Why Shopify Store Owners need this
Nobody sets out to publish a Shopify store full of unlabeled photos. It happens a little at a time: you bulk-import 300 products from a supplier spreadsheet, a theme update rearranges the gallery, and a review or upsell app injects its own markup. Meanwhile Shopify gives you no title or meta description templates, collections cannot be nested, and apps or custom code can quietly strip tags a theme normally generates, so most of your attention goes to those problems and the ALT attribute on each image never gets looked at. Alt text is entered per image in the admin, which means gaps pile up unseen. The Image ALT Text Checker takes one URL, a product page or a collection page, and lists every img tag in the HTML your store serves, showing which carry ALT text and which are missing or empty. You get counts for images, images with ALT and images missing ALT, plus a table with the file name of each. Use it as a ten-minute habit after imports and theme changes, and treat the table as a to-do list rather than a verdict.
Shopify Store Owners specific guidance
What to check first
Start with the page that earns the most: your best-selling product, for example https://yourstore.com/products/linen-shirt, then one collection such as https://yourstore.com/collections/shirts. Run each separately, because only one URL is read per run. To fix a row, open Products in the Shopify admin, choose the product, click the image in the media area and use Add alt text. Collection grids often reuse product photos, so look for the same file names in both tables. A clean result does not prove everything is covered: the page is read as served, without running JavaScript, so images a gallery or review app inserts after load never appear, and CSS background images such as a hero banner are never listed.
How to read the table
Look at the three cards first: Images, With ALT and Missing ALT. Then read the ALT text column itself, because any non-empty text counts as With ALT, including a camera filename like IMG_0231 or the single word image. Those rows look fine in the summary and still need rewriting. The Missing ALT group contains both absent attributes and empty ones, and the checker cannot say which are decorative. Decide per file: a divider graphic or payment-badge strip can stay empty, while a product photo should describe the item, for instance red leather running shoe side view. There is no score and no check of length or of what the picture shows, so a high With ALT count is not proof that descriptions are accurate.
What to fix, and in what order
Fix product images first, since they sit on the pages shoppers search for, then banners and featured collection images. For images uploaded outside a product, open Content, then Files in the admin, find the file name the table lists and add alt text there. Images from an installed app live in that app's settings or in theme code, so note the file name and look there. After a theme update or a new app install, run the same two URLs again and compare the counts. A jump in Missing ALT points to what changed. The result says nothing about whether Google will show your photos in image search, only what the markup contains.
Example scenarios
1. Supplier import with an empty alt column
- Situation
- Illustrative example: A store owner bulk-imports 120 products from a supplier spreadsheet where the image alt column was never filled in, and each product has 6 photos plus a few theme graphics.
- Input
https://yourstore.com/products/canvas-tote-bag- Reading the result
- The checker might list 9 images with 2 With ALT and 7 Missing ALT, and the table would name files such as canvas-tote-bag_01.jpg with nothing in the ALT column. Add a description to each of the 6 product photos in the product's media area, then run the URL again. The other 119 products are not covered; each needs its own run.
2. Collection grid after a theme switch
- Situation
- Illustrative example: After moving to a new Online Store 2.0 theme, a collection page shows 24 product cards and the owner wants to know whether the new theme still outputs ALT text for the thumbnails.
- Input
https://yourstore.com/collections/summer-dresses- Reading the result
- The report might show 31 images, 24 With ALT and 7 Missing ALT. Reading the ALT text column would show whether the 24 grid images carry real product descriptions or only repeated text. The 7 missing rows may be a logo, payment icons and a banner, so judge which are decorative. It says nothing about the page title or H1.
3. Review photos that never show up
- Situation
- Illustrative example: A review app adds a customer photo carousel under the product gallery using JavaScript, and the owner assumes the clean report covers it.
- Input
https://yourstore.com/products/ceramic-mug-set- Reading the result
- The checker might report 12 images and 0 Missing ALT. The carousel photos are inserted after the page loads, so they are not in the table at all. A clean count here covers only the markup the store served; the app's own settings need a separate look.
Common mistakes
- Treating every missing row as an error. Empty values are counted as missing, so decorative icons and dividers will appear in the list. Sort them from real product photos before you start typing.
- Trusting With ALT as a quality grade. Text like IMG_0231 or untitled still counts as With ALT. Read the ALT text column, not just the summary cards.
- Stuffing keywords into product alt text. Repeating a phrase such as best shopify tee on every photo helps nobody. Describe what the image shows, such as the colour, the angle and the product.
- Checking only the homepage. Most store images sit on product and collection pages, and the tool reads one URL per run. Check a few of each template.
- Fixing once and never rechecking. Imports, theme updates and new apps can reintroduce blank ALT text. Rerun your key URLs after each of those changes and compare the Missing ALT count.
Frequently asked questions
How do I add alt text to Shopify product images?
In the Shopify admin, open Products, choose the product, and click an image in the media section. Select Add alt text, type a short plain description of what the photo shows, and save. This is done per image, so a product with eight photos needs eight entries. Afterwards, paste the product URL into the checker and confirm the file now shows as With ALT. If the table looks unchanged, reload without a cached copy and run it again.
Should every Shopify image have alt text, even decorative ones?
Photos that show a product or carry meaning should describe it. Purely decorative images, like a thin divider or background flourish, can keep an empty alt attribute so screen readers skip them. The checker counts empty values as missing, so expect some decorative rows in the Missing ALT list. Go through the file names and decide one by one, rather than filling every row with keyword text just to push the count to zero.
Why does the checker miss images my Shopify product page shows?
It reads the HTML your store sends and does not run JavaScript. Images that a gallery script, slider or review app adds after the page loads are not in that source, so they are not listed. CSS background images are not img tags either. If the table shows fewer images than you see on screen, view the page source in your browser, search for img, and compare. The missing ones need checking in the app or theme settings.
Will fixing alt text help my Shopify store show on Google?
The checker reports markup only: which img tags have ALT text, which are missing, and their file names. It does not check indexing, rankings or whether Google Images shows your photos. If your store is not showing on Google at all, the cause lies elsewhere, such as indexing or sitemap problems. Alt text is one on-page detail you control and can verify in minutes, and it also helps shoppers who use screen readers.
How often should I check alt text on my Shopify store?
Run it after any event that changes markup: a product import, a theme update, a new app install or a redesign of a collection template. For a steady store, checking your top product and collection URLs once a month is enough. Each run covers one URL, so keep a short list of pages to repeat and note the Missing ALT count each time, so a sudden jump is easy to spot.
Reference: The Shopify Help Center SEO frequently asked questions explain that Online Store 2.0 themes generate the title tag and H1 by default, but custom code or apps can remove them.