Alt text is the description screen readers speak and Google reads — one line serving blind visitors and search engines identically. It’s the smallest SEO skill and among the most neglected: most sites are galleries of IMG_2047.jpg silence.
The one rule
Describe what matters about the image in its context, to someone who can’t see it. On a menu: “Grilled lamb chops with rosemary on a cast-iron plate” — not “food”. On a team page: “Photographer Kemal Özman on Charles Bridge at sunrise” — not “man”. Context decides: the same photo needs different alt on a product page than in a blog post.
The traps
Keyword stuffing (“prague web design prague designer web prague”) reads as spam to Google and as noise to a screen reader — you’re literally shouting nonsense at blind visitors. Decorative flourishes (dividers, background textures) should carry empty alt so screen readers skip them. And “image of…” wastes words — everyone already knows.
Since the European Accessibility Act raised the stakes, alt text moved from nicety to hygiene. Ask for an image audit — we’ll fix the silent gallery in one pass.
Frequently Asked Questions
Screen readers speak it and Google reads it — one line serving accessibility and SEO identically.
Describe what matters in context to someone who can't see it — specific, one or two lines.
Naturally, when true — stuffing reads as spam to Google and noise to blind visitors.
Empty alt — so screen readers skip the dividers and textures instead of narrating them.
Yes — it's the primary signal for ranking images in Google Images.
Under the European Accessibility Act's WCAG standard, meaningful images need it — hygiene now, not nicety.
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