Adding ALT text to images is essential for improving your website’s SEO. However, it’s easy to forget or find it time-consuming. Is there a way to automate this? Yes, but it requires editing the theme file. In this guide, we’ll show you how, but we recommend proceeding with caution and always backing up your site before making any changes.
How to automate the ALT Text addition in WordPress
You can pick one of the following methods to work on your WordPress site, depending on your technical skills.
1. Use a Child Theme
Creating a child theme is a safe way to make changes without affecting your main theme. You can create it by using plugins. Go to WordPress plugin resporitory and search for “child theme” (for example: Child Theme Configurator). Then you pick one that has high rating and positive reviews. The plugin simplifies creating a child theme without the need for manual coding or file management.
Once your child theme is ready, you can add scripts to your child theme’s functions.php file to automate the addition of ALT text.
2. Using the Code Snippets Plugin
This method is the safest and most user-friendly way to automate ALT text addition. Find “Code Snippet Plugin” in the plugin dashboard of your WordPress. After installing and activating the plugin, you can go “+ Add snippets” -> PHP Snippet and paste the custom script.
Set it “Run everywhere” and active the sciprt so that the automation is ready everytime you add a new image to your site.
Once you’ve set up the automation using any of the above methods, your site will automatically handle ALT text for your images in the following ways:
- Any new images you upload will automatically receive ALT text based on the post/page context and the image filename.
If there are images without ALT text,
- Go to Tools → Process Image ALT Text and click the “Process All Images Without ALT Text” button.
- Go to Media → Library, switch to List View, select the images, then from the Bulk Actions dropdown, select “Generate ALT Text” and click Apply.
About the script
Each site is unique, so we don’t provide a specific script here as it might not work on your site. Additionally, we understand that the technical aspects of this process can be challenging.
If you’d like to experiment, we recommend creating a staging site for testing first. You can also use AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude to generate scripts that can automatically add ALT texts to images.
If you’re unsure or uncomfortable working with code, it’s best to consult with an experienced WordPress developer or a WordPress agency to ensure your site functions smoothly without the risk of causing any issues.
Conclusion
Automating ALT text addition can save you time, but modifying code can be tricky for those unfamiliar with PHP. If you’re comfortable with basic PHP and understand how to use child themes properly, then the above methods are suitable. For those who prefer a simpler solution, we recommend using the Code Snippets Plugin, as it allows you to add custom code without modifying core theme files.
