Alt text that’s accurate, accessible, and never an afterthought

Image alt attributes assessment

Part of the Yoast SEO analysis. Automatically checks that your images have alt text, and that it reflects what your page is about, so you catch gaps before you publish.

Included in Yoast SEO, Yoast SEO Premium, Yoast WooCommerce SEO, Yoast SEO for Shopify and Yoast SEO AI+

A woman holding shopping bags and wearing a VR headset, browsing products.

Every image

Checked automatically, no separate audit

Matches your topic

Optimized, not just present

Every visitor

Not just the ones who can see the page

image alt text assessment in a blog — Yoast SEO Premium flags images missing alt text with your keyphrase, right in the post editor.

What does the image alt attributes check do?

Every image on your site needs alt text. It’s a short description that stands in for the image when someone can’t see it. Yoast SEO checks whether your alt attributes reflect what your page is about, and lets you know if that connection is missing. It’s a balance, not a box to tick:

Too few images with alt text tied to your topic? You’ll get a nudge to add it to more of them.
Every single image stuffed with the same keyphrase? You’ll get a nudge the other way. Alt text stuffed with keywords isn’t good alt text, and it isn’t good SEO either.

What you get

Catch images with no alt text before you hit publish
Get feedback on whether your alt text reflects your topic, without tipping into keyword stuffing
Build a site that works for every visitor, not just the ones who can see it

What makes alt text good

Decorative

Images that are purely visual, like a divider line, don’t need a description. An empty alt="" is correct, and screen readers skip right past it.

Functional

Images that are also a link or a button need alt text describing what happens when it’s activated, not what the image looks like.

Informative

Images that are there to inform, like a product photo or a diagram, need a real, concise description of their content.

Alt text as search query Google AI Mode — *The same descriptive alt text works as a search query. Here it surfaces accurate results in Google’s AI Mode.*

Why this matters in today’s market

Alt text has always done two jobs. It lets screen readers describe images to people who are blind or have low vision. It also gives search engines the context to understand what an image shows. Neither job has ever been optional. However, two things now make getting it right a bigger advantage than it used to be.

Search itself is leaning more on image context. Image search and AI-driven discovery are both growing. Alt text is one of the clearest signals you control for helping search engines and AI systems understand what’s in an image.

Accessibility regulation is tightening. If you sell to or serve customers in the EU or UK, alt text is increasingly part of what regulators expect. It’s not just good practice anymore. These rules reach further than most people expect: e-commerce, banking, e-books, and more, across both regions and beyond*.

This matters most if you…

Sell to or serve customers in the EU, UK or other regulated region
Run an online store with a large or growing product catalog
Want your images to surface in image search, not just sit invisibly in a page
Want to get ahead of tightening accessibility regulation instead of reacting to it

Alt text for online stores

Ecommerce catalogs make alt text harder to get right at scale. Hundreds or thousands of product images, often uploaded in a hurry, often with generic or missing descriptions.

Too thin:alt="product1234.jpg" or alt="shoe" tells a screen reader user almost nothing, and gives search engines nothing to index the image against
Just right:alt="Men's brown leather lace-up boots, side view" describes what the product is, helps a shopper using a screen reader know what they’re looking at, and helps your product images surface for the right search
Add the product ID when you have one: include the full product name and the product ID (SKU). It’s easier to match the image to the exact item.
Decorative product-page elements, like a background texture or a section divider, don’t need descriptive alt text at all: alt="" is correct there, so you’re not adding noise for screen reader users trying to get to the product details

Alt text across your store

The Yoast ecommerce content analysis Already checks product pages for missing alt text. It also covers other key product page elements, like GTIN, ISBN, SKUs, and short descriptions. Gaps get flagged as part of your normal content workflow.

Coming soon: AI-drafted alt text at scale We’re extending the Bulk Editor to draft alt text for your product images with AI. Find the gaps across your whole catalog, get a starting draft for each one, and review and approve before anything saves.

Writing alt text that works

Check the surrounding text first

If a caption or body copy already covers what the image adds, an empty alt text is the right call. Alt text exists to fill a gap, not repeat the page.

Keep it concise

A phrase or a short sentence is usually enough. Long, run-on descriptions interrupt the reading flow for someone using a screen reader.

Skip "image of" and "photo of"

Screen readers already announce that it's an image, so adding that phrase just repeats information the user already has.

Rename the file, too

Alt text isn't the only description that matters. A filename like "product1234.jpg" tells search engines nothing; renaming it to something like "brown-leather-boots.jpg" reinforces the same context.

Using Yoast SEO to add alt text

Pricing and schema availability

Yoast SEO (free)

The alt attributes assessment runs as part of your standard content analysis. It catches gaps and checks relevance to your topic, keyphrase only.

Yoast SEO Premium

Everything in the free assessment, plus synonym support. The assessment also matches alt text against any synonyms you’ve added to your keyphrase, not just the keyphrase itself.

Ecommerce plans (WooCommerce SEO, AI+, Shopify)

Everything in Premium, including synonym support. Plus the ecommerce content analysis assessment, covering product-page alt text alongside GTIN, ISBN, SKUs, and short descriptions.

FAQ

Is this feature free?

Yes. The alt attributes check is included in Yoast SEO for free.

Does alt text affect my rankings?

Alt text doesn’t directly boost rankings. It helps search engines understand your images well enough to surface them in image search. It’s also part of the accessibility standard EU and UK regulators now check against.

Do accessibility rules like this apply to my site?

If you sell products or services to customers in the EU or UK, most likely yes. It’s worth confirming with someone qualified in your jurisdiction, since coverage and exemptions vary by business size and sector.

*The regulatory summary above is a general overview, not legal advice. If you need to confirm exactly how these rules apply to your business, talk to someone qualified in your jurisdiction.