Missing alternative text is easy to overlook because the image still appears perfectly normal to many visitors. The problem becomes visible when somebody cannot see the image, when an image fails to load or when you audit how clearly a page communicates without relying on visual content alone. Checking alt text is therefore an accessibility task first, with useful implications for image understanding and SEO where the description is relevant.
Know what you are checking for
In HTML, an image can include an alt attribute containing alternative text. The important distinction is between an image with useful alt text, an intentionally empty alt attribute and an image where the attribute is missing altogether. These situations are not equivalent.
Informative images generally need text that communicates their relevant purpose or content. Purely decorative images may appropriately use an empty alt attribute so assistive technology can ignore them. The audit should therefore ask whether each image has the right treatment, not simply whether every alt field contains words.
Inspect an individual image in the browser
For a quick check, open the page in a desktop browser and inspect the image element using the browser's developer tools. Locate the image in the HTML and look for its alt attribute. If it contains text, read that text and decide whether it makes sense in the context of the page.
This method is useful for investigating a specific image or confirming what a content management system actually outputs. It is less practical for reviewing hundreds of images, where a crawler or accessibility auditing tool can identify patterns much faster.
Check the CMS without assuming the field is correct
Many content management systems provide an alternative-text field in the media library or page editor. Reviewing that field is convenient, but the live page remains the final check. A theme, plugin or custom component may output the image differently from what the editor suggests.
Also be wary of inherited descriptions. An image reused in different contexts may need a different treatment depending on the information it contributes. A media-library label written years ago is not automatically suitable alt text for every page where the asset appears.
Use a crawl for a site-wide review
SEO and accessibility tools can crawl a website and report images with missing or empty alt attributes. This is valuable for finding scale problems, such as a template that omits alt text across an entire content type. Exporting the affected URLs can give an owner or agency a manageable remediation list.
Automated reports still need human judgement. A tool may flag an empty alt attribute even where the image is decorative and emptiness is intentional. Conversely, an image can pass an automated check because an alt value exists even though the description is useless.
Judge the text in its surrounding context
Good alt text communicates what matters about the image in that particular context. If nearby copy already provides the same information, repeating a long description may add noise. If the image contains essential information not otherwise available, the alternative needs to convey that function appropriately.
Avoid turning alt text into a list of SEO phrases. Describing an image accurately may naturally include relevant terminology, but keyword stuffing makes the alternative less useful. The objective is equivalent understanding, not another hidden place to repeat a target term.
Handle functional images differently
An image can be a control rather than ordinary content. A linked logo, icon button or image used to trigger an action needs an accessible purpose that reflects what happens when it is activated. Describing only the visual appearance may fail to explain the function.
This is one reason a simple missing-alt report cannot complete the audit for you. The correct alternative depends on whether the image informs, decorates or performs an action.
Fix the source of repeated problems
If an audit reveals dozens of similar omissions, investigate the template or publishing workflow before editing each page individually. A card component may fail to output stored alt text, or editors may not be prompted to consider an image's purpose when uploading it.
Fixing the system prevents the same defect returning. Agencies should also document how editors are expected to handle informative and decorative imagery so accessibility does not depend on one person's memory.
Recheck after the change
After corrections, inspect a sample of live pages and rerun the relevant audit. Check desktop and mobile templates where they differ. The goal is to confirm both technical output and editorial quality.
Alt text is a small field with a specific job. A useful audit distinguishes missing markup from intentional emptiness, checks whether descriptions serve the image's purpose and fixes recurring causes at their source. That approach improves the site for people first while giving search systems clearer information where images contribute meaning.