Alt text is often presented as an SEO trick. The reality is more nuanced, and simpler: it is first for people who cannot see the image, and it also helps search engines understand it.
What Google says
In its guidance on images, Google explains that alt text helps it understand what an image is about, that it serves people who cannot see the image, and that useful, descriptive text placed in context is better than keyword stuffing. For an image that works as a link, the alt acts as the anchor text.
What really matters for your images
- An alt that matches the image: what it shows, in one sentence.
- The page context: the title, the surrounding text and the caption help understand the image’s subject.
- Descriptive file names rather than “IMG_2024.jpg”.
- Suitable images: properly sized and compressed, for fast pages.
- One image per idea: one useful photo next to the text beats ten stock photos.
Mistakes to avoid
- Repeating the same list of keywords in every alt.
- Putting the same text on every image of a page.
- Starting with “image of” or “photo of”.
- Leaving the alt of an informative image empty.
- Writing a paragraph: beyond about 125 characters, the text becomes tiring to listen to.
Alt, title, caption: three different fields
- The alt text describes the image for those who cannot see it.
- The title is the item’s name in the media library.
- The caption is the visible text under the image; it gives context to every reader.
The three should not repeat the same sentence: each one carries a different piece of information.
Audit your site
- Find the images without alt text in the media library.
- Handle the important images first: sales pages, product pages, the home page.
- Set a rule for new images, so the problem does not come back.
SafeAlt automates those three steps: it lists images without alt text, describes them taking into account the page where they are used, and processes new images on upload. Your existing texts are never overwritten without your approval.
