Search engines can’t see an image the way a person does — they rely on the filename, the alt text, and whether the image is included in your sitemap to understand and potentially surface it in image search results, and most sites accumulate images over time with none of these three properly set.
Image SEO - filename, alt & sitemap inclusion
Image filenames, alt text, and sitemap inclusion set from what's actually true about each image.
- Full backup taken before we start
- If we can’t fix it, you get your money back
- We never ask for your own password
What we need from you
- Access to your media library and the pages or products where images appear
- Confirmation of whether alt text should be written by us based on existing product or content data, or if you’ll supply it
- Confirmation of whether images should be included in your XML sitemap
This or something else?
| You want image filenames, alt text, and sitemap inclusion properly configured | This fix covers it |
| You want an audit of what’s missing first, before committing to fixing everything | Alt text audit report with gap list, in the Metadata & Content Generation category |
| You want bulk, generated alt text and filename rewrites at scale as its own dedicated service | Image filename & alt text rewrite – bulk, in the Metadata & Content Generation category |
| Accessibility, not search visibility, is your primary concern with alt text | Worth checking Accessibility Remediation category fixes too, since alt text serves both purposes |
What we do
- Review current image filenames, alt text, and sitemap coverage
- Rename generic or unhelpful filenames to something descriptive and accurate
- Write or apply alt text based on existing, accurate product or content information
- Confirm images are correctly included in your XML sitemap where appropriate
- Verify changes don’t break any existing image references
- Check a representative sample of pages for correct implementation
What is included
- Image filenames corrected to be descriptive and accurate
- Alt text implemented from existing content or information you supply
- Image sitemap inclusion configured correctly
- Verification no existing references were broken by filename changes
Not included
- Writing alt text or descriptions that go beyond what’s actually true about the image or product
- Bulk, AI-assisted generation at large scale, a separate, dedicated service if that’s what you need
- Broader accessibility remediation beyond alt text specifically
- Ongoing work as new images are added, unless built into your content process
Questions about this fix
Will renaming my image files break anything currently linking to them?
We check for and update existing references as part of this fix, though anything referencing the old filename from outside your own site's control (an external link, a saved bookmark to the image itself) wouldn't be something we can update.
Should alt text describe the image or include a keyword?
Alt text should accurately describe what the image actually shows — a description that happens to include relevant terms naturally is fine, but alt text stuffed with keywords unrelated to the actual image content is a poor practice we wouldn't do.
Do all my images need to be in my sitemap?
Not necessarily every single one — purely decorative images generally don't need sitemap inclusion, while genuinely content-relevant images (like product photos) are usually worth including.
Is this the same as the bulk alt text rewrite service?
Related, but this is a more hands-on implementation for images you point us to specifically; a dedicated bulk service exists separately for rewriting alt text at larger scale across many images at once.
Does good alt text actually help with anything beyond search visibility?
Yes, meaningfully — alt text is also read aloud by screen readers for visitors with visual impairments, so it serves a genuine accessibility purpose alongside any search benefit.
Related fixes
If this is the second time this year
A bad update breaking the site is a symptom of updates not being tested first. Care plans run every update on a staging clone before it reaches your live site, which is the actual fix for this happening again.
Your access, your rules
Create a separate admin account for us and delete it when we are done. For anything else, we get in touch and agree a method — never a form field on this site, never by reply to an email.
We back up first, always
Before anything is touched we take a full backup and keep it for 30 days. If a fix goes wrong, we put the site back exactly as it was.
If it is not what you bought
If the problem turns out smaller than what you ordered, we refund the difference. If it is bigger, we stop and send a quote before doing any extra work.
If we cannot fix it
You get back what we received. Diagnosis is on us — you only pay when the problem is actually solved. The payment processor takes its fee before the money reaches us, so we never hold it and it is not ours to return. That is true here as everywhere else.
If it comes back
Reply within seven days of delivery and we put it back on the bench at no cost. The fix is not finished until it holds.
What we are responsible for
If something goes wrong with a fix, our responsibility is limited to what you paid for it. We take a full backup first so mistakes can be undone, and we tell you before doing anything outside what you bought.