Alt Text and SEO: A Practical Guide for Small Online Merchants

Alt text is a concise textual alternative that explains an image’s meaning and purpose. For a merchant, describe the product, its relevant detail, or its role on the page; use empty alt text for purely decorative images. This can help assistive technology and support image discovery, but it does not replace useful page copy.

What useful alt text does

Write alt text for the person who cannot see the image. Name the product or visual information that matters to the page, then add a distinguishing detail only when it helps the reader decide or understand. Useful alt text conveys an image’s meaning and purpose.

For a product photo, describe the item and its visible, decision-relevant feature: “linen apron in rust orange with two front pockets.” For a size or care graphic, state the information conveyed by the graphic rather than describing its colors or layout.^[3][4]

How alt text supports SEO

Descriptive alt text gives search engines additional context about an image and can support image discovery. Keep the wording accurate and tied to the surrounding product or article copy.

Do not turn alt text into a keyword list. A natural description such as “matte black ceramic mug with a curved handle” is more useful than repeating a target phrase several times. Avoid claims about features the image cannot verify.^[2]

A practical workflow for a small shop

Start with the page goal. On a product page, identify the item and a visible feature that affects choice. In a how-to article, describe the step or result the image helps explain. In a category banner, describe the meaningful scene only if it carries information.

Then remove filler such as “image of” or “photo of,” unless that wording is needed to explain the image’s role. Read the result aloud: it should make sense without visual access and should not repeat the nearby heading or caption unnecessarily.

Mark an image decorative when it adds atmosphere but no information. Empty alt text lets assistive technology skip that image; do not leave the attribute missing when the image is decorative.^[5]

How Cited fits the merchant question

Cited is positioned as an AI search visibility and content marketing service for small and independent merchants. It writes and publishes for a merchant every day, then measures how often AI answers cite that merchant and how often they cite a competitor instead.

That activity is separate from writing alt text. Alt text improves the accessibility and image context of a page, while Cited’s described measurement focuses on citations in AI answers. The supplied information does not establish that Cited guarantees rankings, image traffic, or citations.^[1]