How to Check If an Image Has Alt Text? 5 Easy Ways

You’ve spent hours perfecting your webpage. The layout looks great, the copy is sharp, and the images are chef’s kiss. But those images might be completely invisible to a large chunk of your audience.

Not literally invisible. But to screen readers, search engine crawlers, and users with slow internet connections? An image without alt text might as well not exist.

Alt text is one of those small technical details that quietly impacts your SEO rankings, your WCAG compliance, and whether your site is actually usable by everyone. The real question is: how do you check if your images even have alt text?

Let’s break that down.

What is alt text and why should you care?

Alt text (short for alternative text) is a written description added to an image’s HTML tag using the alt attribute. It looks like this:

Here’s why alt text is non-negotiable:

• Web Accessibility: Screen readers like JAWS and NVDA read alt text aloud for visually impaired users. Without it, they may hear the image’s file name, such as “graphic, grey-divider-01.png”, which provides zero context.

• Image SEO: Google can’t “see” images. It reads alt text to understand what an image is, helping your content rank in Google Image Search and reinforcing topical relevance on your page.

• WCAG 2.1 Compliance: Under Success Criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content), every image must have an alt attribute. Meaningful images require descriptive text; decorative images require an explicitly empty alt=””.

• Broken image fallback: When an image fails to load, the alt text is what users see instead. It keeps your content readable no matter what.

Bottom line: alt text is where accessibility, SEO, and user experience all intersect. Ignoring it is leaving real value on the table.

5 ways to check if an image has alt text

Method 1: Use the WebYes Accessibility Checker extension (fastest, no-code)

This is the easiest and most efficient way to check image alt text, especially if you’re checking pages regularly without touching a line of code.

The Accessibility Checker by WebYes is a free Chrome extension built for exactly this kind of audit. Once installed, open any webpage, launch the extension, and navigate to the Inspect Tools panel.

Inside, you’ll find the dedicated Alt Text Checker, which scans every image on the page and immediately lists:

• Images with no alt attribute at all
• Images with alt text (you can check for its completeness)
• Decorative images

It’s the kind of tool that turns a 20-minute manual audit into a 30-second task, and it’s purpose-built so your entire audit stays focused, clean, and actionable.

Method 2: Right-click → Inspect (Browser DevTools)

If you want to go hands-on, every modern browser has built-in developer tools.

Here’s how:

1. Right-click on any image on a webpage
2. Select “Inspect” (or press F12)
3. Look at the highlighted <img> tag in the Elements panel
4. Check if an alt attribute exists and what it contains

If you see alt=”” on a meaningful image, that’s a problem. No alt attribute at all on any image, decorative or not, is also a WCAG violation (see the section on empty alt text below). A descriptive value on a meaningful image? You’re good.

This method works, but doesn’t scale. Checking 30+ images one by one is a headache, not a workflow.

Method 3: Search the page source code

A slightly broader approach for a quick page-level gut-check:

1. Press Ctrl + U (Windows) or Cmd + Option + U (Mac) on any webpage
2. Press Ctrl + F to open the search bar
3. Search for alt=

You’ll see every instance of alt text across the page HTML in one sweep. Useful for spotting patterns, but parsing raw markup isn’t exactly the smoothest experience.

Method 4: Chrome DevTools accessibility panel

Chrome and Firefox both have a dedicated Accessibility Tree inside DevTools that mirrors how assistive technologies actually interpret your page.

In Chrome:

1. Open DevTools (F12)
2. Go to the Elements tab and click on an image
3. In the right panel, select the Accessibility tab (in recent versions of Chrome/Edge, this may appear as a dedicated tab in the DevTools header)
4. Look at the “Name” field; this is what a screen reader announces

If it’s blank or just says “image,” that’s your red flag.

Method 5: Bulk alt text checking tools (scan your entire website)

The Chrome extension is the right tool for auditing the page in front of you. But when you need to find every image missing alt text across your entire website, whether that’s 50 blog pages or a 10,000-product catalog, you need a tool that can crawl at scale and report back across every URL at once.

Here are the tools built for that job:

1. WebYes Accessibility

Scans multiple pages at once, flags missing alt text alongside other WCAG issues, and provides AI-powered fix suggestions. A practical choice for website owners and teams who want automated checks with guided manual testing without needing deep technical expertise.

Best for: full-site accessibility audits, WCAG compliance

2. Screaming Frog SEO Spider

Crawls your entire domain and exports all image alt attributes. Filter for missing, empty, or over-length alt text across every URL at once.

Best for: SEO teams, large site migrations

3. Sitebulb

Visual site audits with a dedicated accessibility section. Flags WCAG image violations with priority scores, good for handing a fix-list to your dev team.

Best for: accessibility-first site audits

Which method should you use?

Method	Best for	Scope	Speed
WebYes Extension (recommended)	Full single-page image audits	One page at a time	~30 seconds
Right-click Inspect	Checking one specific image	One image at a time	~1 min per image
Page source search	Quick gut-check of raw HTML	One page (raw)	Slow to parse
DevTools Accessibility Panel	Verifying screen reader output	One image at a time	~1 min per image
WebYes Accessibility Checker (bulk)	Entire site audits	Entire domain	~2 min per domain

Good vs. Bad Alt Text: What You Should Actually Be Looking For

Having any alt text isn’t enough. Weak or generic alt text is almost as useless as none at all. 

Here’s what separates good from bad:

❌ Bad Alt Text	✅ Good Alt Text
alt=”image”	alt=”Bar chart showing 40% increase in Q3 conversions”
alt=”photo1.jpg”	alt=”WebYes team at an accessibility workshop, 2024″
alt=”click here”	alt=”Download the free web accessibility checklist”
alt=”” (on a meaningful image)	alt=”Screenshot of the WebYes Chrome extension dashboard”

The rules that actually matter:

• Be specific and contextual: describe what the image shows and why it’s relevant on this page
• Skip “image of” or “picture of”: screen readers already announce it’s an image
• Be concise but complete: aim for clarity. While being concise improves the user experience, modern screen readers (JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver) will read longer descriptions fully, so don’t truncate a complex image’s meaning for the sake of an arbitrary character count. Focus on saying what needs to be said.
• Match the surrounding content: alt text should serve the reader’s understanding, not just describe pixels
• Decorative images get empty alt text: alt=”” is correct for purely decorative elements (more on this below)

Why empty alt text (alt=””) isn’t always wrong, but a missing alt attribute always is

This is one of the most common alt text misconceptions, and it’s worth getting exactly right.

Empty alt text is intentional and correct when an image is purely decorative — think dividers, background patterns, icon flourishes, or visual elements that carry zero informational value. Setting alt=”” (known as a “null alt”) explicitly tells assistive technologies: skip this, nothing meaningful here. That’s correct WCAG practice.

However, omitting the alt attribute entirely is always a violation, even on decorative images. When the alt attribute is missing, screen readers don’t know to ignore the element. They may attempt to announce the image anyway, often reading out the file name (e.g., “graphic, grey-divider-01.png”), which creates a confusing experience. Under WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.1.1, every <img> element must have an alt attribute — the only question is whether it should be descriptive or empty.

So when you’re auditing, don’t just flag every empty alt. Ask: Does this image convey information a user needs? If yes, it needs a real description. If it’s purely decorative, empty is fine and correct. But if the alt attribute is missing entirely, that’s always something to fix.

Run Your First Alt Text Audit in 30 Seconds

Alt text is one of the highest-leverage, lowest-effort improvements you can make to your website. It touches accessibility compliance, image SEO, and inclusive user experience all at once. Yet it’s one of the most consistently overlooked details in content and development workflows.

You don’t need to parse raw HTML or run costly third-party audits to stay on top of it.

The Accessibility Checker by WebYes gives you a fast, focused view of every image’s alt text status directly in your browser. Open any page, click the extension, check the Inspect Tools panel and know exactly where you stand in seconds.

It’s free. It’s built for real content and dev workflows. And it removes the guesswork from accessibility auditing entirely.

👉 Install the WebYes Accessibility Checker on Chrome and run your first alt text check today.

Because an accessible web isn’t just the right thing to build, it’s the smarter thing to build.

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Frequently asked questions

Is missing alt text an ADA violation?

Yes. Under WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.1.1, every <img> element on a public website must have an alt attribute, and non-decorative images require a descriptive value. Failure to comply can expose organizations to ADA Title III lawsuits. Consult a legal professional for advice specific to your situation.

What’s the difference between single-page and bulk alt text checking?

Single-page tools like the WebYes Chrome Extension audit all images on the page you’re currently viewing ideal for checking specific landing pages, product pages, or blog posts. Bulk tools like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb crawl your entire domain and export a report across every URL, which is necessary for site migrations or ongoing compliance monitoring.

Does alt text directly impact Google rankings?

Alt text is a meaningful signal for Google Image Search and helps reinforce topical relevance on the page. Its primary SEO weight is for image indexing and discovery rather than a direct ranking boost on the main SERP. Google Lens and Visual Search also use alt text as a supporting signal alongside computer vision and structured data like https://Schema.org product markup.

How long should alt text be?

Focus on clarity, not an arbitrary character count. A common guideline of 125 characters originates from legacy browser limitations; modern screen readers (JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver) will read longer descriptions fully. Be as specific as the image requires, while staying concise enough to be useful in context.

What’s the difference between missing alt text and empty alt text?

Missing alt text means the alt attribute isn’t present at all, always a WCAG violation on any image, including decorative ones, because the screen reader may announce the file name instead of skipping the element. Empty alt text (alt=””) means the attribute exists but is intentionally blank, which is the correct approach for decorative images only.

Can AI generate alt text automatically?

Yes. Tools like Alt text generator AI use AI to generate descriptive alt text from images useful for large libraries where writing manually isn’t practical. Always review AI-generated alt text for accuracy and context before publishing.