Shopify Image Alt Text: What It Is, Where to Add It and Examples

Alt text is a short written description of an image that screen readers read aloud and search engines use to understand what the picture shows. On Shopify you add it to each product image from the product's Media section, and it takes about a minute per product.

Here is where to find it, how to write it, and what good alt text looks like for a store.

What alt text does

Alt text (the `alt` attribute of an image) has two jobs:

- Accessibility. Shoppers who use a screen reader hear the alt text instead of seeing the image. Without it, they hear a file name or nothing at all, and can't tell one product photo from another. - Image search. Google uses alt text, along with the page around the image, to understand what an image shows. That helps your product photos appear in Google Images.

Alt text is not a place to repeat keywords. It's a description, written for a person who can't see the photo.

Where to add alt text in Shopify

Product images

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Products and open the product. 2. In the Media section, click the image. 3. In the preview that opens, find the alt text field (in some versions of the admin it appears as Add alt text), type the description and save.

Repeat for every image of the product. Each one shows something different, so each gets its own description.

Other images

- Collection images: open the collection, and edit the alt text on the collection image. - Blog post featured images: open the post and edit the alt text on the featured image. - Images in your theme (banners, slideshows): go to Content → Files, open the image and add alt text there. Some themes also let you set it inside the theme editor.

How to write good alt text

Describe what's in the picture the way you'd describe it to someone on the phone.

1. Start with what it is. The product type and the main visible detail: color, material, shape. 2. Describe what this image shows. Front view, close-up of the stitching, worn by a model, shown on a kitchen counter. 3. Keep it short. One sentence is usually enough. A commonly cited rule of thumb is to stay under about 125 characters, since some screen readers handle long text poorly; treat that as rough guidance, not a hard limit. 4. Skip "image of" or "picture of". Screen readers already announce that it's an image. 5. Be accurate. Only describe what is actually visible. Don't add claims like "best seller" or "free shipping".

Alt text examples

- Weak: "IMG_4482" - Weak: "linen shirt men linen shirt best linen shirt cheap" - Better: "White linen shirt for men, front view, with a relaxed fit and two chest pockets"

- Weak: "candle" - Better: "Lavender soy candle in an amber glass jar with a wooden lid"

- Weak: "water bottle 2" - Better: "Close-up of the leak-proof screw cap on a black stainless steel water bottle"

The better versions name the product, describe this specific photo, and would tell a shopper who can't see it what they're looking at.

Doing it for a whole catalog

200 products with four photos each is 800 descriptions. If you're starting from zero, prioritize:

1. The first image of every product, since it appears in collections and search results. 2. Your best-selling products, every image. 3. New products, as you add them, so the backlog doesn't grow.

EcomBoost AI scans your catalog for problems that cost sales, including products with missing images or descriptions, sold-out products still listed and duplicate products, and fixes many of them in one click. It also rewrites SEO titles and meta descriptions from your catalog data and saves them to Shopify. To see what your store is missing, [check your store free](/free-store-check).

Frequently asked questions

### Does alt text help SEO on Shopify?

It helps Google understand your images, which matters most for appearing in Google Images. It's one small signal among many, not a shortcut to ranking, but it costs little and also makes your store usable for shoppers with screen readers.

### Can I bulk edit alt text in Shopify?

The standard product bulk editor doesn't include image alt text, so most stores either edit it product by product or use a product CSV export and import, which has an image alt text column. Test a CSV import on a few products first.

### What's the difference between alt text and an image file name?

The file name is what the image is called when you upload it, and it's part of the image URL. Alt text is the description attached to the image on the page. A descriptive file name, like white-linen-shirt-front.jpg, helps too, but it doesn't replace alt text.