Alt text (short for "alternative text") is a brief written description you attach to an image on your website. Search engines cannot see images the way people do, so they rely on alt text to understand what an image shows. Alt text also lets screen readers describe images to visually impaired visitors, and it's the text that displays if an image fails to load.
Why Alt Text Matters
Alt text affects your website in three ways:
- SEO: search engines use alt text to understand image content, which can help images (and the pages they're on) rank in search results, including Google Image Search.
- Accessibility: screen reader software reads alt text aloud, so blind or low-vision visitors understand what an image shows.
- Fallback display: if an image fails to load due to a slow connection or broken file path, the alt text appears in its place.
How to Add Alt Text
In WordPress
- Go to Media > Library in your WordPress dashboard, or open the image while editing a page or post.
- Click the image to select it.
- Find the Alt Text field in the attachment details panel on the right.
- Type a short, accurate description of the image and click Update or save the page.
If you're using a page builder plugin, the alt text field is usually inside the image block's own settings panel rather than the main Media Library screen. Look for a field labeled Alt Text or Alternative Text.
On a Custom-Built Website
If your site is built with plain HTML, add the alt attribute directly inside the image tag, for example: <img src="logo.png" alt="ZIPROF company logo">. If you're not comfortable editing code directly, ask whoever manages your website's design to add it for you.
How to Write Good Alt Text
- Describe what's actually in the image in plain language, as if describing it to someone over the phone.
- Keep it short, usually under 125 characters.
- Skip phrases like "image of" or "picture of": screen readers already announce that it's an image.
- Include a relevant keyword only if it naturally fits the description. Don't force one in.
- Leave the alt attribute empty (alt="") for purely decorative images, such as background patterns, so screen readers skip over them.
Avoid stuffing alt text with repeated keywords just to try to rank higher. Search engines treat this as spam, and it makes the description useless to anyone actually relying on a screen reader.
Good alt text is one part of broader on-page SEO. For a wider look at optimizing titles, meta descriptions, and headings, see On-Page SEO Basics: Title Tags, Meta Descriptions, and Headings.