Try this: search Google Images for something you sell — "wooden pendant lamp", "white linen dress", "ceramic coffee mug set". Every photo that appears is an entry door to a store. If your photos have no ALT text, your store isn't in that shop window.
What ALT text is (in one line)
It's a short description attached to each image in your page's code. Visitors don't see it, but Google does — and so do screen readers used by visually impaired people, so beyond SEO it's also accessibility.
Why it matters more than it seems
- Google Images is a giant search engine — in visual niches (decor, fashion, furniture, lighting) a huge share of product discovery starts there.
- It gives context to the whole page: a page whose text and images "talk" about the same thing is a page Google understands and ranks better.
- Almost nobody does it: it's one of the few SEO areas where easy advantage still exists. The average store has hundreds of images without ALT.
How to write a good ALT
The rule: describe what's visible, the way you'd describe it over the phone, naturally including what that person would search for.
- ❌
IMG_4521.jpg(nothing) - ❌
lamp lamp pendant lamps buy sale(keyword stuffing: it penalizes) - ✅
Black iron and wood industrial pendant lamp over a dining table
Three quick rules:
- 8 to 15 words is enough; it's not a paragraph.
- One image, one distinct description: if the product has 5 photos, each angle deserves its own ALT ("side view", "socket detail", "lit at night").
- Skip the word "image" or "photo": Google already knows it's an image.
The scale problem (and the solution)
Writing ALT for 600 products with 4 photos each means 2,400 descriptions. Nobody does that by hand — which is why nobody does it, and why it's an opportunity.
SEONube automatically detects every image missing ALT in your Tiendanube store and generates the descriptions with AI by looking at the product: its name, category and context. You review, approve, and they're applied straight to your store. It's the best effort-to-result SEO improvement there is — start free and see it on your own images.