Images with Missing Alt Attribute
- April 21, 2022
Quick Reference
Element Code: ON-028
Issue: Image tag has no alt attribute at all
Impact: WCAG accessibility failure, no image context for search engines
Fix: Add alt attribute with descriptive text (or empty for decorative images)
Detection: Screaming Frog, WAVE, axe DevTools
What Is This Issue?
Images without an alt attribute fail WCAG accessibility requirements and provide no text alternative for users who can't see images. This includes screen reader users, users with images disabled, and search engines.
Why This Matters
Accessibility
Screen readers need alt text to describe images to visually impaired users. Without it, users may hear the filename read aloud or nothing at all, losing context.
SEO
Search engines can't "see" images the way humans do. Alt text helps them understand image content and can help images appear in image search results.
Best Practices
- Descriptive Images: Add alt text describing what the image shows
- Decorative Images: Use empty alt (alt="") for purely decorative images
- Functional Images: Describe the function, not the image (e.g., "Search button")
- Images of Text: Include the text in the alt attribute
How to Fix This Issue
- Audit Images: Find all images missing alt attributes
- Categorize: Is each image decorative, informative, or functional?
- Write Alt Text: Add appropriate alt text based on category
- Verify: Test with a screen reader or accessibility tool
TL;DR (The Simple Version)
Your images are missing the alt attribute entirely. This is an accessibility failure. Every image needs an alt attribute - either with descriptive text or empty (alt="") for decorative images.
Claude Vincent is a technical SEO consultant focused on crawlability, rendering, and AI-search visibility. He writes the field guides and case studies at SEO ProCheck, with a bias toward the durable, unglamorous work that decides whether search engines and AI answer engines can actually read and cite a site.
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