6 rules for writing accessible alt text

Good alt text should balance clarity, SEO, and empathy. Here are six rules we baked into our prompts:

1. Describe the primary subject — avoid generic phrases like “image of.” Name the person, product, or scene.
2. Add scene context — mention lighting, location, or mood so screen reader users share the same mental picture.
3. Keep it concise — 80–150 characters is ideal. Longer text can move into the long-description field.
4. Don’t stuff keywords — include your focus keyword once. Repetition hurts usability.
5. Explain intent — if the image serves a purpose (launch hero, lifestyle shot, instruction), spell it out.
6. Plan for localization — keep a note of the target language so you can regenerate localized copy once multilingual presets are enabled.

AI Image Describer outputs three variants at once—long description, alt attribute, and caption—so you can follow these principles without manual rewriting.