The block editor, the Media Library and the fixes when your alt text refuses to show up.
In WordPress, click the image block, open the block settings panel and type a description in the Alternative text field, then update the post. The same field exists under Media, then Library. Aim for 5 to 15 words that describe the image in its context.
In the editor, click the image you want to describe. The block toolbar appears and the right-hand panel switches to that block’s settings.
If the panel is closed, click the gear icon in the top right corner. The image options sit under the Block tab.
Type a short description of what the image shows, in its context. "Red trail running shoe, side view" tells more than "shoe".
Save or update. The alt attribute now ships with the page, readable by screen readers and search engines.
Go to Media, then Library, and click any image to open its details. The Alternative text field sits at the top of the panel and saves automatically as you type.
One catch: WordPress copies the alt into a post at insertion time. Filling the field here covers future insertions, but images already placed in published posts keep whatever they had.
Elementor’s own documentation puts the alt text in the Media Library. The help page for the Image widget advises giving the image an Alt Text description there, and the Content settings it lists (image, resolution, alignment, caption, link) include no alt field. The page for the Editor v4 Image element lists an image, a resolution, a link and an ID, and no alt field either. Set the alt in Media › Library, then check the rendered page.
For galleries and dynamic images, check the result. The help pages for the Image Gallery and Image Carousel widgets say nothing about alt text. The Image widget can also pull the featured image, the site logo or the author’s profile picture through its Dynamic option, and its help page does not say which alt text those use. Paste the page into the free alt text checker to see what is printed.
Background images are a separate case. Elementor sets them under Style › Background, and its instructions for a section or container background image mention no alt text. A CSS background image cannot take alt text (WebAIM says so), so keep backgrounds for decoration. If the picture carries information, add it with an Image widget and write its alt in the Media Library. For logos, icons and buttons, see our guide to alt text for decorative images, logos and icons.
The field is easy to find. What you type in it decides whether the effort pays off.
The same photo deserves a different alt on a product page and in a blog post. Say what the image shows and why it sits on this page.
That lands between 8 and 125 characters. Below that, the description says too little; beyond, some screen readers cut the text.
Screen readers already announce the element as an image, so skip "image of" and "photo of". Start with the subject itself.
Alt filled in but nowhere to be seen? These eight situations cover the usual causes. To see what the published page really outputs, check if the image has alt text or run the page through the free alt checker. If Lighthouse is the one complaining, start with our guide to the “Image elements do not have [alt] attributes” warning.
| What you see | Likely cause | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Alt filled in the Media Library, missing in the post | The image was inserted before the alt existed; WordPress copies it at insertion time | Open the post, select the image block and fill the field there |
| Alt filled in the editor, absent on the live page | Your page builder or theme outputs the image its own way | Check where it takes the alt from: Elementor uses the Media Library value, other builders may have their own field |
| Alt present in the code, still flagged by tools | A lazy-loading script rewrites the img tag | Check the final rendered HTML and the script’s settings |
| No alt field at all | The visual is a CSS background image | Switch to a real img tag when the image carries information |
| Alt fixed in one post, still old in another post that uses the same image | A change made in a block applies to that post only; the Media Library value is just the default for later insertions | Fix the image block in each post that uses the image |
| New alt saved, old text still on the live page | A page cache serves a stored copy of the page | Clear the cache in your caching plugin or at your host, then reload the page |
| Alt on the page differs from the one in the Media Library | An SEO plugin adds or replaces the alt when the page is displayed. Rank Math, for example, documents options that do this and leave the stored alt unchanged | Check the image settings of your SEO plugin, then compare the rendered HTML with the Media Library |
| Text appears when you hover over the image, but it is not your alt | Browsers can show the title attribute as a tooltip. The alt is read by screen readers and shown when the image does not load | Fill the Alternative text field. The title attribute, in the Advanced panel of the Image block, is not a substitute |
of audited images have no alt text at all
carry at least one alt text issue
average alt quality score across our audits
No. WordPress copies the alt into the post when you insert the image. To fix a published post, edit the image block there, or see our guide to bulk alt text in WordPress.
Not on its own. Every alt starts empty until someone writes it. Some plugins can suggest or generate descriptions to speed the job up.
The free Filikod plugin audits the media library and lists images by issue: missing, generic, duplicated or too short.
Most builders keep their own alt field inside the image widget, separate from the Media Library. Fill the field in the builder, then check the rendered page.
The full FAQ covers the checker, the score, the plugin and how your data is handled.
Filikod audits your entire media library, scores every image and sorts the problems so the worst come first. Free, rated 5/5 on WordPress.org.
