Guide
Image alt text: how to write it and add it in WordPress
Alt text tells people who can’t see an image what it shows, and helps search engines understand it. It takes a sentence, and most sites still skip it.
What alt text is for
Alt text is a short text alternative for an image, written in the image’s alt attribute.
- Screen readers read it aloud to people who can’t see the image.
- Browsers show it when the image doesn’t load.
- Search engines use it, together with the page text, to understand what the image shows.
The accessibility guidelines (WCAG) ask for a text alternative for every image that carries information.
Add alt text in WordPress in three steps
1. In the Media Library
Open Media, then Library, and choose the image. Type the description in the Alternative Text field. The change saves automatically.
2. In the block editor
Select the image block on the page, open the block settings in the sidebar and fill in Alternative text. This is the alt text of the image on that page.
3. Check the result
Open the page, view its source and look for alt= on the image, or run an accessibility checker. An image with no alt attribute at all is a finding in our SEO check.
How to write good alt text
- Describe what matters on this page. The same photo may need different alt text on a product page and on a blog post.
- Be brief. A short sentence is usually enough.
- Skip “image of”. Screen readers already say it is an image.
- Don’t stuff keywords. Write what you see; a natural description is better for people and for search.
- Include text that appears in the image, such as a sale sign or a quote.
- Describe the action of a linked image, such as “Contact us”, rather than its look.
- Leave decorative images empty. A purely decorative image gets an empty alt attribute (
alt=""), so screen readers skip it. Empty is not the same as missing. - Use the page’s language. A Hebrew page gets Hebrew alt text.
Examples
- Weak: “image1.jpg” or “ceramics, ceramic planter, buy ceramics”.
- Better: “Hand-glazed blue ceramic planter with a small succulent, on a wooden shelf”.
Alt text questions
Does every image need alt text?
Every image that carries information does. A purely decorative image should have an empty alt attribute, so screen readers skip it, but it should still have the attribute.
How long should alt text be?
Usually one short sentence. Describe what the image shows on that page, and put a longer explanation, such as the data in a chart, in the page text.
Can GO BEST SEO add alt text for me?
Yes, once you allow automatic fixes. We write alt text for images that have none, in your site’s language, to that exact image in your WordPress Media Library. Every change is recorded and can be undone.
Find the images without alt text
Every scan lists images without alt text, and GO BEST SEO can write it for them once you allow it.