64.3% of product pages on US small-business websites have at least one image with no alt text, the short description that screen readers read aloud and search engines use to understand an image. The more images a page carries, the more likely it is to miss one.
Analysis of 948 product pages on 190 small-business websites · US small-business websites found through Google business listings, September 2026
Key Findings
- 1.64.3% of product pages on small-business websites have at least one image with no alt text.
- 2.65.8% of small-business online stores have at least one product page with an image missing alt text.
- 3.87% of small-business product pages with 21 to 50 images are missing alt text on at least one image, against 43% of pages with five or fewer.
- 4.58.4% of small-business online stores miss alt text on all of their product pages, while 34.2% miss it on none.
- 5.Small-business product pages carry 16 images on average, and 9 at the median.
Summary
A shopper using a screen reader lands on a small online store's product page. The software reads out the product name and price, then reaches the photo gallery and says "image, image, image". The shopper has no way to know which picture shows the color, which shows the size and which is a stock banner. Search engines face the same blank when they try to work out what the pictures show.
Alt text is the fix. It is a short written description attached to each image in the page's code, such as "navy linen shirt, front view". Screen readers read it aloud to people who cannot see the image, and Google uses it to understand the image for image search and for the page as a whole. For a store, product photos are the main content of the page, so missing alt text leaves the most important part of the page undescribed.
Most small stores have gaps. 64.3% of product pages on small-business websites have at least one image with no alt text, and 65.8% of small-business stores have at least one such page. Pages with big galleries miss it most: 87% of pages with 21 to 50 images have gaps.
What we measured
In September 2026 we sampled US small businesses from Google business listings, visited up to 20 pages on each business's website, and kept the product pages, pages that present a single item for sale. That gave 948 product pages with images on 190 small-business websites. For each page we recorded the number of images and whether any image was missing alt text.
Alt text is the "alt" attribute of an image: a short text description in the page's code. An image is missing alt text when it has no alt attribute at all. A page counts as missing alt text when at least one of its images has none. A store counts as missing alt text when at least one of its product pages does; a store "misses it on all product pages" when every one of its product pages that we visited has at least one image without alt text.
Nearly two thirds of small-business product pages miss alt text
At the store level the figure is similar: 65.8% of small-business online stores have at least one product page with an image missing alt text. Only about a third of stores get alt text right on every product page.
A single missing description matters most on the main product photo, the image a shopper looks at first and the one Google is most likely to show in image search. Without alt text, that photo carries no words for a screen reader to speak and no description for a search engine to index.
More images, more gaps
The more images a product page has, the more likely one of them is missing alt text. Pages with five or fewer images miss it 43% of the time; pages with 21 to 50 images miss it 87% of the time. Small-business product pages carry 16 images on average and 9 at the median, once galleries, thumbnails and related-product blocks are counted.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 948 product pages on 190 small-business websites · US small-business websites found through Google business listings, September 2026
| Images on the product page | Pages | Share missing alt text |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 5 | 302 | 43% |
| 6 to 10 | 246 | 67% |
| 11 to 20 | 174 | 70% |
| 21 to 50 | 188 | 87% |
| Over 50 | 38 | 76% |
Big galleries, thumbnail strips and "you may also like" blocks add images that are easy to forget. Those images are usually generated by the store's template, which is also where the fix belongs: a template rule that fills in alt text from the product name covers every gallery image at once.
Stores miss alt text everywhere or nowhere
Alt text gaps are a store habit, not a one-off. 58.4% of small-business stores with product images miss alt text on all of their product pages, and 34.2% miss it on none. Only 7.4% have a mix.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 948 product pages on 190 small-business websites · US small-business websites found through Google business listings, September 2026
That split shows the fix is structural. A store whose template writes alt text gets it right on every product page, and a store whose template does not repeats the gap on every product it adds. Fixing the template once is worth more than fixing pages one at a time.
What this means for online store owners
Fix alt text at the template level first. Most ecommerce platforms let you set the default alt text for product images, for example the product name plus the variant or angle. That one change covers galleries, thumbnails and related products, where most gaps sit.
Then write real descriptions for the main product photos. Describe what the shopper sees: color, material, angle and what is included. It helps image search, and it makes the page usable for shoppers who rely on screen readers.
Finally, check a few product pages after every theme change or app install, since new templates can drop alt text without warning. Our on page seo services fix alt text across product templates and check that every image on a store's product pages is described.
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<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/product-image-alt-text-gaps">64% of Small-Business Product Pages Have Images Missing Alt Text - Suff Digital</a></p>
Cite this study
Suff Digital. (2026). 64% of Small-Business Product Pages Have Images Missing Alt Text. https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/product-image-alt-text-gaps
64% of Small-Business Product Pages Have Images Missing Alt Text - Suff Digital - https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/product-image-alt-text-gaps
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