How to fix images missing alt on BigCommerce

Steps for BigCommerce

1. Product images: Admin → Catalog → Products → [select product] → Images & Videos tab → hover over the image thumbnail and click the pencil (Edit) icon → fill in the 'Alt Text' field → Save.
2. Banners and other content images: Admin → Storefront → Image Manager — locate the image → click the edit icon → update the alt text field.
3. Page Builder widgets: Admin → Storefront → My Themes → Customize (Page Builder) → click an Image widget on the canvas → update the Alt Text field in the right sidebar → Publish.

What is images missing alt?

Every `<img>` tag in HTML has an `alt` attribute — a short written description of what the image shows. When an image is missing its alt text (the `alt` attribute is absent or empty), search engines like Google cannot "see" what the image depicts, and screen-reader software used by visually impaired shoppers reads nothing aloud. Writing good alt text means filling in that attribute with a clear, specific description: for a product photo you might write `alt="Red leather crossbody bag with gold buckle clasp"`.

Google explicitly uses alt text to understand images and rank them in Google Images — a significant free-traffic channel for ecommerce stores. Missing alt text means your product photos are invisible to Google's crawler and cannot appear in image search results, cutting off a stream of high-intent shoppers. On the conversion side, assistive-technology users (screen readers) rely on alt text to understand your product imagery; missing it creates a poor shopping experience and in many jurisdictions exposes you to accessibility-law liability (ADA in the US, EN 301 549 in the EU, AODA in Canada). Even a handful of untagged images on key product or landing pages is enough to suppress rankings and fail an accessibility audit.

See the complete Images missing alt guide for every platform and the full background.