How to add image alt text across a site

Alt text describes an image for screen readers and search engines. The Image Alt Text screen collects every image shown on the site, including the header, footer and menu, so you can fix them all in one place. Use it when the Site Audit or the accessibility checker says images are missing alt text.

How to add alt text yourself

1. In the editor, click SEO/AEO in the left rail, then Image Alt Text under Optimization Center.
2. Pick a tab: Missing Alt Text (the default), All Images or Needs Attention.
3. Type alt text in the box under an image. The counter shows how many of the 125 characters you've used.
4. Click Save under that image, or Save all at the top to save every image you've changed.
5. Republish the site to put the changes live.

How to have Zeus write it

Agency people only.

1. Click Generate Alt Text.
2. Choose Generate Missing Alt Text Only or Generate Alt Text for All Images.
3. Zeus looks at each image, 40 at a time, and writes a suggestion into its box. A bar shows Zeus is writing alt text… X of Y images and how many suggestions are written so far.
4. Click Stop if you want to end early. Suggestions already written are kept.
5. When it finishes, the screen switches to All Images. Read each suggestion and edit any that aren't right.
6. Click Save all. Nothing is saved until you do.
7. Republish the site.

Zeus uses the business name, type and town, and the page the image is on, to write alt text of 125 characters or less. Logos come out as " logo".

The screen explained

• Republish your site to apply changes.: saved alt text goes into the draft; publish to put it live.
• Save all (N): shows when you've changed one or more boxes. Saves them all at once.
• Generate Alt Text: agency people only. Opens the two Zeus choices above.
• Site images: the card title, with how many images have no alt text.
• Missing Alt Text: images with no alt text at all.
• All Images: every image on the site.
• Needs Attention (N): images whose alt text is Too short (under 5 characters), Too long (over 125 characters), Looks like a file name (such as "IMG_1234" or ending in .jpg), or has Different alt text in different places for the same image.
• Search images: finds an image by file name, alt text or page name.
• Each image card shows the picture, the file name, the page it's on (click it to open the image in the editor; "+N more" means it's used in other places too), the character counter, the alt text box, the reason it needs attention, and Save once you've changed it.

Examples

• A plumber's new site: open Missing Alt Text, click Generate Alt Text → Generate Missing Alt Text Only, tweak "Van parked outside a house" to "Smith Plumbing van at a job in Leeds", then Save all.
• An imported site full of file names: open Needs Attention, find the ones that say Looks like a file name, and replace them.
• A logo used in the header and footer: fix it once. The same alt text is saved everywhere that image appears.
• A client fixing their own site: a client person with SEO settings types alt text and saves it. They don't see Generate Alt Text.

Limits and what it can't do

• Zeus works in batches of 40 images. A big site runs as several batches one after another; keep the screen open until it finishes.
• Zeus can only describe images hosted on a secure (https) address. Images it can't read are counted as "couldn't be read".
• Suggestions are cut to 125 characters.
• An image used in several places gets the same alt text everywhere when you save it. You can't give it different alt text per page here.
• Images in parts your agency has locked are skipped when a client person saves.
• Images added through custom code aren't listed. Add their alt text in the code.
• Changes don't go live until you republish.
• Generating alt text is limited to 30 batches a minute and 400 a day per agency.
• You can also set alt text on a single image in its widget settings or in the media library.

Credits

Free. Editing alt text and having Zeus write it cost no credits.

Who can use it

• Agency people with the Mount Olympus tool can see, edit, save and have Zeus write alt text.
• Client people with the SEO settings permission can see, edit and save alt text. Zeus is only available to your agency.

Troubleshooting

• "Every image already has alt text": you chose Generate Missing Alt Text Only and nothing is missing. Use Generate Alt Text for All Images to rewrite them all.
• "N suggestions written, N couldn’t be read": Zeus couldn't open some images. Write those by hand.
• "No images to describe (only images hosted on https can be described)": the images aren't on a secure address. Re-upload them to the media library or write the alt text yourself.
• "You're going too fast — try again in …": you've hit the limit of 30 batches a minute or 400 a day. Wait the time shown.
• "Zeus is only available to your agency": client people can't use Zeus. Type the alt text yourself.
• "Saved — N images are in a part your agency locked. Republish to apply.": those images were skipped. Ask your agency to change them.
• "Nothing to save": the boxes you changed don't match any image any more. Reload the screen and try again.
• I saved alt text but the live site hasn't changed: republish the site.