How to write good alt text for Etsy & product images

Accessibility first, search-engine benefit second — with the 125-character rule and real examples.

Alt text is the short written description attached to an image with the HTML alt attribute. Screen readers read it aloud to shoppers who are blind or have low vision, and browsers display it when an image fails to load. For an online store — whether you sell on Etsy, Shopify, or your own site — good alt text does two jobs at once: it makes your listings usable for everyone, and it gives search engines a plain-text handle on what each photo shows. Write it for people, and the SEO benefit follows naturally.

Why alt text matters for sellers

Around one in six people live with some form of disability, and many rely on screen readers to shop online. If your product photo has no alt text, a screen reader may announce only the file name — "IMG_4821.jpg" — which tells the shopper nothing. Clear alt text describes the item so they can decide whether to buy. Beyond that, search engines cannot "see" a picture; they read the surrounding text and the alt attribute to understand it. Descriptive alt text helps your images surface in Google Images and improves the topical relevance of the whole listing page.

The 125-character guideline

Most screen readers comfortably read a short phrase, and many begin to truncate or lose the listener's attention past roughly 125 characters. Treat 125 characters as a soft ceiling, not a target. Aim for a concise phrase that conveys the essentials — usually 8 to 16 words. If you find yourself writing a sentence with commas and clauses, you are drifting into caption or description territory, not alt text.

What to include

• What the item is — lead with the product type: "linen apron", "ceramic pour-over dripper", "sterling silver hoop earrings".
• Distinguishing attributes — the color, material, finish, or variant that makes this photo different from the next one in the set.
• Meaningful context — if the shot shows scale or use ("worn on the wrist", "on a wooden table"), include it only when it helps a shopper understand the item.

What to leave out

• "Image of…" or "Photo of…" — screen readers already announce that it is an image. Skip the prefix.
• Keyword stuffing — a comma-salad of search terms hurts both accessibility and rankings. One clear description beats ten crammed keywords.
• Your entire listing copy — alt text is a caption, not the product description.
• Redundant repetition — if ten photos are the same mug from different angles, vary the alt text per angle rather than pasting one identical line.

Good vs. weak examples

Weak: IMG_2093.jpg — no description at all.

Weak: mug coffee cup ceramic handmade gift pottery stoneware kitchen — keyword stuffing, reads as noise.

Better: Handmade stoneware coffee mug in matte sage green, front view — clear, specific, under 125 characters.

Better (angle 2): Sage green stoneware mug, top view showing cream glazed interior — describes what this shot adds.

Consistency across a product set

When a listing has several photos, treat them as a set. Keep the product name consistent, then let each line describe what its shot uniquely shows: front, back, detail, in-use, scale. A repeatable pattern such as {product} {color} {material} — {view} keeps a whole catalog coherent and is exactly the kind of template AltForge fills in for you.

A quick pre-publish checklist

• Does the alt text name the product type first?
• Is it under ~125 characters and free of "image of"?
• Does each photo in the set have distinct alt text?
• Would it make sense read aloud, with no keyword stuffing?
• Is purely decorative imagery given empty alt (alt="") so screen readers skip it?

Related: The full alt-text checklist · SKU & filename naming conventions · Bulk rename product photos