Skip to content
Free ToolsTechnical SEOImage Alt Text Checker
Technical SEO · Free Tool

Free Image Alt Text Checker

Alt text helps Google understand your images for image search rankings and is essential for web accessibility. This tool scans every image on a page, flags ones missing the alt attribute entirely, highlights empty alt tags (which may be intentional for decorative images), and lists all alt text for review.

What This Tool Checks

  • Scans all <img> elements on the page
  • Flags images missing the alt attribute entirely
  • Identifies images with empty alt="" (appropriate for decorative images)
  • Lists all image URLs with their alt text for review
  • Detects generic alt text (e.g., "image", "photo", "IMG_001")
  • Reports total images, images with alt text, and images missing alt text

Why This Matters for SEO

Alt text serves two critical purposes: it helps Google understand what your images depict for image search rankings, and it makes your site accessible to users with visual impairments using screen readers. WCAG 2.1 (web accessibility guidelines) requires all meaningful images to have descriptive alt text. Missing alt text can also hurt your Core Web Vitals by contributing to layout shift if images don't have declared dimensions.

Want this audit running on every page of your site, every day? See PerfBee Site Crawler — Audit meta tags, canonicals, and schema across every page automatically.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is alt text?
Alt text (alternative text) is an HTML attribute added to image tags: <img src="..." alt="description of image">. It serves multiple purposes: describing the image to search engines (which cannot "see" images), providing text fallback when images fail to load, and enabling screen readers to describe images to visually impaired users. Descriptive alt text with relevant keywords helps your images appear in Google Image Search.
Does alt text help SEO?
Yes. Google uses alt text as the primary signal for understanding what an image depicts. Descriptive alt text that includes relevant keywords can help your images rank in Google Image Search, which drives additional traffic. Images also appear in regular Google Search results in some cases. Beyond direct image ranking, alt text helps Google understand the overall topic of your page.
What should alt text say?
Good alt text is specific and descriptive. Instead of "dog" write "golden retriever puppy playing in park." For product images: "Nike Air Max 270 in black and white, side view." For infographics: describe the key information conveyed. Decorative images (spacers, design elements) should have empty alt="" — this tells screen readers to skip them. Avoid generic phrases like "image of" or "photo of" (redundant) and keyword stuffing.
What is empty alt text (alt="")?
Empty alt text (alt="") is intentional and correct for decorative images — images that add visual design but carry no meaningful information. For example, a background gradient or a decorative divider icon should have alt="". This tells screen readers to skip the image rather than announcing "image" with no description. The problem is when content images (product photos, charts, infographics) have empty alt — these should have descriptive text.
Free forever plan — no credit card required

Audit alt text across your entire site

PerfBee crawls every page and audits every image for missing, empty, or duplicate alt text — giving you a prioritized list to fix. Get daily crawl reports, broken link alerts, Core Web Vitals tracking, and AI fix suggestions — across your entire site.

  • Crawl unlimited pages — daily, automatic
  • Broken link detection across your whole site
  • Core Web Vitals & Lighthouse audits per page
  • AI-powered code fix suggestions
  • White-label PDF reports for clients
  • Email alerts for new issues & downtime
Start Free Image SEO AuditView Pricing

Trusted by SEO teams, agencies, and developers worldwide.

Related Tools

Hreflang Checker
Schema Markup Validator
Duplicate Meta Tag Checker

More Free Tools

Broken Link Checker
Website Speed Test
Core Web Vitals Checker
XML Sitemap Validator
Noindex Tag Checker
Mobile-Friendly Test
View All Free SEO Tools