What is alt text?
Definition
Alt text is a short written description of an image on a web page. Screen readers read it aloud to people who can't see the picture, browsers show it when an image fails to load, and search engines use it to understand what the image shows. It sits in the page's code, not on the screen.
Why alt text matters to a small business
Some of your visitors use screen readers because they're blind or have low vision. Without alt text, a photo of your work is read out as "image" or as a file name like IMG_4471. With it, they hear what everyone else sees. It's one part of making your site easier for everyone to use, and accessibility can also be a legal question worth asking a lawyer about.
Good alt text says what matters in the picture, in a sentence: "Brick patio with a fire pit and a curved stone seat wall." Skip "image of", and don't stuff it with keywords. Decorative images, like a background texture, get empty alt text so screen readers skip them. If a picture contains words, like a flyer or a sign, those words belong in the alt text.
For restaurants, the menu matters most: a menu posted only as a photo or an image-only PDF can't be read by a screen reader, so put dishes and prices on the page as text, and describe food photos by the dish. For landscaping companies, the project gallery is the sales pitch, so describe each photo by what was built and where. That also helps those photos turn up in Google Images.
How to write alt text that helps
- Describe what matters in the photo in one plain sentence.
- Name the specific thing: the dish, the project, the person's role.
- Leave out "image of" or "picture of"; screen readers already announce an image.
- Type out any words that appear inside the image.
- Leave alt text empty for purely decorative images.
- Don't repeat a nearby caption word for word; add what it leaves out.
How Future handles it
In the Builder, every image has a box for its alt text, and Future can suggest a description for you to edit. What's in your own photos is something only you know, so read each suggestion and put it in your own words: the job, the place, the detail that matters.
Future doesn't review your site against accessibility law, and no website builder can make a site compliant for you. Alt text is one part of website accessibility; if accessibility rules apply to your business, have someone qualified look at your site.