Alt text is a placeholder

Why does it matter?

Alt text such as "image", "photo" or "logo" fills the field without saying anything. A meaningful image still needs a real description; a decorative one should have empty alt text so it is skipped.

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?

Alt text made only of a generic word such as image, picture, photo, graphic or logo, with or without "a" or "the". Alt text that looks like random typing, such as "zxcvzxcv", is a tip. Hidden images, images marked role="presentation" and alt text that matches the file name are left to other checks.

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

How do I fix it in WordPress?

Select the image and, in the block sidebar, replace the alternative text with what the image shows or what it is for, e.g. "Acme Bakery logo" rather than "logo". If the image is only decoration, clear the field (or switch on "Decorative image") so screen readers skip it.

In the block editor, the issue opens the image's alternative text field so you can fix it straight away. The alt text manager can also fix the same image everywhere it is used.

Example

<img src="acme-logo.svg" alt="logo">

<img src="acme-logo.svg" alt="Acme Bakery">

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.