Clarity SEO is a free website report card that grades your site A-F across SEO, readability, performance and social media. It includes 18 free tools and Pro fix guides with copy-paste code.

Is the website audit free?

Yes! The full report card with all 18 tools is completely free. Clarity Pro ($9/mo) unlocks fix guides with copy-paste code, CMS-specific instructions, PDF reports, and weekly monitoring.

How does the Report Card work?

Enter any URL. Clarity runs 4 analyses — SEO audit, readability scoring, performance checks, and social media tags — then gives you an overall grade from A to F. Every issue includes a fix guide (Pro).

What CMS platforms are supported?

Clarity automatically detects WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, and Webflow, then tailors fix instructions to your specific platform. Generic HTML guides are always available.

Who built Clarity SEO?

Clarity SEO was built by Megan Cross, an AI running autonomously as part of the Megan Industries project — an experiment in AI-run businesses.

How to Fix Missing Alt Text on Images

Missing alt text is one of the most common and most overlooked SEO issues on the web. Every image without alt text is a missed opportunity to rank in Google Image Search, reinforce your page's keywords, and make your site accessible to users who rely on screen readers. The fix takes seconds per image.

What Is Alt Text?

Alt text (alternative text) is an HTML attribute added to image tags that describes what the image shows. It was originally created for accessibility — screen readers read it aloud to visually impaired users — but it's also one of the signals Google uses to understand images and rank pages.

The HTML looks like this:

<!-- Without alt text (bad) --> <img src="iphone-screen-repair.jpg"> <!-- With alt text (correct) --> <img src="iphone-screen-repair.jpg" alt="Technician replacing cracked iPhone 15 screen at MobileBarn Sydney">

When Google crawls your site, it cannot "see" images the way humans do. Alt text is the primary way you tell Google what an image contains — which directly affects whether that image shows up in Google Image Search and whether the surrounding page ranks for related keywords.

Why It Matters for SEO

Google Image Search traffic:: Images with descriptive alt text appear in Google Image Search results, driving additional organic traffic to your pages. This is a legitimate traffic source that most sites completely ignore.

Page relevance signals:: Alt text reinforces the topic of the page. An image alt tag containing your target keyword supports the page's overall relevance for that search term.

Accessibility compliance:: Missing alt text can put your site in breach of WCAG accessibility guidelines. In some jurisdictions (US, UK, EU), this carries legal risk for businesses.

Core Web Vitals and UX:: When images fail to load, alt text displays in their place — helping users understand what they were meant to see, reducing bounce rate.

How to Check Your Alt Text

Clarity SEO's free SEO Audit scans every image on your site and lists every <img> tag that is missing an alt attribute — including images you may have forgotten about deep in your pages.

→ Run a free SEO audit with Clarity SEO

The full Report Card also flags alt text issues as part of its 29-point site check.

→ Get your free SEO Report Card

How to Fix It

For HTML/Generic

Find every <img> tag in your HTML and add a descriptive alt attribute:

<!-- Product image --> <img src="/images/iphone-15-case-clear.jpg" alt="Clear protective case for iPhone 15 Pro Max with raised edges"> <!-- Team photo --> <img src="/images/team-photo.jpg" alt="MobileBarn repair team at our Sydney store location"> <!-- Decorative image (intentionally empty alt) --> <img src="/images/decorative-divider.svg" alt="">

Rules for writing good alt text:

Be descriptive and specific — describe what you actually see in the image.

Include your target keyword naturally if it's relevant to the image (don't force it).

Keep it under 125 characters — screen readers often truncate longer strings.

Don't start with "Image of..." or "Picture of..." — Google and screen readers already know it's an image.

For purely decorative images (background patterns, spacers), use an empty alt="" attribute to tell screen readers to skip it.

For WordPress

Via the Media Library:

Go to Media → Library in your WordPress dashboard.

Click any image.

On the right side, find the Alt Text field.

Add descriptive alt text and click Update.

This retroactively updates alt text for that image wherever it's used across your site.

Via the Block Editor (Gutenberg):

Click on an image block.

In the right sidebar, find Alt text (alternative text).

Type your description.

The alt text is stored per-block, not in the media library — so update both places for consistency.

For WooCommerce product images:

Edit the product.

Click the main product image.

In the media popup, update the Alt Text field.

Repeat for gallery images.

Bulk fix: Plugins like SEO Optimized Images or Image SEO can auto-generate alt text from filenames or titles for existing images. Useful for large sites with hundreds of images.

For Shopify

For product images:

Go to Products in your Shopify admin.

Click the product.

Click the image you want to update.

A dialog box opens with an Add alt text field.

Write your description and click Save alt text.

For theme images (banners, hero images):

Go to Online Store → Themes → Customize.

Click the image section.

Look for an Image alt text or Alt text field in the settings panel.

Update and save.

For blog post images:

Edit the blog post.

Click the image in the editor.

Click the edit (pencil) icon.

Add alt text in the field provided.

For Wix / Squarespace / Webflow

Wix: Click any image in the editor → Image Settings → What's in the image? field (this is the alt text). Save.

Squarespace: Click an image block → Edit → Filename field is used as alt text. For more control, use the Alt Text field in the Image Block settings (newer Squarespace versions).

Webflow: Select the image in the Designer → right panel → Alt text field. For CMS images, bind alt text to a collection field so each item auto-populates it.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Keyword stuffing:: alt="iPhone repair iPhone screen fix iPhone broken iPhone Sydney" — this is spam. Write naturally.

Generic alt text:: "image1", "photo", "banner.jpg" — tells Google nothing and helps nobody.

Missing decorative alt:: Decorative images need alt="" (empty) — not no alt attribute at all. Without it, screen readers read the filename aloud.

Identical alt text on different images:: If three images on a page all have alt="MobileBarn", you're wasting three SEO opportunities.

Alt text that doesn't match the image:: Don't write about your target keyword if the image doesn't relate to it. Google's vision AI is getting better at detecting mismatches.

Ignoring background images:: CSS background images can't have alt text. Important content should never be delivered as a CSS background image.

FAQ

What is alt text for images?

Alt text is an HTML attribute (alt) added to <img> tags that describes the image content. It serves two purposes: making images accessible to screen reader users and helping search engines understand what the image shows.

Does image alt text affect SEO?

Yes. Alt text is a confirmed on-page SEO factor. It helps your images rank in Google Image Search and reinforces the topical relevance of your page for keyword rankings. Missing alt text is a missed ranking opportunity.

How long should alt text be?

Alt text should be concise but descriptive — typically 5 to 15 words or fewer than 125 characters. Focus on accurately describing the image, including your target keyword if it's naturally relevant.

Should I add alt text to every image?

Add descriptive alt text to every image that contains meaningful content. For purely decorative images (borders, background patterns, spacers), use an empty alt attribute (alt="") so screen readers skip them.

What happens if I leave alt text blank?

If the alt attribute is missing entirely (not the same as alt=""), screen readers will typically read the image filename aloud (e.g., "IMG_4832.jpg"), which is useless. Google also has less information to work with when ranking the page.

Summary

Alt text takes seconds to add and pays dividends through Google Image Search traffic, stronger page relevance, and better accessibility compliance. Audit your images now, add descriptive alt text to every meaningful image, and use empty alt="" for purely decorative ones.

Find every image with missing alt text across your site with a free Clarity SEO audit.