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Image alt text: a practical guide to writing it well
Alt text explains an image's purpose; it is not a keyword list or a copy of a filename.
Decide what the image contributes
An informative image needs an alternative that communicates the information or action a person would lose if they could not see it. Decorative images should be ignored.
Image and link checklist
Turn these checks into a repeatable task for design, content, and development.
- Describe relevant information, not every pixel.
- Use an empty alt for purely decorative images.
- Include destination or action when an image is a link.
- Explain chart data in nearby text too.
- Avoid filenames, 'image of', and repeated text.
Next step
Review new images in every publication and reusable templates before fixing one image at a time.