Image Alt Text Checker

Frequently Asked Questions

Search engines cannot "see" images — they rely on alt text to understand image content. Descriptive alt text helps images rank in Google Image Search, reinforces the page's topical relevance, and improves the overall content quality signal. Pages with images missing alt text are often flagged in technical SEO audits as having accessibility issues.

Decorative images (purely visual, no informational value) should have an empty alt attribute (alt=""), not a missing one. An empty alt tells screen readers and search engines to skip the image. A missing alt attribute is treated differently — screen readers may announce the image filename, which is disruptive for users with visual impairments.

Alt text should be concise but descriptive — ideally under 125 characters. Describe what the image shows in plain language. Avoid keyword stuffing in alt text. For images that are also links, describe the destination or action, not just the image content (e.g., "Visit our homepage" for a logo link).

Yes, indirectly. Descriptive alt text helps images rank in Google Image Search (which can drive significant traffic). It also improves the overall content quality of the page, which is a positive signal. Additionally, it ensures compliance with WCAG accessibility standards, which is increasingly important for legal compliance and brand reputation.

How It Works

Paste HTML

Paste the full HTML source of any web page. The tool works entirely in your browser — no HTML is sent to any server.

DOM Parsing

JavaScript parses the HTML and queries all img elements, checking each for the presence and value of the alt attribute.

Categorized Report

Images are split into three groups: missing alt (needs fixing), empty alt (decorative, intentional), and has alt text (good). A summary score is displayed.

Common Use Cases

Technical SEO Audit

Check every page for missing or empty alt tags as part of a comprehensive technical SEO audit to improve image search visibility and page quality.

Accessibility Compliance

WCAG 2.1 requires meaningful images to have descriptive alt text. Use this tool to identify violations before accessibility audits or legal reviews.

Image SEO Optimization

Find all images with generic filenames used as alt text (e.g., img-2023.jpg) and replace them with descriptive text to improve Google Image Search rankings.

Content Migration Review

Before migrating content between CMS platforms, audit all images to ensure alt text transfers correctly and no images are stripped of their attributes.

E-commerce Product Pages

Audit product image alt text to ensure every product image is optimized with descriptive, keyword-rich alt text for better visibility in Google Shopping.

Blog Post Review

Before publishing a blog post, paste the HTML to ensure every hero image, infographic, and inline image has appropriate alt text for screen readers and search engines.