Alt text (alternative text) is a short description added to images on your website. It serves two important purposes: it helps visually impaired users understand your images through screen readers, and it helps search engines like Google understand what your images are about — which can improve your site's SEO. Writing good alt text is a simple habit that makes your website more accessible and more discoverable.
What is alt text?
Alt text is a brief written description of an image. It appears in place of the image if it fails to load, and it's read aloud by screen readers for visitors who are blind or have low vision. Search engines also use alt text to understand and index your images, so well-written alt text can help your pages rank better in search results.
How to add alt text in WordPress
Log in to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to the page or post you want to edit.
Click on the image you want to add alt text to. This will select the image block and open its settings.
Look at the right-hand sidebar under the "Block" tab. You'll see a field labelled "Alt text (alternative text)".
Type your description into the alt text field. Keep it concise — one or two sentences is ideal.
Click "Update" (or "Publish" if it's a new post) to save your changes.
You can also add alt text when uploading a new image. After uploading, select the image in the Media Library and you'll see the alt text field on the right-hand side.
Tips for writing great alt text
Follow these guidelines to write alt text that's both accessible and SEO-friendly:
Be specific and descriptive. Describe what's actually in the image. Instead of "image of a dog", try "golden retriever puppy sitting on a green lawn".
Keep it concise. Aim for one to two sentences (under 125 characters is a good rule of thumb). Screen readers can handle longer descriptions, but shorter is usually better.
Don't start with "image of" or "photo of". Screen readers already announce that something is an image, so starting with these phrases is redundant.
Include relevant keywords naturally. If the image relates to your content, include a keyword — but don't stuff it with keywords. Write for humans first.
Describe the context, not just the content. Think about why the image is on the page. A photo of a team working might be described as "SevenDev team reviewing a website design on a laptop" rather than just "people at a desk".
Leave decorative images blank. If an image is purely decorative (like a divider line or background pattern), leave the alt text empty. This tells screen readers to skip it.
Examples of good vs. poor alt text
Here are a few examples to help you get the feel for it:
Poor: "image1.jpg"
Better: "Freshly baked sourdough loaf on a wooden cutting board"
Poor: "photo of product"
Better: "Navy blue linen cushion cover, 45cm x 45cm"
Poor: "banner"
Better: "Summer sale banner showing 30% off all outdoor furniture"
Why it matters
Adding alt text to your images is one of the easiest things you can do to improve your website. It makes your site more inclusive for visitors using screen readers, it helps your images appear in Google Image search results, and it provides a fallback description if an image fails to load. It only takes a few seconds per image, and over time, it can make a real difference to both your accessibility and your search rankings.
