to the list of reasons to keep doing alt tags. But from an SEO perspective, it’s not important. It’s still good practice for at least 3 good reasons.