Alt text repeats nearby text

Why does it matter?

Screen readers read an image's alt text and then its caption, the rest of its link, or the heading that follows. When those are the same words, blind visitors hear the sentence twice and still learn nothing about what the picture shows. It is common in galleries and post cards, where the alt text field was filled in by copying the caption or the title.

Who it affects: Blind and low-vision people using screen readers, people who turn images off to save data, and search engines.

What does Lumtera flag?

Images whose alt text (three characters or more) has the same words as their caption in the same figure, as the other text inside the same link or button, or as the heading right after an unlinked image. Case, spacing and punctuation are ignored when comparing. Links named by aria-label are skipped, and linked images next to a separate link to the same page are left to the "Image and text link go to the same page" check. It is shown as a tip, because repeated text is tiresome rather than blocking.

Check ID image-alt-duplicates-text — use it to filter the content report or with wp lumtera issues --rule.

How do I fix it in WordPress?

Make the alt text describe what the picture shows, and let the caption or heading add context — they are read out too. If the image only illustrates the text beside it, mark it decorative (Image block settings > Accessibility) so it is skipped. For a linked image with text in the same link, an empty alt is right.

Example

<figure>
  <img src="market.jpg" alt="Saturday farmers' market">
  <figcaption>Saturday farmers' market</figcaption>
</figure>

<figure>
  <img src="market.jpg" alt="Stalls of fresh vegetables under striped awnings">
  <figcaption>Saturday farmers' market</figcaption>
</figure>

How do I check the fix?

1. Update the post. The issue disappears from the Lumtera Accessibility sidebar on the next check, and from the site report on the next scan.
2. Turn on a screen reader (VoiceOver on Mac: Cmd + F5; NVDA on Windows is free) and move through the image. You should hear a description that makes sense in context — or nothing at all for decoration.