--- title: "Product Image Alt Text Statistics: 64% of Pages Miss It" url: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/product-image-alt-text-gaps description: "Product image alt text statistics: 64.3% of small-business product pages have an image with no alt text, and 87% of image-heavy pages do. See the data." lang: en --- Share Share on X: https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Fproduct-image-alt-text-gaps&text=64%25%20of%20Small-Business%20Product%20Pages%20Have%20Images%20Missing%20Alt%20Text Share on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Fproduct-image-alt-text-gaps Share on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Fproduct-image-alt-text-gaps Share on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Fproduct-image-alt-text-gaps&title=64%25%20of%20Small-Business%20Product%20Pages%20Have%20Images%20Missing%20Alt%20Text **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. 1. **64.3%** of product pages on small-business websites have at least one image with no alt text. Copy stat 2. 2. **65.8%** of small-business online stores have at least one product page with an image missing alt text. Copy stat 3. 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. Copy stat 4. 4. **58.4%** of small-business online stores miss alt text on all of their product pages, while 34.2% miss it on none. Copy stat 5. 5. Small-business product pages carry **16** images on average, and 9 at the median. Copy stat ## 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 64.3% of product pages on small-business websites have at least one image with no 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. Share missing alt text by images on the product page 1 to 5 43% 6 to 10 67% 11 to 20 70% 21 to 50 87% Over 50 76% 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. Share of small-business stores by store pattern Missing alt text on every product page 58.4% Missing alt text on no product page 34.2% Mixed 7.4% 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 (https://www.suffdigital.com/seo/on-page-seo-services) fix alt text across product templates and check that every image on a store's product pages is described. ## Embed this research Paste this on your site to embed the charts. It links back to the source automatically.

Source: 64% of Small-Business Product Pages Have Images Missing Alt Text - Suff Digital

## Cite this study APA 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 Plain link 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 ## Frequently asked questions ### How many small-business product pages are missing image alt text? ### How many images does a typical product page have? ### Do product pages with more images have more alt text problems? ### Is missing alt text a store-wide problem? ## Related studies - Ecommerce SEO 57% of Small-Business Product Pages Have Fewer Than 300 Words: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/thin-product-pages-word-count - Ecommerce SEO 73% of Small-Business Product Pages Have No Product Schema: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/product-schema-small-business-pages - Ecommerce SEO 77.8% of Retail Store Websites Have No Breadcrumb Schema: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/retail-breadcrumb-schema-adoption - Ecommerce SEO Shopify Powers 44.8% of Online Stores on Google's Page One vs 10% for WordPress: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ecommerce-platform-share-page-one ## Structured data ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#organization", "name": "Suff Digital", "alternateName": "Suff Digital Marketing", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#logo", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/logo.png", "contentUrl": "https://www.suffdigital.com/logo.png", "caption": "Suff Digital" }, "image": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#logo" }, "description": "Suff Digital is a full-stack digital marketing agency that turns websites into predictable revenue engines, SEO, paid media, content, CRO, and web design built around revenue, not vanity metrics.", "slogan": "Digital marketing built for what's next.", "email": "hello@suffdigital.com", "telephone": "+1-629-236-0099", "foundingDate": "2022", "founder": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Suffoletto", "jobTitle": "Founder & CEO" }, "contactPoint": [ { "@type": "ContactPoint", "telephone": "+1-629-236-0099", "email": "hello@suffdigital.com", "contactType": "sales", "areaServed": "US", "availableLanguage": [ "en" ] } ], "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "addressLocality": "Nashville", "addressRegion": "TN", "postalCode": "37219", "addressCountry": "US" }, "areaServed": { "@type": "Country", "name": "United States" }, "sameAs": [ "https://www.linkedin.com/company/suff-digital/", "https://www.instagram.com/suffdigital/", "https://www.youtube.com/@suffdigitalmarketing", "https://www.tiktok.com/@suffdigital" ], "knowsAbout": [ "Search Engine Optimization", "Pay-Per-Click Advertising", "Paid Social Advertising", "Conversion Rate Optimization", "Web Design", "Digital PR", "Link Building", "Website Migration", "Website Maintenance and Support", "Technical SEO", "Local SEO", "AI Search Optimization" ], "hasOfferCatalog": { "@type": "OfferCatalog", "name": "Suff Digital Services", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Search Engine Optimization (SEO)", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/ppc" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Paid Social Advertising", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/paid-social" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/cro" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Web Design", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/web-design" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Digital PR & Link Building", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/digital-pr" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Website Migration", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/website-migration" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Website Maintenance & Support", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/website-maintenance" } } ] } }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#website", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/", "name": "Suff Digital", "inLanguage": "en-US", "publisher": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#organization" } } ] }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Article", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/product-image-alt-text-gaps#article", "headline": "64% of Small-Business Product Pages Have Images Missing Alt Text", "description": "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. 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