Why WooCommerce stores have an ALT text problem

A typical WooCommerce store contains hundreds, sometimes thousands, of product images. Main shots, gallery views, colour variants, lifestyle photos. Every single one needs a unique, descriptive ALT attribute to meet both SEO best practices and the European Accessibility Act.

In practice, almost none of them do.

The reason is structural: WooCommerce, like WordPress, never blocks you from publishing a product without ALT text. Images accumulate silently in your media library with empty, generic, or duplicated attributes, and there is no native dashboard to surface the problem.

The good news: once you know where the problems are, fixing them is fast. The first step is an audit.

The 3 types of product images and what each needs

Not all WooCommerce images have the same ALT requirements. Getting the distinction right saves time and avoids over-optimising images that do not need descriptive text.

How to write ALT text that ranks in Google Images

The formula for WooCommerce product ALT text is simple: describe what is actually in the image, include the product name, and add a relevant attribute when it helps.

The formula

[Product name] + [key attribute] + [context if useful]

Three rules to follow

Be specific, not clever. ALT text is read by search engines and screen readers, not humans browsing the page. Clear, descriptive language outperforms creative copywriting every time.

Include the product name. Google uses ALT text as a primary signal to match product images to search queries. A product image without the product name in the ALT is a missed ranking opportunity.

Do not stuff keywords. Writing running shoes nike air zoom pegasus running shoes men running shoes blue will not help you rank and may trigger a spam signal. One natural mention of the product name is enough.

The 4 ALT quality issues hiding in your store

These four patterns account for the vast majority of ALT text violations on WooCommerce stores. All four are invisible to visual inspection and only revealed by a structured audit.

1. Missing ALT text

Images uploaded without any ALT attribute. This is common on stores that import products via CSV or third-party tools, where image metadata is rarely carried over. Screen readers announce the filename instead, which is meaningless to users.

2. Generic ALT text

ALT attributes filled with placeholder words like "product image", "photo", or "banner". These pass a basic presence check but fail WCAG 1.1.1 because they convey no information about the actual content of the image.

3. Duplicated ALT text

Multiple images sharing the same ALT attribute. On WooCommerce stores this is extremely common: all gallery images for a product get the same ALT as the main image. Screen reader users navigating by image cannot distinguish between them, and search engines see duplicate signals.

4. ALT text that is too short

A one-word ALT like "shoes" or "jacket" technically exists but communicates nothing useful. WCAG requires the text alternative to serve the same purpose as the image for users who cannot see it.

How to audit and fix ALT text across hundreds of products

The native WordPress media library lets you edit ALT text one image at a time. For a store with 500 products, that is not a workflow. You need a tool that shows you the full picture first, then lets you fix issues in bulk.

Step 1. Run the audit

Install Filikod and open the ALT Audit tab in your WordPress dashboard. The plugin scans your entire media library and classifies every image as missing, generic, too short, or duplicated. You get an ALT Quality Score and a breakdown by issue type in under two minutes.

Step 2. Prioritise by impact

Fix missing ALTs first. These are the highest-risk images for both accessibility compliance and SEO. Move to generic ALTs second, then duplicated ALTs on gallery images. Too-short ALTs can be addressed last as they typically affect fewer images.

Step 3. Edit in bulk from the dashboard

Work through each category directly from the Filikod interface. Each image is shown with its filename, current ALT, issue type, and an inline edit field. No need to open individual media library entries. No need to visit each product page.

Step 4. Set a workflow for new products

The audit fixes the backlog. To prevent it from rebuilding, enable Filikod's automatic ALT generation setting. When a new image is uploaded without an ALT attribute, Filikod generates a baseline value from the filename. It is not perfect, but it eliminates empty ALTs at upload time.

EAA compliance for WooCommerce stores

The European Accessibility Act entered into force in June 2025. It applies to any business selling products or providing services to EU users, regardless of where the business is based. A WooCommerce store shipping to France, Germany, or Spain is in scope.

Product images carry the highest compliance risk on a WooCommerce store because they are the most numerous and the most likely to be missing or generic. Addressing ALT text across your product catalogue is both the highest-impact accessibility action and the most directly tied to potential fine exposure.

For more detail on WCAG 2.1 requirements and the full EAA timeline, see our WordPress accessibility and WCAG 2.1 guide.

WooCommerce image ALT text checklist

Use this checklist to verify your store before the EAA June 2030 deadline.

• Every main product image has a descriptive ALT including the product name
• Every gallery image has a unique ALT describing its specific angle, colour, or detail
• No product image uses a generic ALT such as "product image", "photo", or a filename
• No two different images share the same ALT attribute
• Category banner and purely decorative images use an empty ALT attribute
• Products imported via CSV have had their image ALTs reviewed and updated
• New products published after June 2025 have compliant ALT text at time of upload
• A full media library audit has been run, not just a check of the most recent uploads
• The ALT Quality Score in Filikod is above 90% across the entire media library
• A workflow is in place to maintain ALT compliance as new products are added

What is WCAG 2.1 and why does it apply to WordPress?

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, published by the W3C, are the international standard for web accessibility. They define how to make digital content accessible to people with disabilities — including users who rely on screen readers, keyboard navigation, or assistive technologies.

WCAG 2.1 is organized into three conformance levels: A (minimum), AA (standard), and AAA (enhanced). Most regulations, including the European Accessibility Act, require Level AA compliance at minimum.

WordPress itself does not enforce WCAG compliance. The platform generates accessible markup where possible, but every theme, plugin, and piece of content you add can introduce accessibility issues — and image ALT text is the most common failure on WordPress sites, according to the WebAIM Million report.

The European Accessibility Act: deadlines and fines

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) — Directive 2019/882 — entered into force in June 2025. It requires all digital products and services offered in the EU to meet accessibility standards aligned with WCAG 2.1 Level AA. This is not a voluntary guideline. It is a binding regulation.

Fine exposure Fines for EAA non-compliance can reach up to €500,000 depending on the EU member state. Non-compliant businesses also risk exclusion from public procurement.

Who is affected? Any business that sells products or provides services to EU users — including WooCommerce stores, service websites, SaaS platforms, and media sites. If your WordPress site is accessible to EU users, the EAA applies to you.

WCAG 2.1 ALT text requirements for images

The core accessibility requirement for images is defined in WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.1.1 — Non-text Content (Level A): every non-decorative image must have a text alternative that conveys the same information or function.

The 4 ALT text mistakes WordPress sites make

Four patterns account for the vast majority of ALT text violations on WordPress. All four are undetectable without a dedicated audit — they are invisible to visual inspection.

1. Missing ALT text

Images uploaded without any ALT attribute. WordPress does not require ALT text before publication, so many media libraries accumulate hundreds of images with no text alternative. Screen readers will typically announce the filename — which is meaningless to users.

2. Generic ALT text

ALT attributes that use placeholder words: "image", "photo", "banner", "logo". These pass a basic presence check but fail WCAG 1.1.1 because they convey no meaningful information about the image content.

3. ALT text that is too short

A one-word ALT like "cat" or "team" technically exists but rarely conveys equivalent information. WCAG requires the text alternative to serve the same purpose as the image — a meaningful description is necessary for informative images.

4. Duplicated ALT text

Multiple images sharing the same ALT attribute — a common result of bulk uploads or template-based sites. Duplicated ALTs create confusion for screen reader users navigating by image, and signal low-quality content to search engines.

Insight In a typical WordPress site with 100+ images, duplicated ALTs are often the largest category of issues — larger than missing ALTs. They are invisible to visual inspection and only revealed by a structured audit.

How to audit image accessibility in WordPress

WordPress's native media library provides a way to edit individual ALT attributes, but no built-in audit tool. There is no way to see, at a glance, how many images are missing ALTs, which ones use generic text, or whether you have duplicates across your library.

A dedicated WordPress accessibility plugin scans your entire media library and surfaces issues by category. A structured audit should classify every image across four dimensions:

How to fix ALT text at scale

Once you have identified which images are non-compliant, the challenge is remediation — especially on sites with hundreds or thousands of images. Manual correction is time-consuming and error-prone without the right workflow.

Option 1: Bulk inline editing

The most controlled approach: work through the audit results category by category — missing first, then generic, then duplicated — and write descriptive ALT text for each image. This produces the highest-quality results and is recommended for product photos, diagrams, and images of people.

Option 2: Automatic generation from filename

For sites with consistent file naming conventions, generating ALT text from the filename is a fast starting point. Filikod's Automatic ALT Text Generation setting strips file extensions and special characters to produce a basic ALT. Better than nothing — but review for accuracy before relying on it.

Option 3: AI-assisted generation

The most powerful approach: AI vision models analyze each image and generate a descriptive ALT text based on actual visual content. This is especially valuable for large media libraries where manual review is not feasible. Filikod's premium tier will offer AI-powered ALT generation as a key feature in the coming months.

WCAG 2.1 image accessibility checklist for WordPress

Use this checklist to verify your WordPress site meets WCAG 2.1 Level AA for images before the EAA June 2030 deadline.

• All non-decorative images have an ALT attribute with meaningful descriptive text
• Decorative images use an empty ALT attribute (alt="")
• No image uses a generic ALT value ("image", "photo", "banner", "icon")
• No image uses its filename as ALT text
• No two meaningful images share the same ALT attribute
• Functional images (buttons, links) have ALT text describing the action or destination
• Product images on WooCommerce include product name and key attribute in ALT text
• Infographics and charts have a text alternative that conveys the same data
• New images uploaded after June 2025 are compliant at the time of upload
• A structured audit has been run on the full media library — not just recent uploads