How to fix missing image alt text
Check the page, describe what matters, mark the decoration empty.
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Free, no signup. We fetch the page live and read what a search engine would see.
Alt text is what a screen reader speaks and what a search engine indexes when it cannot see the picture. Missing it fails WCAG — which is a legal question in a growing number of markets — and loses you image search at the same time.
The fix is not complicated. The only judgement involved is which images carry meaning and which are decoration.
What usually causes it
Decorative images need an empty alt, not no alt
alt="" tells a screen reader to skip it, which is correct for a background flourish. No alt attribute at all makes it read the filename out loud.
Filenames are not descriptions
IMG_4021.jpg as alt text passes an automated check and helps nobody. So does a list of keywords, which reads absurdly when spoken.
It is usually a template or an upload habit
Either the theme drops the attribute, or nobody filled the field in the media library. Both are fixable in one pass once you know which.
How to fix it
Check the page above
The image alt checker lists every image on the page and sorts them: described, empty, missing, or a filename pretending to be a description.
Decide meaning versus decoration
If the image carries information the text does not, describe it in one sentence. If it is decorative, give it alt="" deliberately.
Write for the person listening
Describe what matters in context. Skip "image of" — the screen reader already said it is an image. Keep it to a sentence; anything longer belongs in a caption everyone can read.
Fix the source, not the page
In WordPress, fill the alt field in the media library so every future use inherits it. In Shopify, edit the alt on the product image. In Webflow, set it on the asset or bind it to a CMS field. In code, make alt a required prop on your image component.
Crawl to find the rest
One page is a sample. A crawl counts every undescribed image on the site and shows which templates produce them.
What the audit checks
- Images with no alt attribute at all
- Images with an empty alt that are clearly not decorative
- Alt text that is a filename or a keyword list
- How much of each page's imagery is described
Check part of it right now, free
These read a live page and tell you what a search engine sees. No signup, no email.
Image alt text checker
Every image on the page, and what a screen reader would say about it.
SEO score checker
Score one page against the checks that actually move rankings.
The issues behind this
Each has a full entry in the issue library: what it is, what it costs a business, and step-by-step fixes for WordPress, Shopify, Webflow and custom builds.
Missing image alt text
Images have no text alternative.
Questions
Related
Missing meta descriptions
Check the page, write 150 characters, confirm it shipped. Twenty minutes for most sites.
Duplicate title tags
Duplicate titles are a template problem wearing a content problem's clothes.
Count every undescribed image across the site in one crawl
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