Alt Text

Alt text is a textual description of an image that you add to the HTML code of a Web page. This text appears when an image fails to load and is read aloud by screen readers for people with visual impairments. Search engines such as Google use alt text to understand what is in an image because they cannot interpret images themselves. For SMBs, alt text is a practical way to simultaneously improve accessibility and findability without extra budget.

How does alt text work in practice

Alt text is added as an HTML attribute to an image: <img src="product.jpg" alt="wooden dining table with steel legs">. When a visitor navigates your Web site with a screen reader, the software reads out this text instead of just reporting "image." If the image does not load due to a slow connection, the visitor sees the alt text where the image would be. Google crawls this text and uses the information to index images in Google Images and to better understand the context of your page. In a well-designed Web site, alt text is a standard part of the content process, not a formality added after the fact.

Why alt text came into being and why it matters now

Alt text was introduced in the early 1990s as part of the HTML 2.0 specification, intended for situations where images could not be displayed. With the advent of screen readers and the growing focus on digital accessibility, alt text took on a social function: it makes the Web usable for people with visual impairments. Since European accessibility legislation went into effect, many organizations have been required to make their Web sites accessible. At the same time, SEO consultants discovered that alt text helps Google understand and rank images. For an ecommerce store with hundreds of product images, this can make the difference between being found through Google Images or not.

What alt text delivers for SMEs

For an SME, alt text provides three concrete benefits. First, it increases your reach: visually impaired visitors can fully understand your content, which increases your customer base and strengthens your brand image. Second, it improves your findability: Google indexes your images better, which generates additional organic traffic through Google Images. A furniture store that provides each product image with a descriptive alt text ranks faster on search terms like "oak coffee table" than competitors who skip this. Third, you avoid legal risks: in the United States, the European Accessibility Directive applies to many commercial websites, and missing alt text can lead to complaints or fines. A thoughtful SEO strategy integrates alt text from the start, so that accessibility and findability go hand in hand.

Alt text works in different situations and fulfills a different role each time. For ecommerce stores it is a conversion tool, for content marketers an SEO tool and for organizations with a public task a legal obligation. Below are four concrete applications and when to prioritize alt text or not.

Product photos in ecommerce stores and catalogs

In an ecommerce store, alt text describes the product in the image: color, material, shape and sometimes usage. For example, a good alt text for a product image is "black leather laptop bag with adjustable shoulder strap," not "bag" or "product-12345." Google uses this information to show your product in Google Images when someone searches for "black leather laptop bag." Visitors with a screen reader immediately understand what they are looking at, which increases the likelihood that they will click through to the product page. An ecommerce store with hundreds of items requires a structured approach: use product attributes from your database to generate alt text automatically, but manually check that the text remains logically readable. Avoid keyword stuffing: "buy black leather laptop bag cheap Amsterdam" harms your ranking more than it helps.

Infographics and data visualizations in content marketing

An infographic often contains a lot of information that is lost if you just use "infographic" as alt text. Instead, describe the core message: "bar graph showing sales growth of 12% in Q1 2024 compared to Q4 2023." Visitors who cannot see the image will still understand the gist this way. For complex charts, consider placing a longer textual description on the page itself in addition to the alt text, such as in a structured article with schema markup. Google appreciates this kind of context and ranks your content higher on informative searches. A common mistake is omitting alt text for decorative graphics: in that case, use an empty alt(alt="") to let screen readers know that the image has no content value.

Logos and brand identity in headers and footers

The logo in your header deserves simple, recognizable alt text:"Monkey Vision logo" or simply"Monkey Vision." Avoid "click here for homepage" or "logo," as that doesn't add any information. Screen readers read the alt text when a visitor tabs through the navigation, so clear naming improves the user experience. For strong brand identity, consistency is important: use the same alt text for your logo on every page. Decorative icons such as social media icons in the footer can be given an empty alt if the link itself already has a text label, for example, "Follow us on LinkedIn." This avoids duplicate information and keeps the screen reader experience uncluttered.

When alt text is the right choice and when it is not

Alt text is essential for content graphics: product photos, team photos, blog article illustrations, charts and screenshots. For decorative elements such as background patterns, separators or purely visual accents, use an empty alt(alt=""). This signals to screen readers that the image contains no information and should be skipped. A mistake we often see: using alt text as a disguised SEO trick by cramming in keywords that have nothing to do with the image. Google recognizes this and penalizes it. Alt text is no substitute for good anchor text in links or for structured content on the page itself. Use it only where it belongs: as an honest description of what can be seen visually.