Alt text

Why alt text matters

Screen readers announce image alt text to visually impaired users, making it essential for accessibility. Without alt text, images become mysterious gaps in content—users hear "image" with no context about what it shows or why it's there.

Search engines cannot see images either. They rely on alt text to understand image content and relevance, making it a ranking signal for both image search and general SEO. Well-written alt text helps your images appear in relevant searches.

Writing effective alt text

Good alt text describes what the image shows and its relevance to the page. Be specific and concise. "Team photo in our Nottingham office" is better than "image" or "photo". Include important text visible in the image—if your hero has a headline overlay, include that text in the alt attribute.

Avoid phrases like "image of" or "picture showing"—screen readers already announce it's an image. Don't stuff keywords. Write naturally as if describing the image to someone over the phone. Keep it under 125 characters when possible.

When to leave alt text empty

Decorative images that add no informational value should have empty alt attributes (alt="") rather than missing alt entirely. This tells screen readers to skip the image. Background patterns, visual dividers, and purely aesthetic elements fall into this category.

If an image is immediately explained by adjacent text—like a thumbnail next to a linked article headline—the alt text can be brief or empty to avoid redundancy. Context determines what's appropriate.

Alt text in practice

Every Fernside site includes thoughtful alt text on all content images. We write descriptions during development and provide guidance for clients managing their own image uploads through Fernside CMS.

Missing or poor alt text is one of the most common accessibility failures. It's also one of the easiest to fix—just takes attention and care during content creation.