Many store owners see alt text as a box to tick. Either they leave it empty, or they paste the product name into every image: “Blue Linen Shirt,” “Blue Linen Shirt,” “Blue Linen Shirt,” six times down the gallery. Some go the other way and stuff it with every keyword they can think of. All three approaches miss what alt text is for.
On a product page, alt text has two jobs. It tells a shopper who uses a screen reader what each photo shows, so they can buy with confidence. And it helps Google understand the image, which can bring visitors from Google Images and shopping-style results. Good product alt text does both jobs at once, because it describes what is actually in the picture.
This guide is just for ecommerce. If you want the general basics, our guide to alt text for SEO and the lesson on image SEO in our Learn SEO course cover them. Here, let me give you templates for main, gallery, variant and lifestyle images, show you how to roll them out on Shopify and WooCommerce, and explain how to check the result.
Why alt text matters more on product pages than on blog posts
On a blog post, an image usually supports the text. On a product page, the images often are the information. They show the color, texture, size and fit that the shopper can’t touch. If a screen reader user can’t get that information, they can’t judge the product.
The scale of the problem is large. WebAIM’s 2026 Million report, which tests the home pages of the top one million websites, found that 53.1% of home pages had images with missing alt text. The report also found:
“16.2% of all home page images (10.8 per page on average) had missing alternative text”
— WebAIM, The WebAIM Million (2026)
The same report found that 10.8% of images that did have alt text used questionable or repetitive text, such as file names or generic words. On many stores, product galleries are exactly where this happens.
On the search side, Google’s image SEO documentation says it uses alt text together with computer vision and the page content to understand an image. It also says that keyword stuffing in alt text harms the user experience and may cause a site to be seen as spam. And when a product image is a link, for example on a category grid, the alt text acts as the link’s anchor text.
Ahrefs’ alt text guide adds a useful ecommerce point. It recommends including the model number on product pages, using the example of an amplifier image that improves from “image4” to “orange AD30HTC - 30 watt amplifier.” Specific details are what make a product image findable and useful.
Main image, gallery shots and lifestyle photos need different alt text
A typical product has five to ten images, and each one has a different purpose. The main image identifies the product. Gallery images show angles and details. Lifestyle images show it in use. Size charts and infographics carry information. So they need different alt text.
| Image type | Its job | Template | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main image | Identify the product | [Brand] [product name] in [color/finish], [key attribute] | Hartwell linen button-down shirt in navy, relaxed fit |
| Angle shot | Show another side | [View] of [short product name] [showing what] | Back view of navy linen shirt showing box pleat |
| Detail shot | Show texture or features | Close-up of [feature] on [short product name] | Close-up of coconut shell buttons on navy linen shirt |
| On-model shot | Show fit and scale | [Model description] wearing [product] [size info if known] | Model, 6 ft 1 in, wearing navy linen shirt in size M, sleeves rolled |
| Lifestyle shot | Show use or mood | [Product] [in use/setting] | Navy linen shirt worn untucked with chinos at an outdoor cafe |
| Infographic or size chart | Carry data | Short label in alt; the data as real text on the page | Size chart for Hartwell linen shirts (full table below) |
| Badge or decorative icon | Decoration | Empty alt (alt="") | — |
Notice that only the main image carries the full name and brand. The other images use a shorter product name and focus on what is different about that photo. This is what stops the gallery from repeating the same line six times.
The W3C, which sets web accessibility standards, makes the same point in its tutorial on informative images. It says the person who adds the image decides its purpose, and the alt text should convey that purpose:
“Informative images convey a simple concept or information that can be expressed in a short phrase or sentence.”
— W3C Web Accessibility Initiative, Informative Images tutorial
If an image is purely decorative, such as a background texture or a repeated “free shipping” badge whose text appears elsewhere, give it an empty alt attribute. Our new guide to alt text for decorative images explains how to decide.
Which product attributes belong in alt text
The best product alt text mentions the attributes a shopper can actually see in the photo. Here is a simple priority order I suggest:
- Product type. What it is: shirt, sofa, kettle.
- Color or finish. Often the main reason people look at the image.
- Material or texture, if visible: linen, walnut, brushed steel.
- Distinguishing feature in this shot: the buttons, the handle, the stitching.
- Brand and model number on the main image, especially for electronics, parts and branded goods.
- Size or scale, only if the image shows it, such as a model’s height or an item next to a hand.
Leave out things the image doesn’t show: price, shipping, “best seller,” discount codes or adjectives like “amazing.” Also leave out “image of” or “photo of.” Screen readers already announce that it is an image, and Ahrefs’ guide advises against it too.
How long should it be? There is no fixed rule for SEO. Shopify’s help center allows up to 512 characters but recommends 125 characters or fewer, which is a sensible ceiling for product images. Most good product alt text is a short phrase of 5 to 15 words.
Variant images and the duplicate alt text problem
Variants are where ecommerce alt text usually breaks. A shirt in six colors might have 30 images, and many stores show the same alt text, the product title, on all of them. A screen reader user hears “Hartwell linen shirt” 30 times and has no idea which color is on screen.
The fix is simple: every variant image should name its variant. Here is a hypothetical example for a shirt in three colors with three photos each.
| Image | Bad (duplicate) | Good (variant-aware) |
|---|---|---|
| Navy – front | Hartwell Linen Shirt | Hartwell linen button-down shirt in navy, front view |
| Navy – back | Hartwell Linen Shirt | Back view of navy linen shirt showing box pleat |
| Navy – detail | Hartwell Linen Shirt | Close-up of coconut buttons on navy linen shirt |
| Sand – front | Hartwell Linen Shirt | Hartwell linen button-down shirt in sand, front view |
| Sand – back | Hartwell Linen Shirt | Back view of sand linen shirt showing box pleat |
| Sage – front | Hartwell Linen Shirt | Hartwell linen button-down shirt in sage green, front view |
In this example, the store goes from nine identical lines to nine descriptions that each tell you something new. The color word is also a natural keyword. People search “sage green linen shirt,” and now the image says so honestly.
One practical tip: if two variant photos are truly identical apart from color, it is fine for the alt text to follow the same pattern with just the color changed. That is not “duplicate” in a harmful sense. It is accurate.
Templating product alt text at scale
Hand-writing alt text for 5,000 products isn’t realistic. Templates fill the gap, as long as they pull in real attributes. Here is how I would set it up.
- Export your product data with image URLs, variant names, colors and key attributes.
- Tag each image by type: main, angle, detail, on-model, lifestyle, chart. Many stores follow a fixed photo order (main first, then back, then detail), so position can often tell you the type.
- Write one template per image type, using the patterns in the table above.
- Fill the templates from your product fields in a spreadsheet, using simple formulas to join the fields with spaces and commas.
- Clean the output. Remove double spaces, empty brackets and repeated words. Check length stays under about 125 characters.
- Hand-edit your best sellers and lifestyle shots. Templates can’t see what is happening in a lifestyle photo. A person can.
- Import and spot-check 20 random products on the live site.
A spreadsheet formula for a main image might look like this, where B is brand, C is product type, D is color and E is the key attribute:
=TRIM(B2&" "&C2&" in "&LOWER(D2)&", "&LOWER(E2))That produces “Hartwell linen button-down shirt in navy, relaxed fit.” Simple, accurate and different for every variant.
Many teams now use AI tools to describe images in bulk. That can work for detail and lifestyle shots, but it needs review because the AI doesn’t know your product names or what matters to buyers. Our new guide to AI-generated alt text covers a safe review workflow.
Adding product alt text in Shopify and WooCommerce
Shopify
According to Shopify’s help center, you add alt text to a single image like this: go to Products, open the product, click the image to open its preview, choose the option to add alt text, type it and save. In the mobile app, tap the image, then Information.
For bulk changes, use the product CSV. Shopify’s CSV documentation describes an Image alt text column, with a 512-character maximum and an optimal length of 125 characters or fewer. Each image sits on its own row with an image URL and an image position, so you can set different alt text for every image. Shopify also notes the media editor may suggest alt text for images without any. Treat those suggestions as a draft and check them.
| Task | Shopify | WooCommerce |
|---|---|---|
| Where alt text is stored | On each product media item | On the Media Library file (Attachment Details → Alt Text) |
| Edit one image | Products → product → click image → add alt text | Media → Library → click image → Alt Text |
| Bulk edit | Product CSV “Image alt text” column | Depends on your import tool or plugin |
| Length guidance | Max 512 characters; 125 or fewer recommended | No platform limit stated; aim for the same 125 |
| Reused images | Set per media item on each product | One file carries one alt text everywhere it is used |
Our Shopify SEO guide covers the rest of the platform’s on-page settings.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce products use a Product image and a Product gallery, both chosen from the WordPress Media Library, as described in WooCommerce’s documentation on product images. Alt text is set on the image itself. In Media → Library, click the image to open Attachment Details and fill in the Alt Text field, which WordPress documentation lists as the accessibility field for images.
Two WooCommerce tips. First, because alt text lives on the media file, if you reuse one image across several products, it carries the same alt text everywhere. For variant images, upload separate files. Second, most themes output the Media Library alt text for product and gallery images, but some themes or plugins override it with the product title. Always check the live page source after changes.
For bulk updates in WooCommerce, check whether your import tool can set image alt text before you start. Many stores use a dedicated plugin for this, and it is worth testing on a staging copy first. If you are still deciding between platforms, our comparison of Shopify vs WooCommerce may help.
Checking product alt text for accessibility and SEO
After any rollout, test it. Here is a quick audit you can run in an afternoon:
- Crawl the store with an SEO crawler and export all images with their alt text. Sort by alt text to spot duplicates and empties.
- Check the rendered page. Some themes load gallery images with JavaScript. Inspect the live page, not just the admin.
- Listen to a product page. Turn on VoiceOver (Mac and iPhone) or NVDA (free on Windows) and move through the gallery. Can you tell which color and angle each image shows?
- Follow the W3C decision tree for tricky images. The W3C alt decision tree walks through text in images, linked images, informative images and decorative ones.
- Check linked images on category pages. WebAIM found 45% of images missing alt text were linked images. A product card image with no alt text leaves the link without a name.
- Watch Google Images traffic. In Search Console, filter the Performance report by search type “Image.” Our new piece on getting traffic from Google Images explains what to look for.
Alt text works best alongside other image signals. Google’s documentation recommends short, descriptive filenames (such as my-new-black-kitten.jpg rather than IMG00023.JPG) and placing images near relevant text. For products, that means a descriptive file name and a product description that mentions the same attributes.
Product alt text errors that cost sales and visibility
These are the patterns that most often go wrong on product pages:
- The product title copied to every image. Accurate for one image, useless for the rest.
- Keyword lists. “linen shirt mens linen shirt summer shirt beach shirt” reads like spam to people and to Google.
- File names as alt text. “DSC_0042” or “shirt-navy-final-v2” tells nobody anything.
- Promotional text. “Buy now, 20% off” belongs in the page copy, not in a description of a photo.
- Size charts as images only. Put the chart data in real HTML text, with a short alt label on the image.
- Wrong variant described. The sage image says “navy” because the template didn’t update. Spot-check variants after every import.
- Repeating the caption. If a caption already describes the image, the alt text shouldn’t repeat it word for word. Our new piece on image captions and SEO covers how the two work together.
Questions store owners ask about product image alt text
Should every product image have alt text?
Every informative image should. Purely decorative images, like background textures or badges whose text is repeated elsewhere, should use an empty alt attribute so screen readers skip them.
Should I include the brand name in alt text?
On the main image, yes, especially for branded goods. On gallery and detail images, a shorter product name keeps alt text readable.
How long should product alt text be?
Shopify allows 512 characters but recommends 125 or fewer. Most good product alt text is a short phrase of about 5 to 15 words.
Can I use the same alt text for all variant images?
Not if they show different colors or styles. Each variant image should name its variant so shoppers and Google know which one is shown.
Does alt text help products appear in Google Images?
It helps. Google uses alt text with computer vision and page content to understand images, so accurate alt text supports image search visibility.
Is AI-generated alt text good enough for products?
As a draft, often yes. But review it, because AI doesn’t know your product names, model numbers or which details matter to buyers.
Fixing alt text on your best-selling products first
You don’t need to fix every image today. Start with your top 20 products by revenue or traffic. Write the main image alt text by hand, apply the gallery and variant templates to the rest of their images, and listen to two of those pages with a screen reader. Then roll the templates out across the catalog with a CSV import and spot-check the result.
Better alt text helps shoppers who rely on screen readers, gives Google clearer signals, and often improves your product data at the same time. Our guides to product page SEO and product title optimization cover the next steps.
If you would like experts to handle it, our ecommerce SEO services include image and accessibility audits for stores of every size. Request a free quote and tell us about your catalog.
Further reading on product image alt text
- Meta Description Templates for Large Sites
- Product Titles: Writing Product H1s and Title Tags That Rank
- How to Get More Traffic from Google Images
Sources for this product image alt text guide
- Ahrefs — Alt Text for SEO: How to Optimize Your Images
- Google Search Central — Image SEO best practices
- WebAIM — The WebAIM Million (2026)
- W3C WAI — Informative Images
- W3C WAI — An alt Decision Tree
- Shopify Help Center — Adding alt text to product media
- Shopify Help Center — Using CSV files to import and export products
- WooCommerce — Adding product images and galleries
- WordPress Documentation — Media Library screen
