ADA Compliance for WordPress Images: Complete Checklist

Missing alt text is the #1 accessibility violation on the web. In 2025 alone, over 4,600 ADA website lawsuits were filed in the US, and images without alt text were cited in the vast majority of them. If your WordPress site has images missing alt text, you're at risk. This guide gives you a complete checklist to audit, fix, and automate ADA compliance for your images.

What the ADA Requires for Website Images

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) doesn't mention websites explicitly, but federal courts have consistently ruled that websites are "places of public accommodation" under Title III. The Department of Justice confirmed this in 2022 guidance, and the standard courts apply is WCAG 2.1 Level AA.

For images, WCAG 2.1 requires:

This also overlaps with the European Accessibility Act (EAA), which took effect in June 2025. If you serve EU customers too, fixing your images covers both regulations at once.

Most Common Image Accessibility Violations

Here are the violations that ADA auditors and lawsuit plaintiffs look for, ranked by how frequently they appear:

1. Completely Missing Alt Text

The image tag has no alt attribute at all. Screen readers will read the filename instead, which sounds like "IMG underscore 2847 dot jpeg" — meaningless to a blind user.

<!-- Violation: no alt attribute -->
<img src="product-photo.jpg">

<!-- Fixed -->
<img src="product-photo.jpg" alt="Red leather handbag with gold buckle">

2. Generic or Useless Alt Text

Alt text that says "image", "photo", "untitled", or just repeats the filename. This technically has alt text but fails the "descriptive" requirement.

<!-- Violation: not descriptive -->
<img src="hero.jpg" alt="image">
<img src="DSC_0042.jpg" alt="DSC_0042">

<!-- Fixed -->
<img src="hero.jpg" alt="Team collaborating around a whiteboard in modern office">

3. Decorative Images Not Marked as Decorative

Background patterns, dividers, and design elements that don't convey information should have alt="" (empty alt). Without it, screen readers announce them unnecessarily, cluttering the experience.

4. Linked Images Without Alt Text

When an image is inside a link and has no alt text, screen readers can't tell users where the link goes. This is particularly common with logo images that link to the homepage and product images that link to product pages.

5. Alt Text That's Too Long or Keyword-Stuffed

Alt text over 125 characters gets cut off by some screen readers. And stuffing keywords ("best red leather handbag buy cheap red leather handbag online") is both an accessibility violation and an SEO penalty. Keep it descriptive and concise.

For more on writing effective alt text, see our alt text SEO best practices guide.

WordPress Image Audit Checklist

Use this checklist to audit your WordPress site for image accessibility issues. You can do this manually or use free tools to speed up the process.

Step 1: Count Your Missing Alt Text

In your WordPress admin, go to Media → Library and switch to List View. WordPress doesn't show alt text in the list by default, so click into several images and check the "Alternative Text" field. If you have hundreds of images, this gets tedious fast — which is why automated tools exist.

Step 2: Run a Free Accessibility Scan

These free tools will crawl your site and report missing alt text:

• WAVE (wave.webaim.org) — Paste any URL and get an instant accessibility report. Look for "missing alt text" errors.
• axe DevTools — Free browser extension that audits any page you visit. Great for checking pages one at a time.
• Google Lighthouse — Built into Chrome DevTools. Run an Accessibility audit and look for "Image elements do not have alt attributes."

Step 3: Check Your Most Important Pages First

Prioritize the pages that get the most traffic and are most likely to be targeted in a lawsuit:

• Homepage — The first page auditors check
• Product/service pages — Where conversions happen
• Blog posts with images — Often the most images
• Contact and about pages — Team photos often lack alt text

Step 4: Document What You Find

Keep a simple record of:

• Total images on your site
• How many are missing alt text
• Which pages have the most violations
• Any images with generic alt text ("image", "photo", filenames)

This gives you a clear scope for the fix — and documentation that you're actively working on compliance, which matters if you ever receive a demand letter.

How to Fix Alt Text Manually

For small sites (under 50 images), manual fixes are feasible:

1. Go to Media → Library in WordPress
2. Click on an image
3. Fill in the "Alternative Text" field with a concise description (aim for 80-125 characters)
4. Click Save
5. Repeat for every image

Tips for Writing Good Alt Text

• Be specific: "Golden retriever catching a frisbee in a park" beats "dog"
• Include context: If the image supports a point, describe what matters for that context
• Skip "image of" or "photo of": Screen readers already announce it as an image
• Keep it under 125 characters: Some screen readers truncate longer text
• For products: Include the product name, color, and key features

The problem? If you have hundreds or thousands of images, manual fixes take days or weeks. That's where automation comes in.

How to Fix Alt Text at Scale with AI

For sites with more than 50 images — which is most WordPress sites — manually writing alt text for every image isn't practical. AI-powered tools can generate accurate, descriptive alt text automatically.

What to Look for in an Automated Solution

• Accuracy: The AI should describe what's actually in the image, not guess
• Bulk processing: Process your entire media library, not one image at a time
• SEO integration: Alt text should incorporate your target keywords naturally
• Editable output: You should be able to review and edit generated alt text
• WordPress native: Works directly in your media library, not a separate tool

Using Altomatic for ADA Compliance

Altomatic is the only WordPress plugin that combines AI alt text generation with image compression in one tool. Here's how it handles compliance:

1. Automatic on upload: Every new image gets AI-generated alt text immediately
2. Bulk processing: Run the bulk optimizer to add alt text to your entire existing library
3. SEO-aware: Integrates with Yoast SEO, Rank Math, and AIOSEO to include your focus keyphrases in the generated alt text
4. Review and edit: Check generated alt text and modify it anytime from the media library
5. Bonus — image compression: While fixing alt text, Altomatic also compresses your images to WebP/AVIF, improving page speed and Core Web Vitals scores

For a detailed walkthrough, see our guide on how to bulk add alt text to WordPress images.

Maintaining Ongoing Compliance

Fixing existing images is only half the battle. You need a process to stay compliant as you add new content.

Set Up Automatic Alt Text for New Uploads

With a plugin like Altomatic, every new image uploaded to WordPress automatically gets alt text generated. This means your team doesn't have to remember to write it manually — compliance happens in the background.

Run Quarterly Audits

Even with automation, it's good practice to audit your site quarterly:

• Run WAVE or Lighthouse on your top 10 pages
• Check that new content has proper alt text
• Review any images added outside of the normal workflow (e.g., page builder widgets, custom HTML)
• Update alt text for any images whose context has changed

Create an Accessibility Statement

Adding an accessibility statement to your website shows good faith and can help in legal situations. Include:

• Your commitment to accessibility
• The standard you're following (WCAG 2.1 Level AA)
• Steps you've taken (e.g., "We use AI-powered alt text generation to ensure all images are described")
• Contact information for reporting accessibility issues

ADA Image Compliance Checklist Summary

Here's your quick-reference checklist:

Don't Wait for a Demand Letter

ADA compliance isn't just about avoiding lawsuits — it's about making your site usable for everyone. But the legal risk is real: plaintiff attorneys use automated scanners to find sites with missing alt text, and demand letters typically ask for $5,000-$25,000 to settle.

The good news is that fixing image accessibility is one of the easiest compliance wins. With AI alt text tools, you can go from hundreds of violations to full compliance in minutes, not weeks.