diff --git a/src/services/entity_normalizer/entity_normalizer.service.js b/src/services/entity_normalizer/entity_normalizer.service.js
index 6dac7c15..c7ed65a4 100644
--- a/src/services/entity_normalizer/entity_normalizer.service.js
+++ b/src/services/entity_normalizer/entity_normalizer.service.js
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ export const addEmojis = (string, emojis) => {
     const regexSafeShortCode = emoji.shortcode.replace(matchOperatorsRegex, '\\$&')
     return acc.replace(
       new RegExp(`:${regexSafeShortCode}:`, 'g'),
-      `<img src='${emoji.url}' alt='${emoji.shortcode}' title='${emoji.shortcode}' class='emoji' />`
+      `<img src='${emoji.url}' alt=':${emoji.shortcode}:' title=':${emoji.shortcode}:' class='emoji' />`
     )
   }, string)
 }
diff --git a/test/unit/specs/services/entity_normalizer/entity_normalizer.spec.js b/test/unit/specs/services/entity_normalizer/entity_normalizer.spec.js
index cfb380ba..166fce2b 100644
--- a/test/unit/specs/services/entity_normalizer/entity_normalizer.spec.js
+++ b/test/unit/specs/services/entity_normalizer/entity_normalizer.spec.js
@@ -338,9 +338,9 @@ describe('API Entities normalizer', () => {
 
   describe('MastoAPI emoji adder', () => {
     const emojis = makeMockEmojiMasto()
-    const imageHtml = '<img src="https://example.com/image.png" alt="image" title="image" class="emoji" />'
+    const imageHtml = '<img src="https://example.com/image.png" alt=":image:" title=":image:" class="emoji" />'
       .replace(/"/g, '\'')
-    const thinkHtml = '<img src="https://example.com/think.png" alt="thinking" title="thinking" class="emoji" />'
+    const thinkHtml = '<img src="https://example.com/think.png" alt=":thinking:" title=":thinking:" class="emoji" />'
       .replace(/"/g, '\'')
 
     it('correctly replaces shortcodes in supplied string', () => {
@@ -366,8 +366,8 @@ describe('API Entities normalizer', () => {
         shortcode: '[a-z] {|}*'
       }])
       const result = addEmojis('This post has :c++: emoji and :[a-z] {|}*: emoji', emojis)
-      expect(result).to.include('title=\'c++\'')
-      expect(result).to.include('title=\'[a-z] {|}*\'')
+      expect(result).to.include('title=\':c++:\'')
+      expect(result).to.include('title=\':[a-z] {|}*:\'')
     })
   })
 })