Missing ALT Attributes

What This Means

One or more <img> elements do not have an alt attribute at all. The attribute is completely absent — not empty, not present with text, just missing.

Why It Matters for SEO

The alt attribute is required for all <img> elements (WCAG 2.1, Success Criterion 1.1.1). Without it, screen readers typically read the image filename — producing an experience like "17a8f92b.jpg, image" — which provides no useful information.

For search engines, images without alt attributes cannot be indexed with any keyword association. The image may still appear in image search results (based on surrounding text and page context), but alt text is a primary signal for image indexing and ranking.

What the Platform Checks

The platform inspects every <img> element in the rendered DOM for the presence of an alt attribute. Fires when the attribute is entirely absent.

How to Fix It

• Add an alt attribute to every <img> element.
• For informative images: Describe what the image shows and its relevance to the surrounding content.
• For decorative images: Add an empty alt attribute: alt="" — this tells screen readers to skip the image.
• For linked images: Describe the link destination, not just the image content.
• CMS media libraries: add alt text when uploading images, not as an afterthought after publication.