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Content Creation / Practical guide

How to add alt text to product images: where the box is on Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, Squarespace and Wix

Writing good alt text is the hard part. Finding where to put it shouldn't be. Here's exactly where the alt text box hides on the platforms small product brands use most, plus your emails and Instagram.

The short version

  • The alt text field is usually close to the image, but its location and behavior vary by platform and image type.
  • Open a product's image or media controls and look for a field named Alt text, Alternative text or Metadata. The exact route varies.
  • WooCommerce: alt text lives on the image in your WordPress Media Library.
  • If you use more than one platform, don't assume alt text copies across. Check each live product image, including images added through a page builder.
  • Some platforms suggest or generate alt text. Availability varies, so check the current help and review every suggestion.
  • After adding it, check it worked on the live page, not just in the editor.

This is the practical companion to our guide on writing product image alt text that describes what each photo shows a buyer. That article covers what to write. This one shows you where to type it.

If you haven't read it yet, the one-line summary is: describe what a sighted buyer learns from each photo, and give every photo its own description. Then come back here and put it in the right box.

Back to Little Wren: two shops, ten boxes, one evening

This is an illustrative example.

In the first article, we met Méabh, who makes soft-soled leather baby shoes by hand under the name Little Wren. After a customer who used a screen reader emailed her, she rewrote the alt text for every photo on her product pages.

Writing the descriptions was the part she'd been dreading. But the part that actually slowed her down was finding the boxes.

Her main shop is on Shopify. She also lists her best sellers on Etsy.

She'd assumed that fixing the alt text in one place would fix it everywhere. It didn't. Shopify and Etsy manage their listing images separately, so she checked and added descriptions in both places.

She also sends a monthly email with product photos, and posts new colours on Instagram. Those needed alt text too, and each one kept its box somewhere different.

So she did what most people do after the first frustrating half hour. She wrote all her descriptions once, in a simple spreadsheet, then pasted them into each platform. That's the method we'd recommend, and it's where we'll start.

AI-generated editorial photograph of a maker sorting small leather baby shoes at a wooden worktable.
AI-generated illustrative concept art.

Before you start: write once, paste everywhere

Open a spreadsheet or a plain document. Make three columns:

  1. Product name
  2. Photo (main shot, on a baby, sole, stitching, gift box)
  3. Alt text

Write every description there first, using the approach from the alt text writing guide. It's much easier to spot two photos with the same description when they're side by side in a list.

Then work through each platform below, pasting as you go. If you sell in more than one place, you only write each description once.

One tip: number your photos in the spreadsheet in the same order they appear on the product page. Platforms show your photos in order, and matching that order saves you squinting at thumbnails.

AI-generated editorial photograph of a maker arranging different shoe photos beside a blank checklist.
AI-generated illustrative concept art.

How to add alt text in Shopify

Shopify stores alt text on each piece of product media, so you add it from the product page in your admin.

On a computer

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products.
  2. Click the name of the product you want to edit.
  3. On the product details page, click one of the product photos. This opens the Preview media page.
  4. Click Add alt text.
  5. Type or paste your alt text, then click Save alt text.
  6. Click the X to close the preview, and move on to the next photo.

On the Shopify app

  1. Tap the Products icon.
  2. Tap a product.
  3. Tap a product photo to open its preview.
  4. Tap Information.
  5. Enter your alt text, then tap Save or the tick.
  6. Tap Save.

Things to know in Shopify

Shopify allows up to 512 characters, but recommends keeping alt text to 125 characters or fewer. For product photos, that's plenty. Most good descriptions are one sentence.

Shopify's media editor may suggest alt text for images that don't have any. If you accept a suggestion, it's saved to the image.

Read it first. A suggestion might say "brown shoes" when the important detail is that the sole is soft suede.

If you have a lot of products, Shopify also lets you add alt text through a product CSV file. That's useful once you've written everything in a spreadsheet, but it's easy to overwrite other product details by mistake. Export a copy of your products first, and try it on one or two products before doing the whole shop.

Images you add through the theme editor, like a homepage banner or a collection image, aren't product media. Their alt text is added from the theme editor instead. Shopify's help centre has a short guide for this.

One trap catches people out: don't assume that alt text entered in Content > Files is also the alt text for product media. Shopify's product-media instructions direct you to edit the image from the product itself. Check the live product image after saving.

AI-generated editorial photograph of a maker working at a laptop beside leather baby shoes and product photos, with the screen turned away.
AI-generated illustrative concept art.

How to add alt text on PageFly pages

If you've built product pages or landing pages with PageFly on Shopify, there are two places to think about. The first is whether the image comes from Shopify product media or was added separately in PageFly.

If a PageFly page uses a Shopify product image, check the live page to confirm which alt text is rendered. Images added with PageFly's own Image element have a separate field, shown below.

Images you've added with PageFly's own Image element are different. They have their own alt text box:

  1. Open your page in the PageFly editor.
  2. Click the image on the page to select it.
  3. In the General tab of the settings, find the Alt Text field.
  4. Type your description.
  5. Save and publish the page.

You'll also see a Title Text field next to it. That's not the same thing. Screen readers rely on the alt text, so fill that in first.

PageFly's Image Manager also lets you edit an image's alt text in the Image Editor. PageFly says an edited image is saved as a new image, so check which file each page uses. If a photo serves a different purpose on another page, check that page's description too.

If you're still choosing a builder, our Shopify page builder comparison compares three options for small shops.

AI-generated editorial photograph of a maker comparing a product-only shoe photo with a lifestyle photo of the same shoe beside a folded blanket.
AI-generated illustrative concept art.

How to add alt text on Etsy

Etsy lets you add alt text to each listing photo.

On Etsy.com

  1. Sign in and go to Shop Manager.
  2. Select Listings.
  3. Select a listing.
  4. Select the photo you want to add alt text to.
  5. In the Alt text section, write your description.
  6. Choose Apply.

On the Etsy Seller app

  1. Go to Listings and select a listing.
  2. In the Listing tab, tap the pencil icon in the Photo and video section.
  3. Tap the Alt text icon.
  4. Choose the photo, and add your description.

Things to know on Etsy

Etsy says it might add alt text to US sellers' listing images when a seller hasn't added it. Etsy also says it won't change images that already have alt text, and that Etsy-added text can be edited. Availability may vary, so check what appears on your own listings.

Automatic descriptions can be a decent starting point, but they may describe what's obvious and miss what matters. An AI tool can see a shoe. It can't know the sole is soft enough to fold in half, or that the photo exists to show the gift box.

If you see automatic alt text on your listings, check it against the photo and replace anything that misses the point.

Etsy itself suggests describing different views, details and variations of your listing. That's the same advice as our writing guide: each photo gets its own description.

How to add alt text in WooCommerce and WordPress

WooCommerce uses WordPress's Media Library for product photos, so alt text is stored on each image in the library.

For product photos

  1. In your WordPress dashboard, go to Media > Library.
  2. Click a product image to open its Attachment details.
  3. Find the Alternative Text field.
  4. Type your description. It saves automatically when you click away or close the window.

You can also do this while editing a product. When you set the product image or add gallery images, the same Attachment details panel appears beside the image picker, with the Alternative Text field in it.

For images in blog posts and pages

In the block editor, click the Image block, then look in the block settings panel on the right for the Alternative text field.

Things to know in WooCommerce

Variation images are easy to miss. If each colour uses a different image, check the alt text for each image too. Adding alt text to the main product photo doesn't guarantee that a different image shown after a customer chooses a colour has a useful description.

A WordPress image block can have alternative text specific to that placement. If you change an image's text in the Media Library later, check posts and pages that already use it, because the block may still have its own value.

AI-generated editorial photograph of a maker arranging leather baby shoes in several colours and views.
AI-generated illustrative concept art.

How to add alt text in Squarespace

For product photos

  1. Open the product in the product editor.
  2. Click Images.
  3. Click the three dots (•••) on the photo, then click Edit Metadata.
  4. Add your alt text, and save.

Squarespace allows up to 200 characters of alt text for each product image.

For image blocks on other pages

Open the page in edit mode, click the image, then click the pencil icon to edit it. Look for the Image Alt Text field in the image settings.

Things to know in Squarespace

Don't rely on a file name as a useful image description. If the field is blank, check the published image with a screen reader and inspect its accessible information.

How to add alt text in Wix

For product photos

  1. In your site's dashboard, go to Products.
  2. Click the product you want to edit.
  3. In the Images and videos section, click the More Actions icon (three dots).
  4. Click Edit Alt Text.
  5. Enter your alt text for each photo.
  6. Click Apply, then save the product.

Things to know in Wix

The Edit Alt Text window has a Copy to all button that applies the same text to every photo of that product. It's tempting when you're in a hurry, but it recreates exactly the problem Méabh had: five photos that all say the same thing. Leave it alone unless the photos genuinely show the same thing.

Wix's Accessibility Wizard can help find images that need descriptions, and Wix also documents AI-generated alt text in the editor. Check whether the wizard covers the images in your store template, then verify the live product page.

How to add alt text to images in your emails (Moosend)

Product photos in your newsletters need alt text for the same reasons: some subscribers use screen readers, and some email apps don't load images straight away.

Most email tools put the alt text box in the image settings. Here's how it works in Moosend:

  1. In the campaign editor, click the image item in your email.
  2. In the image settings, find the field for alternative text.
  3. Type your description.
  4. Save the campaign and send yourself a test.

In an email, keep alt text short and lead with the most important words: "Sage green baby shoes in a gift box". Email clients handle blocked images differently, so send yourself a test and check how the fallback appears with images turned off.

If you use a different email tool, look for "alt text" or "alternative text" in the image settings. The field and menu name vary, so check that tool's help and send yourself a test.

Still choosing an email platform? Our email marketing comparison compares ten tools on list growth, sending limits, automation and price.

How to add alt text on Instagram

Instagram tucks alt text away in Advanced settings, which is why most people never find it.

On a new post

  1. Start your post as usual, choose your photo and tap Next.
  2. On the screen where you write your caption, tap Advanced settings.
  3. Under Accessibility, tap Write alt text.
  4. Write your description, then tap Done (or Save on Android).
  5. Go back and share your post.

On a post you've already shared

Open the post and tap the three dots in the corner. Depending on your version of the app, you'll see an alt text option straight away, or you'll find it after tapping Edit.

If you post a carousel, each photo can have its own alt text. Use that, for the same reason each product photo gets its own description on your website.

What about decorative images?

As the writing guide explains, purely decorative images, like a background texture or a divider, should have empty alt text so screen readers skip them.

Use a platform's decorative-image option when it provides one. If it doesn't, check that a blank field stays empty on the published page instead of triggering an automatic suggestion.

Most product photos convey information, but decide from the image's purpose and surrounding text rather than assuming every image needs a description.

Check that it actually worked

Saving the alt text in your editor isn't quite the end. Themes, apps and page builders sometimes display a different copy of an image, especially in colour swatches and mobile galleries. So check the live page.

There are two easy ways.

The first is to listen. Turn on your phone's screen reader and let it read the product page to you, as described in the alt text writing guide. You'll hear straight away whether your new descriptions are being read.

The second is to peek at the page code. On a computer, open your live product page in Chrome or Edge, right-click a product photo and choose Inspect.

A panel opens with the image's code highlighted. Look for alt="..." in that line.

For a standard image, the alt attribute is one important part of its accessible name. Page context and other accessibility markup can affect what a screen reader announces, so treat Inspect as a diagnostic rather than a substitute for listening to the page.

If the value is empty or old, investigate that image.

Check a representative product on each platform, then test each distinct image type or template you use, including variants and mobile galleries. One successful image does not confirm every component.

AI-generated editorial photograph of a maker wearing headphones and holding a blank-screen phone beside a printed shoe photo and matching shoes.
AI-generated illustrative concept art.

A word on AI-written alt text

Shopify's media editor may suggest alt text. Etsy says it may add alt text for US sellers' listing images.

Wix documents AI-generated alt text in its Accessibility Wizard. Features and availability vary, so check the current platform help before relying on them.

These can save time on a big catalogue. But they describe what a computer can see, not what a buyer needs to know. They can't tell which photo exists to show the size, or that the important thing about the sole is that it's soft.

If you use them, treat the result as a first draft. Read each one against the photo, and rewrite anything that misses the point of the picture.

How Méabh got it done

Méabh's spreadsheet had 35 rows: seven best-selling products, five photos each. Writing them took an evening.

Pasting them into Shopify took about forty minutes. Etsy took another half hour, because she had to do it again for the products she sells there. She added alt text to her next newsletter as she built it, which took two minutes.

Then she listened to one product page with VoiceOver, with her eyes closed. For the first time, the photos told her something. She heard the soft suede sole, the elastic ankle and the gift box with tissue paper.

Now she writes the alt text as she uploads each new photo, while she still remembers why she took it.

Your alt text checklist, platform by platform

  • Shopify: alt text added on each product photo, not only in Content > Files.
  • PageFly: alt text added to any images placed with the Image element.
  • Etsy: alt text added separately, even if it's already on your website. Automatic descriptions replaced with your own.
  • WooCommerce: alt text added in the Media Library, including variation images.
  • Squarespace: alt text added through Edit Metadata on each product image.
  • Wix: each photo has its own alt text. Copy to all not used.
  • Emails: product photos in your newsletter have short alt text.
  • Instagram: alt text added under Advanced settings, for every photo in a carousel.
  • Live page checked with a screen reader or Inspect.

The box is easy to miss. That's why it's usually empty.

Most product photos without alt text aren't missing it because their owners didn't care. They're missing it because the box is hidden behind a click, a menu or an "advanced" setting.

Now you know where it is on each platform you use. Write your descriptions once, paste them everywhere you sell, and check the live page. Every customer then gets the same chance to see what your photos were meant to show.

Platform help

All six images are AI-generated illustrative concept art, not product testing evidence.

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