Metadrop iconMetadropSep 1, 2026 ~1 min source read

Metadrop: Fixing missing image alt attributes in Drupal without development

Missing image alt attributes cost accessibility and SEO points Empty alt attributes are an accessibility and SEO killer, and the cost is measurable. A screen reader completely ignores an image with no alt text, so blind users never know the image was there, which makes the experience disruptive and confusing.

Metadrop: Fixing missing image alt attributes in Drupal without development
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Useful takeaways from this story.

Missing image alt attributes cost accessibility and SEO points Empty alt attributes are an accessibility and SEO killer, and the cost is measurable.

A screen reader completely ignores an image with no alt text, so blind users never know the image was there, which makes the experience disruptive and confusing.

Non-text Content, the baseline requirement for accessible non-text content.

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The useful part

Missing image alt attributes cost accessibility and SEO points Empty alt attributes are an accessibility and SEO killer, and the cost is measurable. A screen reader completely ignores an image with no alt text, so blind users never know the image was there, which makes the experience disruptive and confusing. Non-text Content, the baseline requirement for accessible non-text content.

How it works

  • That is why we had to act when a migration project resulted in thousands of images without an alt attribute.
  • Some images had no alt attribute at all, while others had alt text in the wrong language, with English alt text appearing on the /es version of the site.

Example or evidence

  • Was the issue tied to a specific content type, such as Articles?

Details worth keeping

It also violates WCAG Success Criterion 1.1.1: A Drupal migration left 12,000 images without proper alt text A Drupal 9 to Drupal 11 migration for a multilingual sports news project surfaced around 12,000 images with missing or incorrect alt attributes, found via Screaming Frog tool. The obvious next step was to look for a pattern.

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