How to Automate WordPress Alt Text

If you're manually writing alt text for every WordPress image, you're wasting hours that could be spent on strategic work. AI automation can generate high-quality, SEO-friendly alt text in seconds. Here's how to do it right.

The Manual Alt Text Problem

Writing good alt text takes time. For each image, you need to:

• Analyze the image content and context
• Write a clear, descriptive 80-125 character description
• Include relevant keywords naturally
• Ensure it makes sense for screen reader users
• Verify it's unique across all your images

For a blog post with 5-10 images, that's 15-30 minutes of work. For a site with thousands of images, manual alt text becomes a multi-week project that never happens.

Why Automate Alt Text?

Save Massive Amounts of Time

AI can analyze and describe images in seconds, not minutes. What would take you 10 hours manually takes 10 minutes with automation.

Ensure Consistency

Human-written alt text varies in quality, style, and length. Automation ensures every image gets a properly formatted, descriptive alt text that follows alt text best practices.

Handle Bulk Updates

Have 5,000 images without alt text? Automation can process your entire media library in one session. No manual work required.

Maintain Compliance

Accessibility laws (ADA, WCAG) require alt text on all informational images. Automation ensures you stay compliant without the manual burden.

Improve SEO at Scale

Every image with proper alt text is an opportunity to rank in Google Images and reinforce your page topics. Automation makes this scalable.

How WordPress Alt Text Automation Works

Modern AI-powered tools use computer vision to "see" what's in your images and generate human-quality descriptions. Here's the typical workflow:

1. Image Analysis

   AI analyzes the image to identify objects, people, actions, text, colors, and context

2. Description Generation

   The AI generates a natural-language description optimized for both screen readers and SEO

3. Optimization

   The description is formatted to ideal length (80-125 chars) and includes relevant keywords

4. Quality Checks

   Automated filters catch inappropriate content, ensure uniqueness, and verify readability

5. Application

   Alt text is automatically applied to the WordPress image in your media library

Setting Up Automated Alt Text in WordPress

Here's how to implement AI-powered alt text automation on your WordPress site using Altomatic.

Step 1: Install the Altomatic Plugin

1. Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard
2. Navigate to Plugins → Add New
3. Search for "Altomatic"
4. Click Install Now, then Activate

Alternatively, download from WordPress.org and upload manually via Plugins → Upload Plugin.

Step 2: Connect Your Account

1. After activation, go to Settings → Altomatic
2. Click Connect Account to create your free account
3. You'll receive 50 free credits monthly (no credit card required)
4. The plugin will automatically connect to your account

Step 3: Configure Automation Settings

In the Altomatic settings panel, configure how you want alt text to be generated:

• Auto-generate on upload: Enable to automatically create alt text when you upload new images
• Overwrite existing alt text: Choose whether to replace manually written alt text or only fill in blanks
• Language: Select your content language for accurate descriptions
• Keyword optimization: Optionally provide target keywords to include naturally in descriptions
• Description style: Choose between concise (80-100 chars) or detailed (100-125 chars)

Step 4: Process New Uploads Automatically

With auto-generation enabled, every new image you upload will automatically receive:

• AI-generated alt text optimized for accessibility and SEO
• Automatic image optimization (compression, format conversion)
• Proper formatting and metadata

Upload images as you normally would. Altomatic processes them in the background with no extra steps required.

Step 5: Bulk Process Existing Images

To add alt text to images already in your media library:

1. Go to Media → Library
2. Switch to List View for easier selection
3. Select images that need alt text (or select all)
4. From the Bulk Actions dropdown, select Generate Alt Text
5. Click Apply

Altomatic will process all selected images and generate unique alt text for each one. You can process hundreds or thousands of images in minutes.

Advanced Features

WooCommerce Integration

If you run a WooCommerce store, Altomatic automatically handles product images:

• Product photos get descriptive alt text including color, style, and key features
• Gallery images receive unique descriptions for each angle/variation
• Alt text is optimized for product search and shopping results

Multi-Language Support

Altomatic supports alt text generation in 130+ languages. If you run a multilingual site with WPML or Polylang:

• Set language preferences per site or per image
• Generate alt text in multiple languages automatically
• Maintain consistency across language versions

SEO Plugin Integration

Altomatic works seamlessly with popular SEO plugins:

• Yoast SEO: Alt text appears in Yoast's image SEO analysis
• Rank Math: Integrates with Rank Math's content analysis
• All in One SEO: Compatible with AIOSEO's image settings

Custom Workflows

For enterprise sites with specific needs:

• CSV Export/Import: Export alt text for review, edit in bulk, and re-import
• Manual Review Queue: Set images to require manual approval before alt text is applied
• Brand Guidelines: Configure tone, style, and terminology preferences
• API Access: Integrate with your existing content workflow

Best Practices for Automated Alt Text

Review High-Value Images

While AI-generated alt text is accurate, you should review critical images manually:

• Homepage hero images
• Top-performing blog post images
• Product photos for your best sellers
• Images you're targeting for specific keywords

Provide Context When Needed

AI can describe what's in an image, but you know the context. For images where context matters (charts showing specific data, screenshots demonstrating specific features), review and refine the AI-generated alt text.

Set Quality Standards

Configure your automation tool to match your quality standards:

• Minimum and maximum description length
• Required or forbidden terms
• Tone and style guidelines
• Keyword usage limits to avoid stuffing

Monitor Results

Track the impact of your alt text automation:

• Google Search Console: Monitor image indexing under Performance → Search results → Image
• Analytics: Track traffic from Google Images
• Accessibility audits: Run regular WCAG compliance checks
• User feedback: Test with actual screen reader users if possible

Common Questions About Alt Text Automation

Is AI-generated alt text as good as human-written?

For most images, yes. Modern AI achieves 98%+ accuracy in describing image content. It's consistent, follows guidelines, and scales infinitely. However, images requiring deep context (industry jargon, specific data interpretation) may benefit from human review.

Will Google penalize me for using automated alt text?

No. Google doesn't care whether alt text was written by a human or AI - they care that it's accurate, descriptive, and helpful. As long as your alt text genuinely describes the image and serves users, you're fine.

Does it work with page builders like Elementor or Divi?

Yes. Altomatic works at the WordPress media library level, so alt text is available to any page builder, theme, or plugin that uses WordPress images. Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder, Gutenberg - all compatible.

Can I edit AI-generated alt text?

Absolutely. AI-generated alt text serves as a high-quality starting point. You can edit any description in your media library just like manually written alt text. For most images, the AI version will be good enough as-is.

What about images with text in them?

Good alt text tools (like Altomatic) can recognize and extract text from images. For images that are primarily text (infographics, quotes, screenshots with important UI text), the AI will include the visible text in the description.

How much does it cost?

Altomatic offers a free tier with 50 credits monthly (16 images with optimization + alt text). Paid plans start at affordable monthly rates for small sites, with enterprise plans for high-volume needs. See pricing details.

Should You Automate Alt Text?

Alt text automation makes sense if:

• You have more than 50 images on your site
• You regularly publish content with images
• Your current alt text coverage is below 80%
• You value your time and want to focus on strategic work
• You need to maintain accessibility compliance at scale

Manual alt text still makes sense for:

• Small sites with fewer than 20 images
• Highly technical images requiring domain expertise
• Images with critical SEO value where you want complete control

For most WordPress sites, a hybrid approach works best: automate the bulk of your alt text, then manually review and refine high-value images.

Getting Started

Ready to stop writing alt text manually? Here's your next steps:

1. Audit your current alt text

   Check how many images lack alt text - this is your baseline

2. Install Altomatic plugin

   Available free from WordPress.org with 50 monthly credits

3. Configure automation settings

   Set your preferences for auto-generation and style

4. Process your top pages first

   Use bulk processing on high-traffic pages for quick wins

5. Enable auto-generation for new uploads

   All future images get alt text automatically

6. Monitor results in Search Console

   Track image indexing and traffic improvements