Image Alt Text and Optimization: Fix Your Missing 578 Images

Reading time: 9 minutes

If your Surmado Scan report shows “578 images missing alt text”, you’re invisible to Google Image Search. a major traffic source for service businesses. Here’s how to fix it in 4-6 hours.

TLDR

Alt text describes images for search engines and screen readers, driving image search traffic and improving accessibility. Missing alt text means zero Google Image Search visitors. Use the formula: what it is, plus relevant details, plus location or brand. Prioritize service and team photos, keep descriptions under 125 characters, and include natural keywords. Compress images while adding alt text to reduce file sizes 60-80%. Use empty alt attributes for decorative images. Expect image search traffic to increase within 3-4 weeks.

What Alt Text Actually Is

Alt text (alternative text) is the description you add to images so search engines and screen readers understand what’s in the picture.

Example:

<!-- Bad: No alt text -->
<img src="moving-truck.jpg">

<!-- Good: Descriptive alt text -->
<img src="moving-truck.jpg" alt="Veterans Moving America truck parked outside Dallas home during residential move">

Why it matters:

1. Google Image Search - 22% of all Google searches are image searches. Your photos can drive traffic.
2. Accessibility - Screen readers read alt text aloud to visually impaired users (10% of population).
3. AI Discovery - ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini index image descriptions when answering visual questions.
4. Broken Images - Alt text displays if the image fails to load.

The Business Impact

For a service business with 500 images:

Without alt text:

• 0 visitors from Google Image Search
• Failed WCAG accessibility audit
• Lost opportunity for “moving company trucks Dallas” searches
• AI platforms can’t reference your visual proof

With optimized alt text:

• 200-500 monthly visitors from image search
• Accessibility compliant (expands addressable market)
• Rank for long-tail visual searches
• AI platforms cite your images as evidence

Real example: A moving company added alt text to 300 truck/team photos. Within 60 days, they ranked #1 for “Dallas moving company veteran-owned” (image search) and got 340 monthly visits from people who clicked through from images.

Understanding Your Scan Report

When Surmado Scan scans your site, it flags:

578 images without alt text
Impact: High - Direct SEO loss
Effort: Medium - 4-6 hours to fix

What this means:

• 578 images - Every photo, logo, icon, and graphic on your scanned pages
• High impact - Google Image Search is a top 5 traffic source for most businesses
• Medium effort - It’s tedious but straightforward (no coding required)

Which Images Matter Most?

Priority 1: Service Photos (Fix First)

• Team photos
• Equipment/trucks
• Before/after results
• Facility photos
• Customer interaction shots

Priority 2: Product Images

• Inventory photos
• Package/pricing visuals
• Process diagrams

Priority 3: Decorative Images

• Background patterns
• Decorative icons
• Spacer graphics (can use empty alt="")

The 4-Hour Alt Text Fix

Step 1: Export Your Image List (30 minutes)

WordPress:

1. Install “Export Media Library” plugin (free)
2. Export CSV of all images
3. You’ll see: filename, URL, current alt text (probably blank)

Shopify:

1. Settings → Files
2. Export product images CSV
3. Note which have empty alt text fields

Custom website: Use your Scan report to find pages with missing alt text, then inspect each page.

Step 2: Write Alt Text (3 hours)

The Formula: [What it is] + [Relevant details] + [Location/brand if relevant]

Examples:

Bad alt text:

• “image1.jpg” (filename)
• “Picture” (generic)
• “Click here” (not descriptive)
• Empty/missing

Good alt text:

• “Two Veterans Moving America crew members loading sectional sofa onto truck in Dallas driveway”
• “Climate-controlled moving truck with Veterans Moving America branding parked at Fort Worth office building”
• “Before photo showing cluttered garage; after photo showing organized storage unit with labeled boxes”

Service business template: [Service action] + [Key details] + [Brand/location]

Product business template: [Product name] + [Key features] + [Color/size if relevant]

Team photo template: [Person name/role] + [Context] + [Brand]

Step 3: Implement Alt Text (30 minutes - 1 hour)

WordPress (Gutenberg):

1. Click image in editor
2. Right sidebar → “Alt text” field
3. Paste your description
4. Update page

WordPress (Bulk Update):

1. Media Library → List View
2. Click Quick Edit on each image
3. Add alt text
4. Save

Shopify:

1. Products → Select product
2. Click image
3. “Alt text” field appears
4. Save

HTML (Direct Edit):

<img src="team.jpg" alt="Your description here">

Advanced: Keyword-Optimized Alt Text

Alt text is indexed by Google. You can strategically include keywords WITHOUT keyword stuffing.

Keyword research for images:

1. What visual searches relate to your service?

   • “moving company trucks Dallas”
   • “veteran-owned moving team”
   • “piano moving equipment”

2. Natural integration:

Keyword stuffing (BAD): “Dallas moving company affordable moving services veteran moving company Dallas Fort Worth best movers”

Natural keyword use (GOOD): “Veterans Moving America crew using specialized piano moving equipment to load baby grand piano onto climate-controlled truck in Dallas”

Keywords naturally included: moving, piano moving, equipment, truck, Dallas, Veterans Moving America

Image File Optimization (Bonus)

While adding alt text, also optimize file sizes for faster loading (helps LCP from your Scan report).

Quick Image Compression

Tools:

• TinyPNG.com (free, drag-and-drop)
• ImageOptim (Mac, free)
• Squoosh.app (Google’s free tool)

Target file sizes:

• Hero images: Under 200KB
• Team/service photos: Under 150KB
• Product thumbnails: Under 50KB
• Icons: Under 20KB

Process:

1. Download your largest images (check Scan report for slow-loading images)
2. Run through TinyPNG or Squoosh
3. Typical savings: 60-80% file size reduction with no visible quality loss
4. Re-upload compressed versions

Expected improvement:

• LCP improvement: 0.5-1.2 seconds
• Page load time: 1-2 seconds faster
• Mobile performance: Significantly better

File Naming Best Practices

While you’re fixing images, rename files from generic names to descriptive ones.

Bad filenames:

• IMG_1234.jpg
• photo.png
• untitled.jpg

Good filenames:

• veterans-moving-america-truck-dallas.jpg
• team-loading-furniture-fort-worth.jpg
• climate-controlled-storage-facility.jpg

Why this matters:

• Google indexes filenames as part of image SEO
• Descriptive names help with internal organization
• Makes alt text writing easier later

Naming convention: [subject]-[details]-[location/brand].jpg

Use hyphens (not underscores or spaces).

Decorative Images: When to Use Empty Alt

Not every image needs descriptive alt text. Purely decorative images should have alt="" (empty, but present).

Use empty alt for:

• Background patterns
• Decorative dividers
• Spacer graphics
• Icons that duplicate adjacent text

Example:

<!-- Icon next to text -->
<img src="checkmark-icon.svg" alt=""> <!-- Empty because text says "Verified" -->
<span>Verified Service</span>

<!-- Standalone icon -->
<img src="veteran-badge.svg" alt="Veteran-owned business certification badge">

Rule of thumb: If removing the image would lose information, write descriptive alt text. If the image is purely visual decoration, use alt="".

Using Image Sitemaps

For sites with 100+ images, create an image sitemap to help Google discover and index all your photos.

WordPress: Yoast SEO or Rank Math automatically generate image sitemaps.

Custom site:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"
        xmlns:image="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-image/1.1">
  <url>
    <loc>https://yoursite.com/services</loc>
    <image:image>
      <image:loc>https://yoursite.com/images/truck.jpg</image:loc>
      <image:caption>Veterans Moving America truck in Dallas</image:caption>
    </image:image>
  </url>
</urlset>

Submit to Google Search Console → Sitemaps.

Monitoring Image Performance

Google Search Console

After fixing alt text, monitor improvements:

1. Performance → Search Results → Search Type → Image
2. You’ll see:
   • Image search impressions
   • Image search clicks
   • Top image queries

Timeline:

• Week 1-2: No change (Google hasn’t re-crawled)
• Week 3-4: Impressions start increasing
• Month 2-3: Clicks and traffic appear

PageSpeed Insights

Check if image optimization improved your Scan scores:

1. Run PageSpeed Insights on your homepage
2. Look for “Properly size images” and “Efficiently encode images”
3. Compare to your original Scan report

Target: Green checkmarks for image-related diagnostics.

Common Questions

Q: Do I need alt text for every single image?

A: Every image needs an alt attribute. Informative images need descriptive text; decorative images use alt="" (empty but present).

Q: How long should alt text be?

A: 125 characters or less. Screen readers truncate longer descriptions. Be concise but descriptive.

Q: Can I use the same alt text for similar images?

A: No. Each image needs unique alt text. If you have 5 truck photos, describe what makes each unique (location, angle, activity).

Q: Does alt text help my Google rankings for regular (non-image) search?

A: Indirectly. Google understands page context better with image descriptions, but the primary benefit is image search traffic and accessibility.

Q: My competitor ranks higher in image search with no alt text. How?

A: They likely have strong domain authority or exact-match filenames. But you’ll outperform them once you add optimized alt text. Alt text is a ranking factor.

The 30-Day Alt Text Plan

Week 1: Audit and Prioritize

1. Review your Scan report’s missing alt text count
2. Identify your top 20 most-visited pages
3. List all images on those pages

Week 2: Write and Implement

1. Write alt text for Priority 1 images (service/team photos)
2. Add to CMS
3. Compress images while you’re at it

Week 3: Expand Coverage

1. Write alt text for Priority 2 images (products, facilities)
2. Update image filenames to descriptive versions
3. Submit sitemap to Google Search Console

Week 4: Decorative and Monitoring

1. Add alt="" to decorative images
2. Verify all images now have alt attribute (even if empty)
3. Set up Google Search Console tracking for image search

Month 2: Run a new Scan report to verify the “missing alt text” count dropped to near-zero.

When to Hire Help

You can DIY if:

• You have WordPress or Shopify (easy alt text fields)
• Under 200 images to fix
• Comfortable with basic website editing

Hire a VA or developer if:

• 500+ images (budget: $200-500 for bulk update)
• Custom CMS with no alt text fields (needs dev work)
• Want automation (script to suggest alt text)

Next Steps

Today:

1. Open your Scan report
2. Find the “images missing alt text” count
3. Identify your top 10 most important pages
4. Add alt text to images on those 10 pages (1-2 hours)

This Week:

1. Compress your largest image files
2. Rename files from generic names to descriptive ones
3. Create a spreadsheet tracking progress: Page → Image → Alt Text → Status

This Month:

1. Fix all missing alt text site-wide
2. Submit image sitemap to Google Search Console
3. Monitor Google Search Console for image search traffic

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