How to write alt text →
The rules and examples behind this tool.
Free tool
Alt Text Checker
Paste a page’s HTML to audit every image’s alt attribute at once. Spot missing alt, empty alt on meaningful images, and low-quality descriptions (WCAG 1.1.1).
How alt is graded
- Missing — no
altattribute at all. Fails WCAG 1.1.1. - Empty (
alt="") — fine for decorative images, a problem for meaningful ones. - Suspicious — looks like a filename, starts with “image of”, or is very long.
- Present — has descriptive text.
Not sure what good alt text looks like? Read How to Write Alt Text (with examples).
Frequently asked questions
- What does this alt text checker flag?
- It lists every
in the HTML you paste and classifies its alt attribute: missing (fails WCAG 1.1.1), empty (decorative — fine only if the image carries no meaning), suspicious (filename, “image of…”, or over 125 characters), or present and descriptive.
- Is an empty alt attribute always wrong?
- No. alt="" is correct for purely decorative images so screen readers skip them. It’s only a problem when a meaningful image has empty alt. Omitting the attribute entirely is always wrong.