Why Wix Users need this
You upload forty photos to a Wix gallery, and Wix keeps whatever file name the camera or phone gave them. Open the page source later and many of those images have no description at all, which is exactly the weakness people point to when they search whether Wix is good for SEO. Ahrefs lists cryptic, auto-assigned image file names as a Wix limitation for Google Images, so the ALT text is the one description you fully control. The Image ALT Text Checker reads a page's live HTML, finds every img tag and tells you which ones have no ALT text, so you can fix them in the Wix editor instead of guessing. It is free, needs no signup, and works on one URL at a time. Wix also adds structured data on only some page types, and server response can be slower than other builders, so image work is one of the few fixes you can finish this afternoon. Run it on your busiest gallery, service or product page first, then work through the list file by file.
Wix Users specific guidance
What to check first
Start with the pages holding the most photos: a gallery, a Wix Stores category page, a portfolio or a Wix Blog post with a big cover image. Paste the full address, for example https://www.yoursite.com/gallery or https://www.yoursite.com/post/spring-menu-update, and read the three cards for Images, With ALT and Missing ALT. Ten minutes is enough to act on it: open the Wix editor, click one flagged photo, open its Settings and fill in the alt text field. Keep one limit in mind. The checker reads the HTML as served and runs no JavaScript, so images a script adds after load can be absent, and CSS backgrounds such as a strip background are never listed. A short list therefore does not prove the page is fully described.
How to read the table
Missing means the alt attribute is absent or empty, so a decorative divider with alt="" lands in the same group as a forgotten product photo. Go row by row and decide which are decorative and which need words. The bigger trap sits in the With ALT group: any text counts as good, so values like IMG_0231, image or untitled still pass. Read the ALT text column for those, and compare the file name column, which on Wix is often a long machine-looking string, with what the picture really shows. If the same file name repeats many times, that is usually one repeated element such as a logo in the header, and fixing it once covers every row. The table does not judge wording, suggest text, measure length or look at the image, and it gives no score.
What to fix and in which order
Fix images that carry meaning first: product photos, team portraits and before and after shots. Write a plain, literal description of five to ten words that names the subject, such as the dish, the person or the street, instead of stuffing in a keyword list. Next, handle repeated elements like the logo, and leave purely decorative pieces alone. Publish the site, because editor changes do not appear on the live page until you do, and run the same URL again to confirm the Missing count dropped. Changing alt text does not rename the cryptic uploaded file, does not speed up a slow server response and cannot promise anything in Google Images.
Example scenarios
1. Portfolio gallery with phone-camera file names
- Situation
- Illustrative example: A photographer uploads 38 shots straight from a phone into a Wix gallery, so the files keep names like IMG_4021, and only the hero photos ever got a description.
- Input
https://www.yoursite.com/portfolio- Reading the result
- The cards might read 38 Images, 22 With ALT and 16 Missing ALT. Fix the 16 first, then scan the ALT text column of the other 22 for entries that are just IMG_ numbers or the word image. The result says nothing about how Google Images will rank any of them.
2. Duplicated product page in Wix Stores
- Situation
- Illustrative example: A shop owner duplicates an older product to launch a linen apron and swaps in 14 new photos, so the descriptions of the replaced images are gone.
- Input
https://www.yoursite.com/product-page/linen-apron- Reading the result
- Expect something like 14 Images, 9 With ALT and 5 Missing ALT. Reading the column shows 4 of those 9 only say image, so the real gap is 9 photos. Describe colour, material and angle, for instance a short phrase about the apron worn from the front.
3. Blog post with a slideshow
- Situation
- Illustrative example: A blogger adds 6 inline pictures and a 20-photo slideshow to a Wix Blog post about a wedding venue.
- Input
https://www.yoursite.com/post/how-to-choose-a-wedding-venue- Reading the result
- The table may list only 6 images, all With ALT, because the slideshow items are inserted by script after load. That clean result does not cover the 20 slideshow photos, so open the post in the Wix editor and check them by hand.
Common mistakes
- Trusting the With ALT count. Any text passes as good, including IMG_0231 or untitled. Read the ALT text column instead of stopping at the green number.
- Treating every Missing row as an error. Empty alt="" is the right markup for a decorative divider or texture. Sort the rows into decorative and meaningful before you edit.
- Checking only the home page. The tool inspects one URL per run, so a gallery, a product page and a blog post each need their own check.
- Re-running before publishing. The checker reads the live page, so edits made in the Wix editor show nothing until you publish the site.
- Expecting slideshow and background images in the list. Images added by a script after load and CSS backgrounds are not img tags in the served HTML, so they need a manual check in the editor.
Frequently asked questions
Does missing alt text hurt my Wix SEO?
Alt text is one of several signals Google uses to understand images, and screen readers depend on it, so gaps cost you image findability and accessibility. They are not the only reason a Wix site underperforms, though. Server response time, structured data and page titles matter as well. Use the checker to see how many images lack a description on a given page, fix the meaningful ones, and treat the result as one input rather than a verdict on the whole site.
How do I add alt text to an image in the Wix editor?
Click the image on the page in the Wix editor, open its Settings and fill in the alt text field with a short description of what the photo shows. Do this for each flagged file from the table, then publish the site. For images inside a gallery, open the gallery's settings and edit each item separately. After publishing, paste the same URL into the checker again and confirm the Missing ALT card count went down.
Why does the checker list fewer images than my Wix page shows?
The tool reads the HTML exactly as the server delivers it and does not run JavaScript. Photos that a gallery or slideshow script inserts after the page loads are therefore not in the list, and images set as CSS backgrounds behind a section are never img tags at all. Compare the Images card with what you see on screen. A big gap tells you some visuals are not plain markup, so those need a manual check in the editor.
Will fixing alt text change my cryptic Wix image file names?
No. The alt attribute and the file name are separate things. The checker shows the file name in its own column so you can spot machine-looking names, but it only reads the page and cannot rename or edit anything. Ahrefs lists auto-assigned image file names as a Wix limitation for Google Images, so a clear alt text is the part you can reliably fix, while the name stays as uploaded unless you replace the file.
Should decorative images on my Wix site have alt text?
Purely decorative pieces, such as a divider line or a texture, can have an empty alt="" so screen readers skip them. The checker counts empty alt as Missing, because it cannot tell decoration from a forgotten description, so a few remaining rows in that group are normal. Photos that show a product, a person or a place should always get a real description. Go through the Missing rows and sort them into those two piles before editing.
Reference: The Ahrefs guide to Wix SEO limitations names cryptic auto-assigned image file names as a weakness for Google Images.