Short answer
Alt text is a short written description of an image, stored in the page code. Screen readers read it aloud to blind and low-vision visitors, and search engines use it to understand the picture. Good alt text describes what the image shows and why it is on the page, in one plain sentence, without stuffing keywords. Purely decorative images should have empty alt text.
What alt text is and where it lives
In HTML, an image looks like <img src="cake.jpg" alt="Two-tier chocolate birthday cake with fresh strawberries">. The words inside alt are the alt text. Visitors do not see them unless the image fails to load. In WordPress you fill the "Alternative text" box in the media library; Shopify has an alt text field on each product image.
Alt text is not the same as a caption (visible under the image) or the title attribute (a tooltip on hover). Only alt text is read by screen readers in place of the image.
Why it matters for people first
A blind visitor using a screen reader on your menu page hears "image, image, image" if your dish photos have no alt text. With alt text they hear "Paneer tikka platter with mint chutney". Accessibility laws in several countries expect this, and it is simply good service.
Search engines cannot fully see a photo the way people do. Alt text, the file name and the text around the image help them decide what the image is about, which matters for image search and for understanding the page.
Seven simple rules
- Describe what is actually in the picture, not what you wish it ranked for.
- Keep it to one short sentence. Screen reader users hear every word.
- Do not start with "image of" or "picture of". The screen reader already says it is an image.
- Add the detail that matters on this page: colour on a product page, the person's name on a team page, the place on a project page.
- If the image contains text, such as an offer banner, put that text in the alt text.
- For a logo that links to your home page, use your business name.
- For decorative shapes, dividers and background patterns, leave alt empty (alt="") so screen readers skip them.
Good and bad examples
- Bad: "dentist dentist Mohali dental clinic teeth cheap dentist". Good: "Dr Kaur explaining an X-ray to a patient in the treatment room".
- Bad: "IMG_4521". Good: "Bride's hands with red and gold mehndi design".
- Bad: "shoes". Good: "Brown leather Kolhapuri sandals, side view".
- Bad: no alt on a banner that says "Free delivery this weekend". Good: alt text that repeats the banner words, if the offer is real and approved.
Fixing alt text across a whole website
Older websites often have hundreds of images with no alt text. Start with the pages that matter most: home, service or product pages, and your contact page. Then work through blog posts. Do not rush to fill every image with the same phrase; repeated, keyword-heavy alt text helps nobody and can look like spam.
Rename new image files before uploading too. "red-silk-saree-front.jpg" tells search engines more than "DSC0091.jpg".
How AI Marketing Master helps
The website audit lists the images without alt text on each page it crawls. On a connected WordPress site, the controlled auto-fix prepares alt text for those images and shows you a preview. Nothing changes until a person approves it. After it is applied you can undo it; the undo is refused if someone else edited the page in the meantime, so newer work is not lost. The next audit confirms the gap is closed.
What it does not do
- The controlled auto-fix for alt text works on WordPress sites only. On other platforms you copy the suggestion in yourself.
- The auto-fix fills missing alt text; it does not rewrite alt text that already exists.
Questions people ask
Does alt text help my Google ranking?
It helps search engines understand your images and can help in image search. It is one small signal among many, so treat it mainly as an accessibility task that also supports SEO.
How long should alt text be?
Usually one short sentence. If an image needs a long explanation, such as a chart, describe the key point in alt text and explain the rest in the page text.
Should every image have alt text?
Every meaningful image should. Decorative images should have an empty alt attribute so screen readers skip them.
Can AI write alt text for me?
AI can draft it quickly, but a person should check that each description matches the real picture. That is why our auto-fix shows a preview and waits for approval.
We only describe what the product really does today. Results depend on your business, your market and many things no tool controls.