Google: Leave Alt Text Empty For Decorative Images & So Does W3C

Oct 17, 2022 - 7:11 am 1 by

Google Flower Alt

Google's John Mueller said in the latest Search Off the Record podcast that you should leave decorative alt text on your images empty and blank. Oh, and John later said, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) also says you should do that.

At the 17: 13 mark in the podcast, John said "But once it gets into things like, "Oh, this is a concept," or like, "It's decorative," so it doesn't... There's some places that say, "Oh, you don't need to put alt text in a decorative image." Like if it's purely there just for aesthetics, then it's better to just leave the alt text empty."

Here is the embed:

As John pointed out on Twitter later the W3C also recommends this, as they wrote here:

Decorative images don’t add information to the content of a page. For example, the information provided by the image might already be given using adjacent text, or the image might be included to make the website more visually attractive.

In these cases, a null (empty) alt text should be provided (alt="") so that they can be ignored by assistive technologies, such as screen readers. Text values for these types of images would add audible clutter to screen reader output or could distract users if the topic is different from that in adjacent text. Leaving out the alt attribute is also not an option because when it is not provided, some screen readers will announce the file name of the image instead.

Here is more of the context around this:

Forum discussion at Twitter.

Note: This was pre-written and scheduled to be posted today, I am currently offline for Simchat Torah.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: March 28, 2025

Mar 28, 2025 - 10:00 am
Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Core Update Done, Will Site Recover, AI Mode Expands, Google Ads PMax Search Terms & More

Mar 28, 2025 - 8:01 am
Google Maps

Google Local Knowledge Panel With Promotion Clipable Coupons

Mar 28, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Maps

Google AI Overviews Itinerary, Lens Tour Guide, Maps Screenshot & Track Prices

Mar 28, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Ads

Google Tests Contactless Label In Place Of Curbside Pickup

Mar 28, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google Ads

Google Ads WhatsApp Conversation Goals Get Diagnostics & More

Mar 28, 2025 - 7:21 am
Previous Story: Pixel 7 Cake