How to Check Alt Text of an Image on Any Website: 5 Methods

Why you might want to check an image's alt text

You're looking at an image on a website — maybe your own, maybe a competitor's — and you need to know: does it have alt text? And if so, is it any good?

Common reasons people check individual image alt text:

• Auditing your own site. Spot-check a few product images to verify alt text is in place after a deployment or content update.
• Competitor research. See how competitors describe similar products in their alt text — what keywords they use, what level of detail they include.
• Developer QA. You've pushed changes and want to verify alt text rendering before it reaches users.
• Accessibility review. Test how a screen reader will interpret the page for blind and low-vision users.
• Learning by example. Study how well-known sites like Amazon, Apple, or Airbnb write their alt text.

Here are five methods — from the simplest one-click check to a full automated audit — with exact steps and what each method catches (and misses).

Method 1: Inspect Element (fastest for one image)

The quickest way to check a single image. Works in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge — zero tools needed.

Steps

1. Right-click the image you want to check.
2. Select "Inspect" (Chrome/Edge) or "Inspect Element" (Firefox/Safari).
3. DevTools opens with that specific <img> tag highlighted in the HTML panel.
4. Look for the alt="" attribute. The value between quotes is the alt text. If you don't see alt at all, it's missing.

What the HTML shows	Alt text status
<img src="product.jpg" alt="Red running shoes, side view">	Good — descriptive and useful
<img src="logo.svg" alt="">	Correct — intentionally empty for decorative/logos
<img src="photo.jpg">	Missing — no alt attribute at all
<img src="hero.jpg" alt="image">	Vague — alt exists but isn't descriptive

Best for: Checking 1— specific images. Quick ad-hoc verification during development. Learning what good (and bad) alt text looks like in the wild.

Method 2: DevTools Console (check all images on a page at once)

Want to check every image on a page — not just one — in a single step? The browser Console gives you a full report in less than 10 seconds.

Steps

1. Open the page in Chrome or Edge.
2. Press F12 to open DevTools.
3. Click the Console tab.
4. Paste the snippet below and press Enter:

// List every image and its alt text status
document.querySelectorAll('img').forEach((img, i) => {
  const alt = img.getAttribute('alt');
  const status = alt === null ? 'MISSING' : alt === '' ? 'EMPTY' : alt.length < 20 ? 'VAGUE' : 'OK';
  console.log(`${i+1}. [${status}] ${img.src.split('/').pop()} —"${alt || '(none)'}" (${(alt||'').length} chars)`);
});

The Console prints a numbered list: every image filename, its alt text, character count, and a quick status label (MISSING / EMPTY / VAGUE / OK).

For a sortable table view, use this version instead:

const report = Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('img')).map(img => ({
  File: img.src.split('/').pop().substring(0, 40),
  Alt: img.getAttribute('alt') || '(MISSING)',
  Chars: (img.getAttribute('alt') || '').length,
  Status: img.getAttribute('alt') === null ? 'MISSING' : img.getAttribute('alt') === '' ? 'EMPTY' : img.getAttribute('alt').length < 20 ? 'VAGUE' : 'OK'
}));
console.table(report);

Best for: Page-level audits. Developers and SEOs who need a quick overview of one page's entire alt text situation.

Method 3: Browser extensions (one-click visual overlay)

Several free Chrome extensions show alt text directly on the page — no DevTools needed. They overlay alt text on images and highlight missing ones in red.

The three most-used options, compared:

Extension	Shows alt text?	Flags missing?	Also checks?	Cost
Alt Text Tester	Yes — overlay on image	Yes — red highlight	Alt text only	Free
WAVE Evaluation Tool	Yes — icon overlay	Yes	Full accessibility audit (contrast, labels, headings)	Free
axe DevTools	No — issues list only	Yes	WCAG 2.1 AA compliance scan	Free (Pro: $45/mo)

WAVE and axe DevTools are developed by WebAIM and Deque Systems respectively — both are well-established accessibility organizations (WebAIM, Deque Systems, 2026).

Best for: Visual learners who want alt text overlaid on the page. Accessibility auditors who need a full WCAG report alongside alt text checks.

Method 4: Automated alt text checker (quality checks + multiple pages)

Browser tools and extensions work one page at a time. If you're auditing multiple pages — or need to evaluate alt text quality, not just presence — an automated checker saves significant time.

Here's what differentiates an automated checker from manual methods:

Capability	Inspect Element	DevTools Console	Browser Extension	Automated Checker
Find missing alt text	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Find empty alt text	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Flag vague alt text (<20 chars)	No (manual)	Manual check	No	Automatic
Flag overlong alt text (>125 chars)	No	Manual	No	Automatic
Flag keyword stuffing	No	No	No	AI analysis
Generate suggested alt text	No	No	No	AI generation
Export as CSV	No	Copy manually	No	Yes
Scan history & tracking	No	No	No	Yes

How to use an automated checker

1. Go to the checker. No login, no install required.
2. Paste any public URL. Works on product pages, blog posts, homepages, landing pages.
3. Click Scan. The tool fetches the page HTML and analyzes every <img> tag against 5+ quality criteria.
4. Review results. Images are classified by issue type — Missing / Empty / Vague / Overlong / OK — with severity labels and suggested fixes.
5. Export or copy. Copy individual suggestions or download the full table as CSV for bulk review.

Best for: Anyone auditing more than 5 pages. Ecommerce store owners checking product images. SEOs doing competitive research at scale.

Method 5: Bulk CSV audit (for large sites & teams)

If you run a Shopify store, a WooCommerce catalog, or a content site with hundreds of images, one-page-at-a-time checking doesn't scale. A CSV-based bulk audit is the answer — and it's platform-agnostic.

The bulk workflow in 4 steps

1. Scan your most important pages. Homepage, top 20— 0 product pages, main category pages. You don't need every page — the Pareto principle applies: top pages cover 80%+ of image-to-alt-text issues.
2. Export each scan as CSV. Each export contains: image URL, current alt text, issue type, severity, and a suggested fix.
3. Merge into one master spreadsheet. Combine all CSVs, sort by severity, filter by page. Now you have a single source of truth for your site's alt text status.
4. Review and hand off. Review AI-suggested alt text, adjust for brand voice, then share with whoever implements the fixes — developer, VA, or your own CMS admin panel.

This approach works for any platform: Shopify, WooCommerce, WordPress, Squarespace, Webflow, or custom builds. The CSV is platform-agnostic — it's just a spreadsheet of images and alt text that any team member can review.

For a deeper dive into the CSV workflow specifically for Shopify, see our Shopify CSV alt text guide.

Best for: Sites with 100+ product images. Teams that need shared, trackable alt text fixes. When you need a documented accessibility audit trail.

What counts as "good" alt text?

Finding alt text is step one. Knowing whether it's good is step two. Here's a framework you can apply to any alt text you check:

Criteria	Good	Bad
Length	60— 25 characters	Under 20 ("shoes") or over 150 (a paragraph)
Descriptiveness	What you'd tell a friend on the phone	Vague placeholder: "product image" or "photo"
Keywords	1— relevant keywords included naturally	Keyword list: "cheap shoes buy shoes discount shoes"
Redundancy	Adds visual detail not in the product title	Copies product name verbatim with no visual info
Context	Describes what's relevant to the page's purpose	Generic description that fits any image

Google's image SEO documentation recommends that alt text be "useful, information-rich" and "focus on creating useful content that provides a good user experience" (Google Search Central, 2026). The WebAIM Million report has tracked alt text failure rates across the top 1 million homepages every year since 2019, and the numbers have barely improved — reinforcing that most sites need a systematic audit, not a one-time fix.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I check alt text of an image on any website without any tools?

Right-click the image and select "Inspect" (or "Inspect Element"). DevTools opens and highlights the <img> tag. Look for the alt="" attribute. If missing entirely: alt text is absent. If empty (alt=""): intentionally skipped — correct for decorative images, wrong for content images. If it has text: evaluate length, descriptiveness, and whether keywords are natural.

Can I check alt text on a competitor's website?

Yes — all five methods above work on any public website. Competitor alt text research is actually one of the most underused SEO tactics: you can see exactly how competitors describe similar products, which keywords they prioritize in alt attributes, and whether they invest in accessibility at all. Inspect Element and automated checkers both work on any public URL.

What's the fastest way to check alt text on an entire page?

The DevTools Console snippet (Method 2) gives a full report of every image on the page in under 10 seconds. For quality assessment — flagging vague, overlong, and keyword-stuffed alt text — an automated checker (Method 4) is faster because it surfaces issues the Console snippet can't detect.

Why does my image have alt="" (empty alt text)?

An empty alt="" is the correct way to mark a decorative image — one that adds visual design but no information. Examples: background patterns, decorative borders, spacer images, or a site logo that has visible text next to it. Screen readers skip images with empty alt. This is a WCAG best practice (WCAG 2.1, SC 1.1.1). But if the image is a product photo, infographic, chart, or any image conveying meaning, alt="" is a failure.

How do I check alt text of images on a mobile website?

On mobile, you can't right-click to Inspect Element. Instead: (1) use an automated checker (Method 4) — paste the URL, it scans the same HTML regardless of device; or (2) use Chrome on desktop with Device Mode (Ctrl+Shift+M) to load the mobile version, then use Inspect Element or the Console method. For sites with separate mobile URLs (m.example.com), point the checker at the mobile subdomain directly.

What if the image is loaded by JavaScript (React, Vue, lazy loading)?

The Console snippet and Inspect Element only see images currently in the DOM. If images load dynamically — common in React, Vue, Next.js, and lazy-loaded pages — an automated checker that fetches the raw server-rendered HTML may also miss client-side rendered images. For JS-heavy sites: open the page in a real browser, wait for all images to load, then use the Console snippet. Our website alt text checker works best for server-rendered pages (blogs, landing pages, Shopify product pages, WordPress sites). For single-page apps, supplement with the Console method after the page has fully hydrated.