Images without alt: what Google Images and your visitors lose

In brief

Images with no alt attribute stay unreadable to Google Images and to screen readers, costing your page image traffic and accessibility. The impact on overall SEO is modest: add a descriptive alt to content images and leave an empty alt on decorative ones.

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What is it?

Some images on the page have no alt attribute.

Why it hurts SEO and AI

Google Images cannot understand these images, and neither can screen readers. Modest impact on overall SEO, real impact on image traffic and accessibility.

When it is NOT a problem

  • The affected images are purely decorative: an empty alt attribute (alt="") is then the correct practice.
  • Your images load as CSS backgrounds and are not meant to be indexed as content.
  • The page has no image-traffic stake (app interface, back office) and stays accessible another way.
Before
<img src="/blue-trail-shoe.jpg">
After
<img src="/blue-trail-shoe.jpg" alt="Blue trail running shoe with lugged sole">

The alt describes the image concretely, without keyword stuffing or a prefix like image of.

How to fix it

  1. Find the content images with no alt attribute (products, illustrations, diagrams).
  2. Write a short alt describing the actual content of each image.
  3. Set alt="" on purely decorative images so screen readers skip them.
  4. Re-crawl the page to confirm every content image now has an alt.

This scan checks the content structure: H1, headings and text volume

Is this issue on your site?

How many of your images are invisible to Google Images? Enter a URL: Seogard analyzes the rendered page and lists the images with no alt attribute. Free, no credit card.

By clicking Scan, I certify that I own this site or have permission to crawl it.

  • No credit card
  • Result in ~30 s

What you get back

Google Images traffic becomes possible and the page is accessible.

Seogard catches this regression automatically — through its continuous SEO monitoring.

Frequently asked questions

Must every image have an alt attribute?

Yes, but with a descriptive alt for content images and an empty alt (alt="") for decorative ones, so screen readers skip them.

Does a missing alt lower my ranking?

The impact on overall ranking is modest. The real stakes are Google Images traffic and accessibility for people using a screen reader.

Related rules

Title lengthThe meta title is too short (< 15 characters) or too long (> 60 characters). Google may truncate or rewrite it. Description lengthThe meta description is too short (< 50 characters) or too long (> 160 characters). Ideally between 120 and 155 characters. Missing H1No H1 on the page (checked on the rendered DOM after JavaScript hydration). The main title is a strong SEO signal — every page should have one.

Updated July 10, 2026