How to add alt text to Shopify product images

Product photos

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Products and click the product.
2. Click a photo to open the Preview media page.
3. Click Add alt text.
4. Type the description, then click Save alt text.
5. Click the X to close the preview, and do the next photo.

In the Shopify app: tap Products, then the product, then a photo, then Information, and type the alt text there.

Photos for each variant (each color or size) are product photos too, so the same steps apply. Give each one its own words: "Hoodie in navy" and "Hoodie in gray", not "Hoodie" four times.

Not sure what to write? How to write good alt text has examples, or the Alt text writer drafts it from your photo, free.

Banners and other theme pictures

Pictures on your home page and in your theme's sections (a banner, an "image with text" block) get their alt text in the theme editor:

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Online Store.
2. Find your theme and click Edit theme.
3. In the sidebar, click the section with the picture.
4. On the picture, click Edit.
5. Type the alt text, then click Save in the box, and Save again for the theme.

Pictures in blog posts, pages and product descriptions

Pictures you put inside text (a blog post, a page, a product description) are in Shopify's text editor, where the usual media editor doesn't reach. Double-click the picture to open the Edit image box, and add the alt text there.

Find every picture with no alt text

• In Shopify: go to Content, then Files, and use the Alt text filter to list files without it. Click a file to add it.
• Many products at once: Shopify lets you upload alt text in a product CSV file. Ask your web person if a spreadsheet sounds easier than clicking.
• On your live store: Picture Check looks at up to 10 pictures on a page (a product, a collection, your home page) and lists the ones with no alt text, or with a file name standing in for it. It also flags photos that are too heavy to load fast.

Shopify alt text character limit

• The limit: 512 characters.
• What Shopify recommends: 125 characters or less.

Go with 125: about one sentence, like this one. A screen reader reads all of it before the shopper can move on, so lead with what matters (the product, the color, what's different about this photo). Sizes, materials and care belong in the product description.

Do I need an alt text app?

No. The box is built into Shopify, and it's free. The hard part is writing a good description, and the help for that is free too:

• Shopify's media editor may suggest alt text, written by AI, for pictures that don't have any. Read it before you accept it: AI often gets colors and details wrong, and on a store that matters.
• Our Alt text writer drafts a short and a longer description from a photo, ready to paste into Shopify.