Simply stated, content that is not text-based is not available to search engines or other automatic data-mining applications. Much important content on your site may be "locked-up" in unsearchable formats. By exposing this content you can significantly increase the chance that people searching for particular content on your site can find it. From a strategic point of view, anything you can do to increase the likelihood that your site will be found is a positive benefit.

• Clearer, understandable content - using commonly used and understood words, phrasing and grammar will increase the likelihood that people using simple search-criteria will find your site.
• Alternative text - an image without alt-text can only be found by its file name. In many cases the file name is a cryptic and unhelpful string of characters. Adding short descriptive phrases via alt-text means that search-engines can find particular images because their description has been indexed. The alt-text for images that are about your site's content can help raise your ranking on the search engine's listings.
• "D" links and "longdesc" attribute - much important content on your site may be locked-up in complex images such as photographs, charts or graphs. Describing these more fully using "D" links and the "longdesc" attribute makes that content available to search engines.
• Text descriptions for multimedia files - a text-based description of the action or content of a Web based video will make the important information contained in that expensive and informative medium available to search engines. Otherwise, only the file name is available for reference.