Think alt text doesn't matter? Think again. Those little image descriptions can make or break your SEO, help thousands of visually impaired shoppers actually use your store, and even keep you out of legal trouble. Let's dive into everything you need to know.
Alt text (short for alternative text) is basically a written description of what's in an image. It lives in your HTML code, hiding in the background until someone needs it. When do people need it? Well, when images don't load, screen readers speak it aloud to visually impaired users, and—here's the kicker—Google reads it to figure out what your images are actually showing. No alt text means Google has no clue what you're selling.
<img src="running-shoes.jpg" alt="Black Nike running shoes with orange swoosh on white background">Google ranks your images in search results
Screen readers describe images to blind users
Text shows when images don't load
Here's the wild part: 60% of online stores have either missing or terrible alt text. That's not just a stat—it's your competitive advantage waiting to happen. While your competitors are ignoring this, you can swoop in, nail your alt text, and watch your Google Images rankings climb. Plus, you'll avoid those pesky accessibility lawsuits that nobody wants to deal with.
Want to know a secret? Alt text is one of the most powerful SEO weapons you have, and hardly anyone's using it properly. Why? Because Google can't actually "see" your beautiful product photos. Crazy, right? All that time you spent getting the lighting perfect, and Google's sitting there blind. Alt text is how you tell Google what's in those images—and when you do it right, your products start showing up in Google Images searches, bringing in buyers who are actively looking for exactly what you sell.
This is huge—alt text is literally the main thing Google looks at when ranking images. Got descriptive alt text? You'll show up when people search for "black leather boots." Don't have it? You're invisible.
Google reads your alt text to figure out what your whole page is about. When your images have good descriptions, Google thinks "Oh, this page is really about hiking boots." Boom—better rankings for your entire page.
Here's where it gets fun. You can target super specific searches that people actually use—like "waterproof hiking boots for women." These long-tail keywords are gold because they're exactly what shoppers type into Google Images.
Google Shopping and product rich snippets use alt text to display products. Better alt text means more prominent placement in shopping results.
Quick tip: before you start writing alt text, spend five minutes figuring out what people actually search for. Just start typing your product into Google Images and watch what autocomplete suggests. That's real search data telling you exactly what words to use.
Let's talk legal stuff for a sec (don't worry, I'll keep it brief). WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines—basically the rulebook for making websites work for everyone, including people with disabilities. Alt text is literally the most basic requirement they have. Level A. The bare minimum. And yet, thousands of stores skip it. Bad move. Not only does it shut out millions of potential customers who use screen readers, but it's also an invitation for lawsuits. And trust me, those settlements aren't cheap.
Translation: every image that means something needs a text description. Pretty straightforward, right? If your image conveys information, it needs alt text. Period.
Product photos, lifestyle images, diagrams - describe the content fully. Example: "Red wool winter coat with fur-lined hood and toggle buttons."
Buttons, icons, clickable images - describe the function. Example: "Add to cart" not "shopping cart icon."
Background patterns, purely decorative elements - use empty alt text (alt="") so screen readers skip them.
Real talk: accessibility lawsuits are exploding. Over 4,000 were filed just in 2023, and guess what a lot of them target? Missing alt text on e-commerce sites. Don't let your store be the next one.
Ever wonder what it's actually like to use a screen reader? Understanding this makes you a way better alt text writer. Basically, when someone navigates to an image, the screen reader speaks your alt text out loud. That's their only way to know what's in the picture.
Okay, so how do you actually write good alt text? It's part science, part art. You want to be accurate and clear, but you also need to sneak in those keywords without sounding like a robot. Good news: there's a formula that works. Once you get the hang of it, you'll be cranking out perfect alt text in seconds.
Don't write: "Shoe"
Do write: "Waterproof brown leather hiking boots with red laces"
Don't write: "This image shows a luxurious Italian leather handbag"
Do write: "Black Italian leather handbag with gold chain strap"
Don't write: "Women's running shoes running shoes for women running athletic shoes"
Do write: "Purple women's running shoes with mesh upper and cushioned sole"
Don't write: "Image of a red dress" or "Picture showing a laptop"
Do write: "Red dress" or "Silver laptop"
Same watch, different contexts:
Product page: "Stainless steel dive watch with black rubber strap and rotating bezel"
Lifestyle shot: "Stainless steel dive watch worn by swimmer underwater"
Here's something people mess up constantly: every image in your gallery needs different alt text. You can't just copy-paste the same description five times. Each angle shows something different, so describe what that specific image shows:
Want a sneaky-good trick? Think about the questions your customers always ask, then answer them right in your alt text. You're killing two birds with one stone—better accessibility AND answering buyer questions:
Here's the thing about length: you don't want to write a novel, but you also can't just say "shoe" and call it a day. It's a Goldilocks situation—not too short, not too long. The sweet spot? Around 125 characters. Why? Because it's long enough to be descriptive and include your keywords, but short enough that screen readers won't cut you off mid-sentence.
Too Short
Lacks context and descriptive detail for users and SEO
Optimal Length
Perfect balance of detail and conciseness
Too Long
Screen readers truncate, users lose patience
This is barely enough. Only use this length if the image is super simple and obvious.
This is the sweet spot. You've got enough room to be descriptive without rambling. This is where you want to be most of the time.
Good for complex images needing extra detail. Use sparingly.
You're pushing it here. Screen readers might actually cut you off. Only go this long if the image is genuinely complex and you need the extra words.
Stop. Too long. Screen readers will literally cut you off mid-sentence around 200 characters. If you need this many words, you're overthinking it.
Use these methods to verify optimal length:
You know what they say—examples are worth a thousand words. Let's look at some real scenarios so you can see exactly what works and what makes people (and Google) cringe.
alt="""logo" or "company logo""Acme Company logo" or "Nike swoosh logo""shopping cart icon""Add to cart" (describe the action)Alright, let's talk about the mistakes I see all the time—even from people who should know better. If you're making any of these, don't feel bad. Just fix them and move on. Your SEO will thank you.
This is the big one. The worst offender. Nearly half of all product images online are just... sitting there with no alt text. It's like putting up a billboard with nothing on it.
Shopify loves to be helpful and auto-fill your alt text with the filename. Sounds convenient until you realize screen readers are literally saying "IMG underscore five four three two dot jpg" to your customers. Yeah, not great.
Look, I get it. You want to rank for everything. But stuffing every variation of "running shoes" into your alt text just makes you look desperate—and Google knows it. They'll actually penalize you for this stuff.
Screen readers already announce "Image" before reading alt text. So when you write "Image of black boots," users hear "Image image of black boots." Redundant much? Save those precious characters for actual descriptions.
Using same alt text for product gallery images or multiple products.
Vague descriptions that could apply to any product.
Using sales language rather than objective description.
Copy-pasting alt text that describes a different image or outdated product.
So you've got 500 products with zero alt text. Are you supposed to manually write descriptions for every single one? Hell no. That would take forever. Lucky for you, there are some smart ways to bulk update everything without losing your mind.
This is the no-brainer option. Ailee uses AI to actually look at your product images and write proper alt text for you—automatically. We're talking minutes to process your entire catalog, not the 20+ hours it would take doing it manually. The AI isn't just slapping product titles in there either; it genuinely describes what's in the image.
If you've only got a handful of products (or you're just really stubborn about doing things manually), Shopify's built-in bulk editor is your friend. It's free, which is nice. But you're still typing everything yourself, which... isn't.
Are you the kind of person who actually enjoys working in spreadsheets? Then this method might be for you. Export your products, fill in the alt text column in Excel or Google Sheets, and import it back. It's tedious, but it works.
There are a few other apps out there that claim to help with alt text. Most of them are basically glorified text editors—you still do all the writing. But hey, options are options.
Got a developer on your team? Or maybe you ARE the developer? Then you can build your own solution using Shopify's API. It's powerful and flexible, but unless you know what GraphQL is, you'll want to skip this one.
Just do it manually with Shopify's bulk editor. It'll take you an hour or two, but hey—it's free. Put on some music and power through.
Okay, now we're in "definitely automate this" territory. Doing 500 products manually would eat up your entire weekend. Let AI handle it in 10 minutes instead. The ROI basically pays for itself after the first month.
At this point, manual is literally not an option unless you hate yourself. We're talking 100+ hours of work. Automation isn't just recommended—it's required. Use AI or build something custom if you've got the resources.
You're running a serious operation here. Time to bring in the big guns—enterprise AI solutions or a custom-built system with something like GPT-4 Vision. You'll probably need a developer to set this up properly.
Why are you still writing alt text by hand? Let AI do the heavy lifting. It'll analyze every image, write natural descriptions that actually help SEO, and make sure everything's accessibility-compliant. Your entire catalog, done in minutes.
Vision AI analyzes images and creates accurate, natural alt text
Keyword-rich descriptions that boost Google Images rankings
Accessibility-ready alt text for all users
3-day free trial • No credit card required • Update entire catalog in minutes