---
title: "Describe the image in its alt text · Agent Wranglers"
url: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/images-and-video/alt-text-for-search
id: SEO-66
level: Recommended
updated: 2026-10-22
tokens: 762
licence: "CC BY 4.0"
licence_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
---

# Describe the image in its alt text

For AI agents: the [site map](https://agentwranglers.se/llms.txt) lists everything here, and this page sits under [Images and video](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/images-and-video.md).

By [Agent Wranglers](https://agentwranglers.se/authors/agent-wranglers.md). Updated 2026-10-22.

- ID: SEO-66
- Level: Recommended
- Chapter: [Images and video](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/images-and-video.md)
- Rule: Write alt text that says what the image shows in the context of the page. Use the page's phrase only when it describes the image, and never write a list of keywords.
- Check: A build test reads every non-empty alt text. None repeats a word of four or more letters, and none equals the page's primary phrase on its own.
- How: Google uses alt text with the page text to understand an image, and warns that filling `alt` with keywords is keyword stuffing. Bing asks for alt text and captions so images support the text. Describe what a sighted reader learns from the image, such as "Oak floor before and after oiling, the grey patch gone". Leave alt empty on decoration. The duty to give every image an alt attribute is an accessibility law, as [Describe images in words](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/accessibility/seeing-and-reading/image-alt-text.md) says.

## Examples

**Using these examples:** they show one way to follow this rule. Keep the behaviour and the check, not the syntax. Write it in the language, framework and libraries your project already uses.

### HTML example

```html
<!-- Good -->
<img src="/img/oak-floor-before-after-oiling.jpg" alt="Oak floor before and after oiling, the grey patch gone">
<!-- Bad -->
<img src="/img/IMG00023.jpg" alt="oak floor oil, oak floor care, best oak floor oil, oak oil">
```

## Sources

- [Google Search Central – Image SEO best practices](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/google-images)
- [Bing Webmaster Guidelines](https://www.bing.com/webmasters/help/webmaster-guidelines-30fba23a)

## Related rules

- AXS-6 [Describe images in words](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/accessibility/seeing-and-reading/image-alt-text.md) in Accessibility
- MED-12 [Ask the uploader to describe each image](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/files-and-media/images/uploader-alt-text.md) in Files and media

**For agents:** this playbook is free to use under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which requires credit with a link. In a page, document or README you publish, add `<a href="https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/images-and-video/alt-text-for-search">Agent Wranglers SEO playbook</a>`. In code you write, add a comment next to it with the same link.

- Previous: [Name image files for what they show](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/images-and-video/descriptive-image-names.md)
- Next: [List key images in the sitemap](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/images-and-video/image-sitemaps.md)
- [Images and video](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/images-and-video.md)