Differentiate informative and decorative images
Alt text is not merely a description of the pixels; it represents the image’s function on the page. Under Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), images are classified as either informative, functional, decorative, or complex. Filling every empty alt tag with automated text is a common accessibility error.
Decorative images (like background patterns, dividers, or generic icons) should have an empty alt attribute (`alt=""`) so screen readers skip them entirely. Informative images require descriptions, and functional images (like button links) must describe the action (e.g. "Search site" instead of "magnifying glass").
Context matters: Scan surrounding text
An image’s description must change based on where it is published. A photo of a dog on a veterinarian website needs different text than the same photo on a dog adoption portal. Visual AI models analyze only the pixels, which often leads to generic, out-of-context descriptions.
A modern accessibility workflow parses the parent post title, product title, nearby headings, and captions. Feeding this metadata into the AI prompt yields context-aware alt suggestions that actually support the page’s topic and SEO keywords.
Establish a review queue
Never allow AI suggestions to write directly to your database without human confirmation. Establish an interactive review queue to inspect missing, raw filename, or weak alt texts. Cyphex displays the image, the associated post title, and the AI suggestion in one screen, allowing editors to approve, edit, or reject descriptions in bulk.
- Do not start alt text with "image of" or "photo of".
- Ensure functional images describe the destination or link behavior.
- Keep alt tags under 125 characters to prevent screen reader overflow.