How to write image alt text
Alt text describes an image for screen readers and for Google Images. Describe what matters; mark decorative images with an empty alt.
Step by step, with screenshots: A one-page SEO audit, the getReport way →
Check your own site
Runs these 3 checks and the other 184, free, in about 45 seconds.
What a passing site looks like
- Every image has an alt attributefail · −8 ptseffort S
- Every image has alternative textwarning · −1.5 ptseffort S
- Images marked decorative: passesinfo onlyeffort S
1. Images without alt text
Why it matters. Alt text is how Google Images and screen readers understand a picture. Missing alt text loses image traffic and fails accessibility.
- Describe each meaningful image in a short alt attribute ("Blue running shoe, side view").
- Give purely decorative images an empty alt="" so screen readers skip them.
2. Image alt text
Why it matters. Alt text is what screen readers speak and what appears when an image does not load. Without it, product photos and infographics are silent for blind visitors and invisible to image search.
- Add alt="…" describing what the image shows, in one sentence, to every informative image.
- Use alt="" (empty) for purely decorative images so screen readers skip them.
3. Images marked decorative
Why it matters. An empty alt tells screen readers and Google Images to skip the picture. That is right for spacers and background art, and a lost opportunity for product photos.
- Check the list in the technical detail; give any image that carries meaning a short description instead of alt="".