Alt Text: The Small Detail That Makes a Big Accessibility Difference
If you’ve ever uploaded an image and skipped the “alt text” box because you weren’t sure what to write, you’re not alone. Alt text can feel mysterious, technical, or like one more thing on your already very full to-do list. But here’s the truth: those few words you add behind an image can be the difference between someone being included in your content or completely left out.
For many disabled people, especially blind and low vision users, alt text is how they “see” your images. It turns visuals into words so screen readers and other assistive technologies can describe them out loud. When you ignore alt text, you’re not just missing an SEO opportunity, you’re closing the door on part of your audience.
Alt text is one of the simplest, most powerful accessibility tools you have. And once you understand how it works and what to write, it becomes far less intimidating and much more intuitive.
What Alt Text Actually Is (In Plain Language)
Alt text, short for “alternative text,” is a written description of an image that lives in the code or settings behind the scenes. You don’t usually see it on the page, but assistive technologies read it aloud or convert it to braille.
Think of alt text as answering one core question: “If someone can’t see this image, what do they need to know about it in order to understand this content?”
Sometimes that means a simple description, like “A blue ceramic mug of coffee on a wooden desk.” Other times, especially with graphics, charts, or images with text, the alt text needs to do more work, like “Bar chart showing a 40% increase in newsletter subscribers from Q1 to Q2.”
What makes alt text unique is that it’s not decorative copy or marketing flair. It’s functional. It’s there to carry meaning. If the image supports or adds to your message, it usually needs alt text. If the image is purely decorative like a divider line or a background flourish, it doesn’t need alt text.
How Alt Text Works Behind the Scenes
To understand why alt text matters, it helps to know what’s actually happening when a disabled user lands on your website, social post, or email.
Screen readers and other assistive technologies move through content in a structured way, reading out headings, links, buttons, and images. When they encounter an image, they look for its alt text. If it exists, they read that description aloud. If it doesn’t, they may skip the image entirely or read a file name like “IMG_2647.jpg,” which is never helpful for anyone.
On a website, alt text is usually added in the image settings in your content management system (like WordPress, Squarespace, or Shopify). In the code, it shows up as an alt attribute, such as:
img src="mug.jpg" alt="Blue ceramic mug of coffee on a wooden desk"
On social platforms, alt text is often tucked away in an “Accessibility” or “Advanced” tab when you create a post. Instagram, Threads, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, Facebook, and Pinterest all offer alt text fields, but they don’t always make them obvious. Some platforms also auto-generate alt text using AI, this can be better than nothing, but it’s not always accurate or descriptive enough to rely on. Or it can be too descriptive, you can use it to get you started, but I always recommend that you edit any AI generated alt text. (More on this below!)
Email platforms like ConvertKit, Mailchimp, and Flodesk also allow you to add alt text to images, usually by clicking on the image and filling out an “Alt text” or “Image description” field.
In every case, the function is the same: turn a visual into words that someone can access without sight.
Why Alt Text Matters More Than You Think
Alt text is not just a “nice to have.” It touches several parts of your business at once: inclusion, user experience, visibility, and even legal risk.
First and foremost, alt text is an accessibility issue. Blind and low vision people rely on it to understand your content. Without it, a photo-based Instagram post becomes a blank space. A sales page with image-based buttons becomes impossible to navigate. A product image without a description leaves a potential customer guessing about what they’re buying.
When you take the time to describe your visuals, you’re communicating, “You belong here. I thought about you when I created this.” That message matters deeply to disabled customers who are used to being ignored in digital spaces.
On a practical level, alt text supports better overall user experience. If someone is on a slow connection and images don’t load, alt text can still tell them what they’re missing. If they’re using a text-only browser or have images turned off to save data, alt text fills in the blanks.
There’s also an SEO benefit. Search engines can’t “see” images; they rely on alt text to understand what those images are about. Clear, descriptive alt text can help your content rank better in image search and support your overall keyword strategy, though accessibility should always be your primary motivation, not keyword stuffing.
Finally, there’s a legal dimension. Many accessibility lawsuits around websites and digital products point to missing or poor alt text as one of the key issues. If you’re in business and especially if you’re selling online, alt text isn’t just best practice, it’s risk management.
How to Write Good Alt Text (Without Overthinking It)
Writing alt text can feel intimidating until you realize it’s mostly about context. The same image might need different alt text depending on how and where you’re using it.
Start by asking:
What is the purpose of this image in this specific piece of content?
Ask yourself whether the image purely decorative. Such as a swirly line, abstract background, or something that doesn’t add meaning, you can mark it as decorative or leave the alt text blank (in a way that signals “this is decorative” to assistive tech).
Or does the image adds information, supports your message, or conveys something important, it needs alt text.
You can follow a few simple guidelines:
Be specific, but not novel-length.
Aim to describe the key details someone would need to understand the point of the image. For example, instead of “Woman working,” you might write “Woman using a laptop at a kitchen table with a notebook and coffee beside her.”
Focus on meaning, not every pixel.
If you’re showing a screenshot of your course dashboard to demonstrate what students get, your alt text might be “Screenshot of the Mabely Q course dashboard showing modules on accessibility basics, audits, and team training,” rather than describing every button on the screen.
Include important text that appears in the image.
If your graphic has text inside it, like a quote, a discount, or a key message, that text usually needs to be included in the alt text so screen reader users don’t miss it.
Skip “Image of…” and “Photo of…” unless it’s relevant.
Screen readers already announce that something is an image. You don’t need to repeat it unless the type of image matters, such as “Illustration of…” or “Screenshot of…”
Keep your brand voice, but stay clear.
Alt text doesn’t have to be stiff or robotic. You can keep it aligned with your brand’s tone as long as clarity and accuracy come first.
Common Alt Text Mistakes (And How to Fix Them)
Most people aren’t intentionally leaving out disabled users; they simply haven’t been taught how to do this well, myself included! Once you know the pitfalls, they’re much easier to avoid.
One common mistake is leaving alt text blank for images that clearly carry meaning, like product photos, client transformation graphics, or quote cards. If an image helps you sell, teach, or persuade, it likely needs alt text.
On the flip side, some people add alt text to everything, including decorative flourishes, stock backgrounds, or repeated logos in a way that clutters the experience for screen reader users. Imagine hearing “Mabely Q logo” announced ten times in a row on a page, which is completely unnecessary!
Another issue is vague or unhelpful descriptions like “image123” or “graphic.” That doesn’t tell anyone what’s actually there. Auto-generated alt text can fall into this category too. It might say “Image of people” when the actual content of the image is far more specific and relevant to your message.
Then there’s keyword stuffing. Using alt text primarily to cram in SEO phrases instead of describing the image. This helps no one and can even hurt your credibility with both users and search engines.
The fix is almost always the same: slow down for a moment and ask, “If I couldn’t see this image at all, what would I need to know about it?” Then write that, in clear, human language.
Writing Alt Text for Different Types of Content
Alt text isn’t one-size-fits-all, and it helps to think through how it works across different content types in your business.
For social media, especially image-heavy platforms like Instagram, alt text is crucial.
If your post is a quote graphic, your alt text should include the actual quote.
If it’s a carousel explaining a concept, you may need to summarize the content of each slide or provide a thorough description in the first slide’s alt text and use the caption to reinforce the message.
For websites and blogs, prioritize alt text on images that are:
Explaining a concept (like diagrams or process visuals)
Showing key information (like charts or infographics)
Selling something (like product photos or mockups of your offers)
For emails, remember that many email clients block images by default.
Alt text becomes a backup way to communicate what you’re trying to show, like a “Join the workshop” button that is technically an image.
Without alt text, that call to action may completely disappear for some subscribers.
For courses and digital products, alt text is part of creating an inclusive learning environment.
Module thumbnails, downloadable resources, slide images, and bonus graphics should all be checked for meaningful content that needs describing.
Getting Started: Building an Alt Text Habit (With Help From Successible)
Alt text feels much more doable when you treat it as a standard step in your workflow instead of an optional extra. You’re not aiming for perfection overnight; you’re building a sustainable habit.
A simple place to start is with your newest content. Decide that from this point forward, every new Instagram post, blog image, or product photo gets alt text before you hit publish. It’s easier to maintain accessibility going forward than to fix everything all at once.
Then, choose a small, high-impact area to improve retroactively—like your most-visited website pages or best-performing landing pages. This is where tools like Successible come in.
With Successible, you can run an accessibility check on your site and quickly see which images are missing alt text or have issues. Instead of clicking through every page and every image manually, the tool surfaces those problem spots for you. You get a clear list of where alt text is needed, so you can move through and update them in a focused, efficient way.
This turns an overwhelming, “Where do I even start?” project into a manageable checklist: open Successible, review the flagged images, add or improve the alt text, and re-run the scan to confirm your fixes. Over time, you can work through different sections of your site, starting with sales pages and core resources, then moving into blog posts, portfolios, or galleries.
As you go, document what “good alt text” looks like for your business. A one-page guideline for yourself or your team might cover: which images always get alt text, how detailed it should be for different contexts, and a few example descriptions to model. This doesn’t have to be a formal policy; it just needs to be clear enough that everyone creating content knows what to do.
And remember, you don’t have to figure it out alone. Tools like Successible help you see what’s missing; guidance and practice help you feel confident filling in those gaps.
Alt text might look like a tiny, technical box in your content editor, but for many people, it’s the difference between being invited in and being quietly shut out. Those short descriptions are how blind and low vision users experience your images, understand your offers, and fully participate in your work.
By learning what alt text is, why it matters, and how to write it in clear, human language, you’re doing far more than checking an accessibility box. You’re reshaping your business to say, “You matter here,” to people who are too often left behind.
You don’t need to go back and fix everything in one marathon session. Start with your next image. Describe what actually matters. Use tools like Successible to find the gaps on your site. Improve a little at a time. Before long, alt text will stop feeling like an extra step and start feeling like a natural, non-negotiable part of how you show up online, thoughtfully, intentionally, and with everyone in mind.
