Free Alt Text Generator: AI Image Alt Text for Accessibility & SEO

Use This Free Image Alt Text Generator to Instantly Write Descriptive, Keyword Rich Alt Text for Images on Your Blog or Website

This free AI-powered image alt text generator can instantly come up with alt text for any image. You don’t need to prompt it, just upload your image and the AI will do the rest.

If you’re here, you probably know you need alt text for your images … but you might not be quite sure why. So let’s quickly take a look at what alt text is and why it matters.

What is Alt Text … and Why is it Important?

Alt text is short for “alternative text”. If someone is visiting your website using a screen reader (usually because they’re visually impaired), then the screen reader will read out the alt text for the image. The alt text will also display if the image fails to load (e.g. because the image link is broken or because the user is on a very slow connection).

This means that alt text is really important for accessibility. If someone can’t see the images on your site, having a clear description in the alt text lets them know what that image shows—adding much-needed context.

But alt text is also important for SEO (search engine optimization). That’s because search engines can’t yet “read” images in the way they can read text. Having good, keyword-rich alt text is part of good blog SEO.

Good alt text will clearly describe the image and use keywords if appropriate.

How to Use the AI Alt Text Generator

It’s fast and easy to generate alt text with this tool. Here’s how.

Step 1. Upload Your Image

You’ll need a copy of your chosen image on your computer or device (you can’t link to it live on your website). It needs to be in .jpg, .png, or .gif format.

Tip: Got an image in a different format? Use this online converter to change it to a .jpg.

Once you have your image ready, go ahead and upload it to the tool.

Step 2. Generate Your Alt Text

After you’ve uploaded your image, click the orange “Generate Alt Text” button. The AI will create a line of descriptive alt text for your image.

You can use the copy button to copy your alt text to your clipboard. Just click the button, then paste the alt text into your blog post (or a doc, if you want to edit the text).

Step 3. (Optional) Tweak Your Alt Text to Add Keywords

Sometimes, your alt text may already use your keywords. Other times, you may need to make some tweaks.

If you want, copy your AI-generated alt text into a blank document, and then change it to add your keyword. For instance, if we were optimizing for “easy fruit salad”, we might tweak the alt text like this:

Two heart-shaped white bowls filled with a colorful, easy fruit salad featuring kiwi, raspberries, strawberries, grapes, and cantaloupe. 

Step 4. Add the Alt Text to Your Image

Finally, you just need to add the alt text to your image in WordPress (or whatever blogging/website platform you’re using).

In the block editor, click on your image. In the “Block” section on the right-hand side, you’ll see a box for “Alternative Text”. This is where you can paste in your alt text.

In other platforms and apps, you’ll follow a slightly different process—but there’ll be a way to do it! In Shopify, for instance, you can add alt text to your products from the product details page, by clicking to “preview media”.

Alt Text and Accessibility: WCAG, Screen Readers, and the ADA

Alt text started as an accessibility feature, and that is still its most important job. The SEO benefit is real, but it is a side effect. Understanding the accessibility side will make your alt text better at both.

What Screen Readers Actually Do With Alt Text

When someone uses a screen reader, the software reads your alt text aloud in place of the image. If the alt attribute is missing, the reader may announce the file name instead, which turns your carefully chosen photo into “IMG underscore 4471 dot jpg.” If the alt text is stuffed with keywords, that is what gets read out loud too. Write it as though you were describing the image to someone on the phone, because functionally that is what is happening.

The WCAG Standard (Success Criterion 1.1.1)

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are the international benchmark for accessible web content. The rule covering images is Success Criterion 1.1.1, Non-text Content, and it sits at Level A, the most basic conformance level. It requires that non-text content have a text alternative serving an equivalent purpose. In plain terms: every meaningful image needs alt text that conveys what the image conveys.

There is one useful exception. Purely decorative images (a divider, a background flourish, an icon that repeats adjacent text) should carry an empty alt attribute, written as alt="". That tells a screen reader to skip the image entirely rather than announce noise. Leaving the attribute off completely is not the same thing and is a common mistake.

Is Alt Text a Legal Requirement?

It depends who you are, and this is where a lot of blog posts get it wrong. The Department of Justice finalized a rule under Title II of the ADA that adopts WCAG 2.1 Level AA for web content, but Title II applies to state and local government entities, not to private blogs and businesses. In April 2026 the DOJ pushed those compliance dates back: entities serving populations of 50,000 or more now have until April 26, 2027, and smaller entities and special districts until April 26, 2028.

If you run a personal blog or a small business site, that particular rule almost certainly does not bind you. There is no equivalent federal regulation setting a WCAG standard for private websites. That said, WCAG is the benchmark that accessibility audits and lawsuits generally reference, and adding alt text is one of the cheapest, highest-impact accessibility wins available. I would not treat it as a legal question so much as a basic-quality one. (I am a blogger, not a lawyer, so if compliance genuinely matters for your organization, get proper advice.)

Use My SEO Checklist to Fully Optimize Your Blog Posts

Adding alt text is just one part of SEO optimization. Here’s my personal checklist to help you make sure every single post is designed to rank well.

1. Make sure you’re using a good WordPress SEO plugin—I like the Yoast plugin
2. Always pick a relevant, achievable keyword (search query) to write about 
3. Use keywords in your headers: good for rich snippets (and to get indexed faster)
4. Only have a single H1 header on the page: that’s your title at the top
5. Use correct header structure, with H2 subheadings then H3 sub-subheadings
6. Don’t go overboard with keyword density—just use your keyword naturally in your text
7. Make sure you have both internal and external links (3 or more external links)
8. Craft a keyword-rich, engaging meta description to encourage readers to click through
9. Add alt text to all your images, using keywords in this where possible
10. Make sure your blog post is long enough to rank well: that usually means 1,500+ words
11. Spend time creating an SEO meta title that’s likely to rank well and grab attention
12. Use your primary keyword in your post’s permalink (URL)

AI Alt Text Generator FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Got questions about the alt text generator? Here’s everything you need to know.