Image alt text: how to write it well
Describe what the image conveys, concisely and in context. Skip 'image of', keep it specific, and leave decorative images' alt empty.
Alt text does two quiet but important jobs: it lets people using screen readers understand your images, and it helps search engines know what those images show. A few simple habits make it genuinely useful rather than noise.
The whole skill is describing meaning — concisely, in context, and only where it matters.
Describe the meaning, not the pixels
Alt text should convey what an image communicates in its context, not merely list what is in it. Ask what someone who cannot see it would need to know at that point on the page, and write exactly that, plainly.
Good alt text vs poor alt text
| Poor | Good |
|---|---|
| 'image' | 'Barista pouring latte art' |
| 'image of a chart' | 'Sales up 40% in Q3' |
| 'photo1.jpg' | 'Team collaborating at a whiteboard' |
| Keyword-stuffed alt | A plain, honest description |
Leave decorative images empty
Purely decorative images — dividers, background flourishes, ornamental icons — should have empty alt text so screen readers skip them entirely. Adding descriptions to decoration just creates noise for the very people alt text exists to help.
- 1Ask: does it carry meaning?If the image informs, describe it. If it is decoration, give it empty alt.
- 2Describe in contextWrite what matters here, not a generic caption.
- 3Keep it conciseA short, specific line beats a long one. Skip 'image of'.
- 4Never keyword-stuffDescribe honestly; relevant words appear on their own.
- ✓Alt text serves screen-reader users and image search alike.
- ✓Describe the meaning in context, not just the contents.
- ✓Be concise and skip 'image of' filler.
- ✓Give decorative images empty alt so they are skipped.
- ✓Never keyword-stuff — it hurts accessibility and looks manipulative.