Non-text Content
Every image or icon that conveys information needs a text alternative someone can read another way.
What it means
If a picture is doing real work on your page — a photo, an icon that means something, a chart — it needs an alt attribute that says, in words, what it's showing or what it does. Decorative images that add nothing informational (a background flourish, a spacer) can have an empty alt="" so screen readers skip right past them instead of announcing something useless.
Why it matters
Screen readers can't see pixels. Without alt text, a meaningful image is either skipped entirely or announced as a filename like "IMG_4021.jpg," which tells the listener nothing about what's actually there.
What our scan checks for
- Any <img> element with no alt attribute at all.
How to fix it
- Add alt text that conveys the same information the image conveys — describe what it's showing, not that it's a picture.
- For images that are purely decorative, use alt="" rather than leaving the attribute off entirely.
- If an image is also a link or button (like a logo that goes home), the alt text should describe where it goes or what it does.
See where this shows up on your site
Run a free scan to check your pages against this and every other criterion we cover.
Scan a website free