image alt text for Shopify stores

I was checking product image alt text for Shopify stores and noticed a simple way to find missing alt text without installing an app.

Manual method:

1. Go to Shopify Admin

2. Open Products

3. Click Export

4. Export your products as a CSV

5. Open the CSV in Excel or Google Sheets

6. Look for the “Image Alt Text” column

7. Blank cells in that column usually mean product images are missing alt text

This matters because alt text helps screen-reader users understand product images, and it can also help Google understand image content better.

A simple alt text example:

Bad:

“product image”

Better:

“black leather tote bag with gold strap”

Another example:

Bad:

“image”

Better:

“gold hoop earrings on white background”

Don’t keyword-stuff. Describe what the product image actually shows.

For larger catalogs, checking this manually can be slow, so I made a free browser-based CSV checker here:

https://storeaccessibilityscan.com/shopify-catalog-alt-text-audit

It checks your Shopify product CSV, shows how many product image rows are missing alt text, and lets you download a CSV with suggested alt text. No signup required.

I’m still improving it, so feedback on whether the suggestions are useful would be helpful.