Titles as images instead of H1

[Allieso]

Hey guys
I'm working on a project where our designer insists on using images for the content page titles (i.e "About us", "Recent Events" etc).

Even though it wouldn't matter for the visitors, I can't help but think that having text titles with h1 and h2 tags would make it appear as if the site has better structure for visitors according to bots.

What I'm wondering is if it would matter to have non-keyword titles such as the ones mentioned as images instead of texts? Does it make a difference if I enclose the img in <h1> tags? Alternatively I could write a short summary of the page in the alt tag of the img.

Thanks

[happy_hands]

You could try some smart CSS, and apply a class or ID attribute to the headings (as plain text within h1 tags), and then use a type of replace method within the CSS, to swap for an image.

This way, with CSS turned off (and particularly for some text screen readers, and therefore some search engines), the user/bot will be able to read the plain text heading.. otherwise, a normal web browser should render with an image instead.

It's not ideal (search engines like Google are working hard to see things as a human user does as much as they can). But it should help with the SEO and accessiblity.

You can see an example of one image swap technique here:
www.therapy-agency.co.uk/ (http://www.therapy-agency.co.uk/)