Some questions about image SEO

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

• 
  Neil Cheesman: What is a shikara?
• 
  Neil Cheesman: Ah - further searching - a houseboat :)
• 
  Neil Cheesman: What is it then? That was what it said on Google :)
• 
  Diana Lesko: Neil Cheesman It`s a good point. But actually, it`s not a houseboat. I think the google definition is wrong. In a houseboat, you can sleep but not in a shikara. You can see the difference when you check the google images for shikara and houseboat. Search for Kerala houseboat and Kerala shikara.
• 
  Michael Martinez: The title is really only for desktop users. The search engines don`t see it and mobile users don`t see it.
  
  The ALT= text should describe the picture because it`s intended for:
  
  1) Screen readers (to help people who cannot see the screen)
  2) Text-based editors (probably not used any more)
  3) Slow Internet connections where images don`t load
  4) Browsers whose security plugins won`t download images w/o permission
  5) Any other situation where image files don`t load
  
  Shorter file names are good. Omitting prepositions and articles is usually okay.
  
  Keyword stuffing (according to search engine guidelines) is more along the lines of including many (MANY) irrelevant words and phrases. The algorithms expect repetition and don`t define that as stuffing, although there is a diminishing return to using the same word many times in your content. But you should not worry about that.
  
  Don`t think in terms of "how many times can I use a word". Think in terms of "how well does this page read?"
  
  Is it informative?
  
  Is it interesting?
  
  Do people respond well to it?
  
  THE WORDPRESS DESCRIPTION FIELD
  
  You only need to put text in here if you`re linking to attachment pages. Many Web marketers wrongly assume that attachment pages are a bad thing and install plugins to redirect their URLs.
  
  If you link images to their attachment pages you SHOULD write descriptions for them. Include descriptive text links back to your main articles in the descriptions (HTML code is allowed).
  
  If you use an attachment on multiple articles then have it link back to a category page or something else that make sense.
  
  If you don`t use image attachments then you don`t need to put anything into the Description field.
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  David Kutcher: Michael Martinez can you elaborate on why search engines can see the Title if that is included information?