Alt text (short for “alternative text”) is a brief written description attached to an image. It’s read aloud by screen readers for visually impaired visitors, displays if an image fails to load, and helps search engines understand your page. This guide covers how to write it well.
Tip: Every image you upload to a chapter page should have alt text — it takes 10 seconds and makes your site more accessible and more findable.
1. Where to add it
When you upload or select an image in the WordPress editor:
- Click the image to select it
- Open the Image Settings panel on the right
- Find the Alt Text field
- Type a short description
2. Describe what matters, not everything
Focus on the parts of the image relevant to the page’s content — not a full inventory of everything visible.
- Good: “Chapter members networking at the 2026 spring social”
- Too much: “A photo of about twelve people, some standing and some sitting, in a hotel conference room with blue carpet and round tables”
- Too little: “Photo” or “Image1234”
3. Keep it short
Aim for under 125 characters — long enough to be descriptive, short enough that a screen reader doesn’t drone on.
4. Skip redundant phrases
Don’t start with “image of” or “picture of” — screen readers already announce that it’s an image, so this is redundant.
- Instead of: “Image of chapter president speaking at podium”
- Write: “Chapter president speaking at the annual awards dinner”
5. Include text that appears in the image
If the image contains important text (like a banner or flyer), include that text in the alt description so it isn’t lost for screen reader users.
Example: “Banner reading ‘Register Now — 2026 Safety Symposium, June 12′”
6. Decorative images
If an image is purely decorative and adds no informational value (like a background pattern), it’s fine to leave the alt text field empty. This tells screen readers to skip over it rather than reading a meaningless description.
7. Don’t keyword-stuff
Alt text is not the place to cram in extra keywords for SEO. Search engines penalize this, and it makes the description useless for the people it’s actually meant for.
- Avoid: “safety chapter event ASSP Chicago safety professionals networking safety training”
- Write instead: “Attendees networking at the ASSP Chicagoland fall training event”
Need more help? Submit a support ticket and we’ll walk you through it.