What is alt text?

Alt text (alternative text) is the description in an <img> tag's alt attribute. It appears if the image fails to load, screen readers read it aloud to blind and low-vision users, and search engines use it to understand what the image is about.

#Why it matters

• Accessibility: for someone using a screen reader, an image without alt text is an empty gap.
• Image search: text that describes the image is an important signal for showing up in Google Images.
• Links: when an image is used as a link, its alt text acts as the anchor text.

#Where you see it in SEOAsist

• The Images without alt text issue in Technical Audit (Warning severity) lists pages that contain such images.
• To fix it without code, use an Image alt rule on the site's Pixel tab. It writes alt text on images whose src matches; each line has the form src match | alt text.

More: Technical audit.

#Example

<!-- Bad -->
<img src="IMG_4821.jpg" alt="image">

<!-- Good -->
<img src="oak-dining-table.jpg" alt="Light solid-oak dining table for six">

<!-- Decorative image: empty alt, screen readers skip it -->
<img src="divider.svg" alt="">

The same fix as a Pixel rule:

oak-dining-table.jpg | Light solid-oak dining table for six
logo | Example Furniture logo

#Common mistakes

• Keyword stuffing: "table dining table cheap table best table".
• Writing meaningless text such as "image", "photo" or "picture".
• Writing long descriptions for purely decorative images; alt="" is correct for those.
• Not carrying the text inside an image (a campaign banner, say) into its alt text.