How & When to Use Alternative Text (Alt Text) To Make Your Content Accessible

Alternative text, or alt text, is one simple way professionals and individuals alike can make their online and social content more accessible in 2026. Alt text is especially helpful to provide equity to individuals with disabilities but comes with additional benefits. For one, it can boost your content’s discoverability through image search and overall SEO.
 
This guide will walk you through what alternative text is, why it matters, and how to use alt text for images. Discover how to generate alt text and best practices, including specific alt text examples and pro tips provided to us by Kristin Knudson, an accessibility specialist. 

What is alternative text? Explaining what alt text is

Alternative text (alt text) is a short written description added to an image’s HTML code — within the alt attribute — that describes the image content for those who can’t see the image. Simply put, missing alt text is a missed opportunity.

In practical terms: when you add alt text to your content, you give a textual description of what the image depicts. For example, instead of a generic “photo1.jpg,” it might be alt="golden retriever puppy playing with a small orange ball". That way, someone using a screen reader or a browser where the image fails to load will get meaningful context.

Alt text serves several important purposes: 

• Accessibility: People using screen readers rely on picture alt text to understand what is being depicted in images on site pages and digital documents. 
• Fallback: If something goes wrong with the page, and the images don’t load, all users see the alt text instead and can get a sense of what was meant to be there. 
• Discoverability & SEO: Search engines like Google can use alt text to identify the purpose of your posts and boost the ranking of your content accordingly.
  

Alternative Text Definition: Alt Text Meaning

• Alt text (or “alternative text,” “image alt text,” “alt attribute”) is the descriptive text associated with an image tag.
• Alt attribute is the HTML attribute that carries this kind of text: <img src="…" alt="…">.
• The goal of alt text is to describe the appearance or function of an image: what is shown, and why it’s there.

Why alt text matters - accessibility, SEO, and usability

Alt Text for Images: Accessibility First

Many people browsing the web rely on assistive technologies — screen readers users, text-based browsers, or other accessibility tools — especially those who are blind, have vision loss or have cognitive disabilities. Using alt text enables them to “hear” a description of images for better web content accessibility. If you omit alt text, those users may miss important content.

Moreover, when images fail to load (broken link, network issues, email clients, etc.), alt texts act as a fallback so that all users still get a sense of what was supposed to appear.

Alt Text SEO: Why Alternative Text Helps Search Engines

Search engines rely on text — they can’t “see” images the way humans do. Alt text gives search engines context and meaning for images. That can help your pages and images rank in image search results or appear richer in general search results.

By including relevant alt text, you strengthen overall page relevance, which can improve discoverability and organic traffic — especially for content-heavy pages, blogs, e-commerce sites with product photos, infographics, etc.

Add Alt Text and Improve the User Experience

Why is alt text important? Alt text improves the user experience beyond digital accessibility: it helps maintain context when images fail to load, supports mobile and slow-connection users, and ensures your content makes sense even when visuals are missing.

Also — in a world where voice assistants or AI-based search (e.g. image search, voice search) are getting smarter — the purpose of alt text has evolved. Alt text can help those systems interpret images, meaning more people may discover your content via non-traditional paths.

Alt text examples: What good and bad alt text look like

Examples of Alt Text: Good vs. Bad Alt Text Examples

• Bad alt text: alt="graph" — too vague.
• Okay alt text: alt="graph of global workplace inclusion practices rate since 2000" — at least gives some context.
• Better alt text (good example): alt="bar graph showing global workplace inclusion rate increasing from 2000 to 2025" — descriptive and indicates what’s on the graph.

In another example: instead of “image.jpg”, you might use alt="white poodle running across green grass" if it’s a relevant photo.

The best alt text balances clarity, conciseness, and usefulness. Don’t overload with unnecessary keywords (“cute dog puppy gorgeous happy dog”) which become redundant and may be flagged as keyword stuffing.

Alt text best practices

Unsure how to write alt text? To ensure your text alternatives on both simple and more complex images work both for accessibility and SEO, follow these guidelines:

• Be descriptive and specific: Describe what the image shows and what function or message it has (e.g. “black leather backpack sits on table with green background” instead of “bag”).
• Be concise: Ideally keep alt text short (often recommended around 125 characters), just enough to convey meaning without verbosity.
• Avoid redundant phrases: Don’t start with “image of” or “picture of” as screen readers already know it’s an image.
• Context matters: If the image is purely decorative, you can use an empty alt attribute (alt="") so screen readers ignore it.
• If image contains text (e.g. infographic, chart, graph), include that text in alt description so visually impaired users get the same information.
• Use relevant keywords thoughtfully (when appropriate): If the image relates to your content’s topic, integrate descriptive keywords naturally, which helps with alt text SEO without keyword stuffing.
• Update alt text when images change: If you switch images, make sure the alt text reflects the new image being used rather than outdated info.

Alt Text Guidelines: When to Use Alternative Text and When Not

Not every image demands alt text. Use alt text when:

• The image conveys meaningful information (photos, infographics, diagrams, charts, product images, functional UI elements).
• The image adds to the content’s understanding or context.

Skip or use an empty alt attribute when:

• The image is purely decorative or aesthetic (backgrounds, design flourishes, purely decorative icons).

These guidelines avoid unnecessarily long alt descriptions and keeps screen readers efficient.

Alt Text Best Practice Checklist for Images: Do’s & Don’ts

Consider whether to write aesthetic alt text  

If an image is purely for visual appeal, marking it as “decorative” will allow a screen reader to bypass it. This is often the best approach as it avoids giving unnecessary information or slowing down the screen reader user’s scan of the document.  

“People like to have pages look pretty,” said Kristin Knudson, an accessibility specialist who works to remediate inaccessible documents. “There might be a picture of a dog just because there’s a picture of a dog, and if the dog doesn’t really mean anything to the story or the text, it’s a decorative dog.” 

However, there could be scenarios where it would help your SEO efforts or serve some minimal contextual purpose. In such cases, a short, simple description is enough.  

For instance, if you added the image below to a blog just for the look, you could mark it “decorative” or offer alt text that reads “a corgi dog sitting in front of a white backdrop.” There’s no need to point out anything more about the picture. 

Include details when drafting ‘educational image’ alt text 

If your image serves an educational purpose, it needs to have a more detailed description. For example, a site trying to explain to readers which snakes are poisonous based on the colors and orientations of their stripes needs to have very detailed alt text with it to provide equity to those who cannot see it.  

If you’re using an image of a snake to add an aesthetic image on your page, alt text that reads “a snake with red, black and white stripes on rocky ground” is acceptable. However, it would not be adequate in the context of the educational comparison. Here, a better version of the alt text for the below image could be “a snake with stripes that repeat in a pattern of red, black, white, black, red, indicating it is a false coral snake rather than its venomous lookalike species,” provides more useful context. 

Handling descriptions of images with links  

If an image also contains a link, your alt text needs to describe the image’s content and the link’s destination. For instance, imagine a post discussing Alexander Hamilton that includes the image below of a ten-dollar bill, which links to the Alexander Hamilton biography page.    

In that case, the alt text might say, “Alexander Hamilton on the ten-dollar bill. Read more about him at biography.com.” This way, the alt text covers both the image description and informs the reader about where the link will take them. 

Don’t rely on AI alone to write alt text

AI is a powerful tool that can improve accessibility in many cases. However, when it comes to alt text, AI will often neglect to take the context into account. 

“There are a lot of programs, Microsoft Word is one of them, that will try to figure out what a picture is and put the alternative text in automatically,” said Knudson. “But then you get 60 alternative texts that say, ’graphical computer interface,’ which is neither helpful nor meaningful to anyone except the computer.” 

It’s important that someone who understands the purpose of the image writes the alt text. There are endless ways to describe a single image. The best ones will depend on the purpose of the image in the context of the content.  

Alt text image SEO: How alt text and SEO work together

From an SEO perspective, alt text for images is one of the most important factors in optimizing visuals. It helps search engines “see” and index your images properly — which can improve your website’s visibility in image search results and as part of overall page ranking.

Writing good alt text can help your images appear in relevant searches — especially when relevant keywords naturally match the image. For example, for an e-commerce site, alt text like “men’s white leather sneakers” helps Google associate that image with the related search query.

This not only benefits image search traffic but can also enhance page relevance and improve overall SEO — because search engines can better understand your page’s content, including images.

Alternative Text Checklist for SEO & Accessibility

Here’s a quick checklist to use when crafting alt text for images:

Descriptive?

• Does the alt text clearly describe what is visible?
• Does it reflect the purpose/function of the image?

Concise?

• Is it short and meaningful (under 125 characters when possible)?

Contextual?

• Would someone understand the page content if they only had this alt text?

Accessible?

• Did you avoid phrases like “image of,” “picture showing,” or “graphic of”?

SEO-friendly without stuffing?

• Does it use natural wording and relevant keywords only when appropriate?

Decorative images skipped?

• Did you use alt="" for backgrounds or meaningless design elements?

Example: Completed Image Alt Text Checklist

How to Add Alt Text on Social

Adding alt text on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn can be done quickly. Here are instructions and helpful videos to get you started.

How to Add Alt Text on Instagram

1.Open the Instagram app. Select and edit your photo, but don’t post it yet. 

2.Use the forward arrow located at the top-right corner of the screen to navigate to the next page.  

3.Look to the bottom of the screen and select “Advanced Settings.” 

4.Under “Advanced Settings,” choose “Write Alt Text,” located under the “Accessibility” heading. 

5.Write your Instagram alt text. 

6.Once you completed writing your alt text, select “Done” or click on the check mark. 

Now you can post your image as you normally would. 

How to add Alt Text on Facebook

1.Create a new post and select a visual. 

2.Click on “Edit” 

3.Select “Alternative Text” 

4.Write your description of the image.

How to add Alt Text on LinkedIn

1.Upload an image. 

2.Select “ALT” on mobile or “ALT” on mobile, or “Alt.text” on a desktop. 

3.Write your description of the image 

4.Select “Done” on mobile, or “Save” on desktop. 

Summary: Alt text definition, the importance of image descriptions, and implementation

When asked ‘what is alt text?’ by others at your company, you should be able to easily explain why it extends beyond accessibility compliance alone. Alternative text (alt text / alt attribute / image alt text) is more than just a nice-to-have. It is a fundamental part of web accessibility and search engine optimization. By providing descriptive alt text for meaningful images on your site (and skipping it for purely decorative ones), you help:

• Meet accessibility laws like ADA compliance and WCAG compliance needs
• Make your content accessible to people with visual impairments or using screen readers.
• Ensure that images still convey meaning if they fail to load.
• Help search engines index and understand your images, improving discoverability and image-based traffic.
• Enhance user experience and inclusivity — a win both for ethics and SEO.

Alt text is simple to implement in HTML (via the alt attribute), and it’s one of the easiest wins for accessibility and SEO alike. Use it wisely, keep it descriptive but concise, and avoid redundant fluff or overuse of keywords. A good place to start is by using an accessibility scanner or accessibility checker to detect missing image description and accessibility issues. Contact Verbit’s team for more information.