Alt text is a generic word

Why it matters

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 Lumtera flags

Alt text made only of a generic word like image, picture, photo, graphic or logo.

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

How to 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 to check your fix

1. Update the post. The issue disappears from the 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.