Why WooCommerce product images need alt text
· Lidor Asulin
A product photo is often the first thing a shopper uses to decide. If that image has no alt text, a screen reader has nothing useful to announce, and the image itself has no description of its own.
WooCommerce does not fill this in for you. The attachment alt field stays empty until someone writes it, or a plugin writes it.
What a useful product alt looks like
A useful line names what is visible: the product, a distinguishing detail, and sometimes the setting. “Black men’s running shoes displayed on a white background” is a description. “Buy shoes cheap sale” is not.
The product name helps, but it is not always enough. Two photos of the same SKU can show different angles. The alt text should follow the photo, not paste the same sentence on every image.
Where the text lives
In WordPress the alt text is stored on the attachment in the Media Library. Product galleries reuse those attachments. Filling the attachment once covers the product page, not a separate field you maintain by hand.
EzAlt can use the product name, SKU, and attributes when it generates that attachment text. You can still edit the result.