I have 2 questions.. Firstly,
1)how important to google are alt tags for images?

2) Anyone know of a tool that I can type in the URL of a webpage, and this tool check all <img> tags for an alt tag?

thanks!

anyone? :/

Take a look at this thread that list various tools http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=9280

Will do, thanks!