Term · Search & content
Alt text
Alt text — the alt attribute of an image — is a short text description of what an image shows. Screen readers read it to people who cannot see the image, browsers show it when the image fails to load, and search engines use it to understand images and their context.
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Explained
Writing useful alt text
- Describe what matters in context: for a product photo, the product and key visible details; for a chart, the conclusion it shows.
- Be concise: a sentence or a phrase is usually enough.
- Do not start with "image of": screen readers already announce images.
- Avoid keyword stuffing: write for people.
- Use the page's language: Azerbaijani pages need Azerbaijani alt text, Russian pages Russian.
Examples:
- Product: "Handwoven wool carpet with red and blue geometric pattern, 150 × 200 cm".
- Team photo: "Three engineers reviewing a floor plan at a construction site" — describing what is actually in the picture.
When to leave it empty
Decorative images — backgrounds, dividers, icons next to text that already says the same — should have empty alt text (alt="") so screen readers skip them.
Images containing text
If an image contains important text, repeat it in the alt text or, better, put the text in the page as real text.
SEO
Alt text helps images appear in image search and gives context to the surrounding content. It is a small signal, but consistently good alt text across a catalog adds up.
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FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is alt text required?
For accessibility, meaningful images should have it; decorative images should have empty alt. Accessibility standards expect this.
Should alt text and captions be the same?
Not necessarily. Captions are visible to everyone; alt text replaces the image for those who cannot see it.