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Image Alt Tag Checker

Check whether images on your page have alt tags filled in and identify common mistakes

Check Results

This only checks alt tags. For a comprehensive analysis, use the full page check.

You can also audit your entire site. Duplicate titles and descriptions, orphan pages, broken links between sections, and other site-wide issues can only be found with a full site audit.

If you don't have an SEO specialist, we can help fix the errors found.

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Why Image Alt Tags Matter

The alt attribute is a text description of an image in HTML. Search engines cannot "see" images, so the alt tag is the primary way to tell Google what the image depicts. Alt text is also displayed when an image fails to load and is read aloud by screen readers for visually impaired users.

What This Tool Checks

  • Alt presence — whether all images have the alt attribute
  • Empty alt — images with alt="" (only acceptable for decorative images)
  • Alt length — descriptions that are too short or too long
  • Keyword stuffing — excessive keyword usage in alt descriptions
  • File names in alt — using file names instead of descriptions (e.g., "IMG_0234.jpg")
  • Overall statistics — how many images are on the page and what percentage lack alt

How to Write Good Alt Tags

  • Describe the content — alt should convey the essence: "Red bicycle in a park"
  • Be concise — optimal length is 5-15 words, no more than 125 characters
  • Don't start with "Image" or "Picture" — screen readers already announce it's an image
  • Use keywords naturally — include them organically, without stuffing
  • For decorative images — use an empty alt=""

Common Alt Tag Mistakes

  • Missing alt — the search engine cannot understand the image content
  • Keyword stuffing — "buy bicycle bicycle price bicycle cheap"
  • Using file names — "DSC_0023.jpg" instead of a description
  • Same alt for all images — all images described with identical text

Frequently Asked Questions

Is alt needed for decorative images? ▶
For purely decorative images (backgrounds, dividers, icons with no semantic meaning), it is recommended to use an empty alt="". This tells screen readers that the image carries no information, so it will be skipped. Omitting the alt attribute entirely is an error.
Do alt tags affect search rankings? ▶
Yes, alt tags help search engines understand page content and rank images in image search. Google uses alt as one of the relevance signals. Good alt tags attract additional traffic from image search.
How long should an alt tag be? ▶
The optimal length is 5-15 words (up to 125 characters). An alt that is too short (one word) does not provide enough context. One that is too long may be seen as keyword stuffing. The description should be brief but informative — conveying the essence of the image in one sentence.

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robots.txt Check
sitemap.xml Check
SSL Certificate Check
HTTP/HTTPS Check
www Redirect Check
Title Tag Check
Meta Description Check
Headings Check
Canonical Check
Viewport Check
Open Graph Check
Encoding Check
Image Format Check
Alt Tags Check
Lazy Loading Check
Internal Links Check
External Links Check
Broken Links Check
Structured Data Check
Compression Check
HTML Size Check
Render-blocking JS Check
Mixed Content Check
HSTS Check
URL Structure Check