Adding alt text to images

Alt text is text you add to images to make them more accessible to visitors. Search engines also use alt text to identify the content of the image, so it’s a great way to give your site an SEO boost. In some places, your image’s filename serves as the alt text if you don’t manually add alt text. For image blocks and auto layouts, you need to manually add alt text. 

Alt text is also helpful for assistive screen readers or browsers with images disabled. If a browser can't display the image, the alt text may be displayed instead. When you add alt text, use short, readable terms that describe the image. Follow our tips to make your images accessible.

This guide reviews how to add alt text to your site's images, and images that include alt text automatically.

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Alt text best practices

When writing alt text, remember that you're writing for humans who use assistive screen readers or who disabled images in their browser. Keep in mind:

• Be descriptive and helpful. How would you describe this image to someone who couldn't see it?
• Keep the text short, typically twelve words or fewer.
• Optimize your text for search by incorporating keywords, but avoid keyword stuffing.
• Write in real sentences; don't use hyphens to separate words.
• You can omit words like "the" and "a," and terms like "photo" or "picture." For example, instead of a picture of a green vase, use green vase.

Image file names

An image's filename acts as alt text if there isn't any other alt text added, except for image blocks and  auto layouts. We recommend using our alt text best practices when you create image filenames for your images.

To change the filename for most images, re-upload the image with the new name or change the filename in the image editor. For example, with image blocks, open the block editor, go to the Content tab, then update the Filename field in the Content tab.

Tip: Only use letters, numbers, underscores, and hyphens in file names.

Site logo

The site title serves as the alt text for the site logo.

Image blocks

You can add alt text of up to 250 characters to any image block layout. If you don’t add alt text to image blocks, the image is hidden from assistive technologies, like screen readers. To add alt text:

1. In the image block editor, click the Content tab.
2. Go to Image alt text, then enter your alt text in the field.
3. Click Save.

Auto layout and gallery section images

Auto layouts and gallery sections are only supported in version 7.1.

You can add alt text to auto layouts and gallery sections, but each uses a different method.

Auto layouts

If the image alt text field doesn't appear, in the Elements tab, switch the Show image toggle on. To add alt text to images in auto layout sections:

1. While editing a page, hover over the auto layout section and click Edit Content.
2. Click the Content tab.
3. Click the image you want to add alt text to.
4. Scroll to Image Alt Text and enter your alt text in the field.
5. Click Back, then click Save.

If you don't add alt text to auto layouts, no alt text displays.

Gallery sections

Gallery sections primarily showcase images. If you add a description to gallery section images, it automatically becomes alt text and the caption for the image.

Gallery block images

In version 7.1 you can only add gallery blocks to blog posts, product items, and individual events.

To add alt text to an image in a gallery block:

1. Double-click the gallery block or click Edit.
2. Find the image to edit, hover over it, and click .
3. Add alt text to the Enter an image title field. If you don't add an image title, text in the description field becomes alt text.
4. Click Save.

Blog post and event featured images

The title of a blog post or event serves as the alt text for the post or event featured image. For Event Pages, this is the same on both list and calendar layouts.

Section background images and page featured images

File names serve as alt text for section background images and page featured images. Ensure that you name all featured or background images as you want them to appear before uploading them.

Video block thumbnail image

When you add video blocks to your page using a URL, the block automatically generates a thumbnail image and appears as an overlay. If you add a custom thumbnail, the file name appears in the static URL, but not as alt text. It's not possible to add alt text to video block thumbnail images.

Product images

You can add alt text of up to 200 characters to any product image. If you don't add alt text, the product name becomes alt text. To add alt text:

1. In your store page, hover over a product, then double-click it.
2. Hover over the product image, click the three dots, then click Edit metadata.
3. Add your text to the Alt text field.
4. Click Apply.

Cover page images (version 7.0)

To add alt text to a cover page image:

1. In the cover page menu, click the Media panel.
2. Hover over the image and click .
3. Add alt text to the Enter alt text… field.
4. Click Save.

Gallery page images (Version 7.0)

To add alt text to an image in a gallery page:

1. Click the gallery page in the Pages panel.
2. Find the image to edit, hover over it, and click .
3. Add alt text in the Image Title field. If you don't add an image title, text in the description field becomes alt text.
4. Click Save.

Email Campaigns image, blog, and product sections

In Squarespace Email Campaigns, you can add alt text to images, blog posts, and products you add to your campaign:

1. In your campaign draft, click an image section, blog section, or product section.
2. In the right panel, click the image, blog post, or product where you want to add alt text.
3. Add alt text under Image Alt Text. The alt text saves automatically.

If you don't add alt text to these sections, no alt text displays. It's not possible to add alt text to images or logos in the campaign header.

Next steps

• For more SEO tips, visit How do I increase my site visibility to search engines?
• To learn how to make your site more accessible, visit Making your Squarespace site more accessible.