Image Alt Text Best Practices for SEO and Accessibility
Write alt text that helps people using screen readers and helps your images rank, with good and bad examples.
Alt text is the short description attached to an image in your page's HTML. Screen readers read it aloud for people who cannot see the image. Search engines use it to understand what the image shows. And if the image fails to load, the alt text appears in its place. Good alt text serves all three at once.
How to write good alt text
- Describe what the image shows, as you would to someone on the phone.
- Be specific. "Brass diya set with five lamps on a wooden table" beats "diya".
- Keep it concise. Many screen reader users prefer alt text under about 125 characters; there is no hard limit, but long descriptions become tiring.
- Use keywords only when they describe the image. If the photo shows a cotton kurta, saying "cotton kurta" is accurate. Listing extra keywords is stuffing.
- Skip "image of" or "picture of" โ screen readers already announce it is an image.
Examples
- Bad:
alt="IMG_2034"
Good:alt="Handwoven jute table runner in natural colour" - Bad:
alt="kurta kurti ethnic wear women dress buy online cheap"
Good:alt="Woman wearing a mustard cotton kurta with white embroidery" - Chart:
alt="Bar chart: website traffic grew from 2,000 to 9,500 visits between January and June"โ give the key point, not just "chart".
When alt text should be empty
Purely decorative images โ background patterns, dividers, icons next to text that already says the same โ should have an empty alt attribute (alt=""). This tells screen readers to skip them. Do not remove the attribute entirely; an empty value is the correct signal.
Alt text for linked images and buttons
If an image is a link or button with no text, its alt text should describe the action or destination, such as "Add to cart" or "SeoSpidie home", not the picture.
Alt text for product images
For shops, include the product name and the key visible attribute: colour, material, angle. "Black leather bifold wallet, open, showing card slots" helps both shoppers using screen readers and Google Images. Alt text is not used for Google Shopping listings, which take titles from your feed โ keep both accurate.
How to find images missing alt text
The free site audit report lists images without alt text on any page. While you are fixing images, check they actually load with the image URL checker โ read how to fix broken images for the common causes.
A simple alt text routine
- When you upload an image, write the alt text immediately โ it takes ten seconds then, and much longer later.
- Describe it in one sentence: what is in the picture, and what matters about it on this page.
- Decide whether it is decorative; if so, leave alt empty.
- Once a quarter, run your key pages through a site audit and fill any gaps.
Sites that make alt text part of uploading never face a backlog of hundreds of undescribed images.
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Frequently asked questions
Does alt text help SEO?
Yes. It helps Google understand images, which can bring traffic from Google Images, and it supports the relevance of the page.
Is there a character limit for alt text?
There is no strict limit. Keeping it under about 125 characters is a practical guideline for screen reader users.
Should every image have alt text?
Every image should have an alt attribute. Meaningful images need a description; decorative ones should have alt="" (empty).
Is alt text the same as an image title?
No. The title attribute shows a tooltip on hover and is rarely used by screen readers. Alt text is the one that matters.