Alt tags

@ the following site http://www.cometosandiego.com

there are 5 pictures on the main page would it be wise to include san diego in each alt tag or not? san diego attractions,san diego spas, or leave out san diego and just put attractions,spas thanks

You should always use "alt" tags.

The alt attribute is not an SEO tool. It has very little effect on SEO thanks to keyword stuffing. Instead you should be using it was it is meant for: for user agents that do not render images. The alt attribute should describe the image so if it cannot be displayed for any reason the user understands what message the image is conveying.

Actually that's not exactly true. I agree in part...It's original intent is for providing an alternative when an image isn't rendered, and keyword stuffing is useless, but for example if you have an image link the ALT tag can have a similar effect to anchor text. You should only use information in the ALT tag that is relative to the particular image - don't use it for site keywords unless they are relevant to image. That being said, the effectiveness of an ALT tag is limited, but every bit counts when used in conjunction with other on-page and off-page SEO efforts.

The ALT attribute has very, very, very little SEO value. Very, very little. You can blame keyword stuffers for that. The text around an image has a far greater value then the alt attribute text. That's how little it is worth.

The only SEO that applies to ALT attributes is choosing your description of the image properly. Applying relevant keywords when appropriate is about as far as it goes. Otherwise if someone are thinking about SEO before thinking about usability and accessibility then they have completely missed the point of the ALT attribute and building websites.

In general, the ALT attribute is not an SEO tool. Those days are long gone. The days of thinking about users are here.

The alt tag does not have significant search engine value as far as ranking but it doesn't hurt to put in relevant keywords to the image and as Stymiee said it is good for useragents or browsers who have images disabled. Some dial-up users have image disabled for loading by themselves. They must be enabled by right-click so using them for this purpose is very beneficial.
I see both of your points and I think they are good.

Also alt tags work VERY WELL for Google images. For some sites this is very beneficial. The alt tag is one of the few on-site optimization 'methods' I still tend to use. Between any SE value and the value of the above mentioned you can't really lose.

I definitely agree. And you're right keyword stuffing is just a waste of time.

True...well said.

No disagreements on that.

Absolutely...users first.

One thing though, and I can say this with certainty, is that when an image is linked (for example in navigation), and there is no anchor text, the ALT tag steps up to bat here and does have some value. It's not going to make or break a site....the inbound links will do that...but when it comes to spreading link juice throughout a site, it can definitely help.