Missing Alt Text on Images
The alt attribute provides a text alternative for images. Screen readers read this text aloud to visually impaired users. Without it, screen readers either skip the image entirely or read the file name, which is useless. Search engines also use alt text to understand image content for image search results.
Why It Matters
Missing alt text is the #1 accessibility violation on the web. It makes images invisible to screen reader users, fails WCAG 2.1 Level A (the minimum standard), and means your images won't appear in Google Image Search. Sites with missing alt text also score poorly on Lighthouse accessibility audits.
Code Examples
<!-- No alt attribute at all --> <img src="team-photo.jpg"> <!-- Empty alt on informative image --> <img src="quarterly-revenue-chart.png" alt="">
<!-- Descriptive alt text --> <img src="team-photo.jpg" alt="Engineering team at the 2026 company retreat"> <!-- Decorative image: empty alt is correct --> <img src="decorative-divider.svg" alt=""> <!-- Complex image: detailed description --> <img src="quarterly-revenue-chart.png" alt="Revenue chart showing 40% growth from Q1 to Q4 2026">
How to Fix
- 1Add a descriptive alt attribute to every informative image. Describe what the image shows, not what it is.
- 2For decorative images (borders, spacers, backgrounds), use an empty alt attribute: alt="". This tells screen readers to skip it.
- 3Don't start alt text with 'Image of' or 'Picture of'. Screen readers already announce it as an image.
- 4Keep alt text under 125 characters. For complex images like charts, use a longer description in the surrounding text or a figcaption.
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