Where the alt text field hides in WordPress, Squarespace, and Shopify

Every site builder keeps its alt text field somewhere different, and it is easy to publish a whole page without ever seeing it. In WordPress it sits in the image block’s settings sidebar. In Squarespace it is a field called Image alt text. In Shopify you reach it by opening a product’s media and choosing Add alt text. The exact paths are below, taken from each platform’s own help pages.

Some interfaces call it an image description or an alt tag, but it is the same thing: the text a screen reader speaks in place of the picture. If you need the case for filling it in, start with why alt text matters, then come back with the field in mind.

WordPress: the image block’s sidebar

On WordPress.com, edit the page or post, click the image, open the Settings icon in the top toolbar, and type into the Alternative Text field, per the WordPress.com guide to image alt text. The same guide says the text should describe the image’s purpose, not just list what is in it. A self-hosted site may look a little different, so treat these steps as the WordPress.com version.

There is one useful extra. Below the field is a Mark as decorative checkbox, which hides the image from assistive technology and sets its alt text to empty. Use it for dividers and borders, and for nothing else; our piece on decorative versus informative images explains where that line falls.

Squarespace: a different field for each image type

For an image block, open the Pages panel, click Edit on the page, click the block, then the pencil icon. In the Content tab, enter your text under Image alt text. It saves automatically. Product images work differently: hover over the image, click the three dots, choose Edit metadata, and fill in the Alt text field, which takes up to 200 characters, according to Squarespace’s alt text guide.

The same page lists the fallbacks that fill in when you skip the field. Gallery block images use the image title, many others use the file name, and section background images cannot take alt text at all. It also suggests roughly 150 to 200 characters, which is longer than most advice. Our write-up of the 125-character rule covers why shorter usually serves the listener better.

Shopify: product media and theme images are separate

For a product photo, go to Products in the admin, open the product, click a media item, choose Add alt text, and save. Shopify’s page gives a maximum of 512 characters but recommends 125 or fewer, and says you can also add alt text in bulk with a CSV upload, per Shopify’s product media help. If you sell physical goods, our notes on alt text for product photos cover what to write.

Images that are part of your theme, such as a homepage banner, are a different path. In the Online Store, choose Edit theme, select the section, click Edit on the image, and enter the description, as laid out in Shopify’s theme image instructions. Product images are handled separately there, so fixing one place does not fix the other.

Make it part of the checklist

Once you know where the field is, the hard part is having something good to put in it. Draft with SnipAlt using Ctrl+Shift+A (⌘⇧A on a Mac), then paste the result into whichever field your platform uses. If your site already has years of images, a quick audit of past posts shows how many of them never got a description.