Overview
Alt text (short for “alternative text”) is a written description embedded in an image. Screen readers use alt text to describe images to visitors who are blind or have low vision, and many platforms use it to support accessibility and compliance requirements.
In Enhanced Content, alt text should be applied to every image.
What is Alt Text?
Alt text is a concise, accurate description of what an image shows and/or what purpose it serves. It is not visible to most shoppers, but it is stored with the image so assistive technologies can interpret the content.
Examples:
- “Front view of stainless-steel blender with 3 speed settings.”
- “Diagram showing installation steps for wall mount bracket.”
Alt text is one of the primary ways screen readers communicate visual information to visually impaired individuals. Without it, site visitors relying on assistive technology may miss critical product details, instructions, claims, or context conveyed through images.
Why Alt Text is Important
Adding alt text isn’t optional housekeeping - it’s an essential requirement for publishing compliant Enhanced Content. Alt text supports accessibility standards and is often necessary for compliance with laws and regulations. If any images on a website are inaccessible, the site owners may be exposed to compliance risks.
As a result, all retailers require alt text on images as part of their content acceptance rules. Missing alt text for even one image may result in the removal of Brand-provided Enhanced Content on product details pages at any time.
Best Practices for Alt Text
Use these guidelines to ensure your alt text is useful and compliant:
- Be specific and factual: Describe what the image actually shows.
- Keep it concise: Usually, one sentence is enough.
- Describe the purpose: If the image is instructional (e.g., a step-by-step graphic), reflect that.
- Skip redundant phrases: You typically don’t need “image of” or “picture of.”
- Decorative images: If an image is purely decorative and conveys no information, your organization may choose to leave it empty based on general accessibility guidance. However, retailers still require a value. Apply a generic text to avoid getting the asset flagged as non-compliant.
How to Input Alt Text in Syndigo
Alt text may be entered from the Enhanced Content building experience or from the Assets library.
Alt text only has to be entered once per image file. Regardless of where the text is added, it will be committed directly to the image asset file itself, so all instances of that asset file will already have the alt text applied.
To review and input alt text across an entire Enhanced Content collection:
- Once logged in to Syndigo, navigate to the Enhanced Content Project.
- Within the Project, ensure that your desired collection is selected.
- Navigate to the Enhanced Content tab of the Project.
- Click on Manage Asset Accessibility beneath the actions menu. Oftentimes, there is a warning indicator on this button, which displays the number of assets that require action for accessibility compliance.
- The Asset Accessibility modal will appear. Within this modal, there are two tabs – One for Images and the other for Videos.
- Within the Images tab, all images missing Image Alt Text shall be listed with warning indicators in the empty text fields. Enter the image alt text in the correct language (the language that the collection is targeting) within this modal.
- Click Save when ready to commit the values to the asset. These can be changed at any time in the future.
To review and input alt text directly within an individual widget:
- Once logged into Syndigo, navigate to the Enhanced Content Project.
- Within the Project, ensure that your desired collection is selected.
- Navigate to the Enhanced Content tab of the Project.
- Edit an individual widget or add a new widget to see the widget details modal.
- Underneath each image asset added to the widget, the warning text “Image is missing alt-text” shall be present if the image is not yet associated with any committed alt text values in the language targeted by the collection. Click View Asset Details to see the Asset Details modal, which will, by default, open to the Accessibility tab.
- By “Alt Text”, click the (+) Add Alt Text button.
- From the Language dropdown, select the language of the Image Alt Text (which should match that of the collection - i.e. If the collection is targeting English (US), Generic, the alt text should be in English).
- Enter the Image Alt Text into the Image Alt Text field.
- Multiple alt text languages may be entered in this modal at any time.
- If Enhanced Content targets retailer websites spanning multiple markets and languages, we recommend entering multiple alt text languages as soon as possible.
- Click Save when ready to commit the values to the asset. These can be changed at any time in the future.
To review and input alt text in the Syndigo Assets library:
- Once logged in to Syndigo, navigate to Assets from the main navigation menu.
- If the image file is not yet uploaded to the Assets library, upload it now. If it is already uploaded, search for the file.
- Click the image’s file name to launch the Asset Details modal.
- Navigate to the Accessibility tab within the Asset Details modal.
- By “Alt Text”, click the (+) Add Alt Text button.
- From the Language dropdown, select the language of the Image Alt Text (which should match that of the collection - i.e. If the collection is targeting English (US), Generic, the alt text should be in English).
- Enter the Image Alt Text into the Image Alt Text field.
- Multiple alt text languages may be entered in this modal at any time.
- If Enhanced Content targets retailer websites spanning multiple markets and languages, we recommend entering multiple alt text languages as soon as possible.
- Click Save when ready to commit the values to the asset. These can be changed at any time in the future.
Import Final Step: Republish Enhanced Content
If alt text has been applied after a collection has been published, even if the collection is still under review by Syndigo Quality Assurance, the collection must be republished to ensure the latest alt text values are captured.
- If the collection is currently under review (“In Review” status), please cancel the review and then republish it once all the desired alt text has been applied.
- If the collection is live already, please republish it once all the desired alt text has been applied.
In the near future, retailers will require alt text before any Enhanced Content can go live on their sites, so establish internal processes and expectations now to avoid delays in your eCommerce timelines.
Need Help?
If you’re unsure what your retailers require or how to standardize alt text across your Enhanced Content program, reach out to your account representative for guidance and best practice recommendations.
Please see the FAQ: Accessibility for more information.
