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Automate Alt Text Using AI

Automate Alt Text Using AI
2:06
AI-generated alt text for a picture of a smoothie with a bottle and blackberries.

For many companies, digital accessibility has long been more than just a future issue. With the requirements of the Accessibility Enhancement Act (BFSG), alt text for images is also coming into sharper focus. But how can thousands of product, category, or teaser images be efficiently tagged with appropriate image descriptions?

The answer lies not in manually updating individual alt texts, but in an automated process. AI-powered workflows analyze images, generate appropriate alt texts, and transfer the image descriptions directly into existing e-commerce and CMS systems.

Content

Digital accessibility is becoming a requirement

With the entry into force of the Act to Strengthen Accessibility (BFSG), the accessible design of digital services is becoming increasingly important. Alongside navigation, forms and contrast, images also play a key role in this regard. To ensure that their content can be understood by all users, they require a suitable text alternative.

Alt text describes the content of an image for screen readers and makes information accessible that would otherwise be conveyed exclusively through visual means. It helps ensure that websites and online shops can be used by as many people as possible.

Where alt text is essential

Alt text is particularly relevant for product images, category images, banners and infographics. Wherever images are used to convey information or guide users towards a specific action, alt text helps to present content in a way that is easy to understand.

"Images convey information – alt text makes this information accessible to everyone."

According to W3C WCAG 2.2, Success Criterion 1.1.1

When a few images turn into thousands

A single alt text is quick to write. In practice, however, companies often manage hundreds or even thousands of image files. With every new product, campaign or blog post, the maintenance workload continues to grow.

Product images, category images, brand worlds and promotional banners all serve different purposes and require descriptions tailored to their specific needs. At the same time, new content is constantly being added, which must also be taken into account.

Context is key

For alt text to be truly helpful, simply describing an image is often not enough. What matters is the context in which an image is used.

The same product image can fulfil a different function on a product detail page, within a category or in a blog post. A meaningful description therefore always takes the context of use into account.

Beispielgrafik zeigt unterschiedliche Alt-Texte für ein Sofa je nach Nutzungskontext.

What the BFSG requires regarding images

Images that convey information should also be accessible to people with visual impairments. A good alt text goes beyond a mere description of the subject matter. It conveys the essential message of an image and takes into account the context in which it is used.

General terms such as ‘image’ or ‘photo’ are usually of little help to users. At the same time, not every image requires a textual description. Decorative elements can be given an empty alt attribute so that screen readers skip them and focus on relevant content.

Manual maintenance or intelligent automation?

Particularly when dealing with large image libraries, the question arises as to how alt text can be maintained efficiently and on a long-term basis. A comparison highlights the key differences between manual maintenance and an automated solution.

Manual creation AI-assisted creation
Time-consuming Automated creation
Varying quality Consistent standards
Regular maintenance Automatic processing of new images
Difficult to scale Suitable for large volumes of images
High demand on internal resources Significant time saving

How burgdigital's AI-powered alt-tex generation works

Good alt-text isn’t created by image recognition alone. It is the combination of analysis, a set of rules and technical integration that delivers results which are genuinely useful in everyday life.

From a technical perspective, AI converts image content into meaningful text descriptions. Whilst terms such as ‘image-to-text AI’ are often associated with the generation of new images, AI now also supports the reverse process: the automatic creation of image descriptions and alt text for websites and online shops.

icon-datenanalyse-burgdigital

Image analysis

The AI identifies relevant image content such as products, people, text elements or graphic components.

Icon Glossar

Set of rules

Based on defined specifications, different image types are handled individually. This results in consistent descriptions rather than general standard texts.

Icon Kompatibilität

Context-based generation

Additional information from product data, page types or existing content is incorporated into the creation of alt text. This significantly improves the relevance of the results.

Icon für Funktionserweiterung – Symbol für die maßgeschneiderte Erweiterung von Shopware-Funktionalitäten zur Erfüllung individueller Geschäftsanforderungen

System Integration

The alt attributes generated are automatically transferred to the CMS or shop system and stored directly with the relevant image.

Icon für Omnichannel-Lösungen – Symbol für die Integration von Shopware in Multikanal-Strategien, um ein konsistentes Einkaufserlebnis über alle Vertriebskanäle hinweg zu gewährleisten

Ongoing updates

Even newly uploaded images can be automatically recognised, analysed and tagged with appropriate descriptions.

An overview of our services

The automated generation of alt text is only one part of the process. What is crucial is a solution that integrates seamlessly into existing workflows and keeps pace with growing image libraries.

We support companies with:

✓ Analysis of existing image libraries
✓ Identification of relevant and decorative images
✓ Development of customised prompts and rule sets
✓ Defining quality standards
✓ Automated alt text generation and AI-powered image descriptions
✓ Integration into e-commerce and CMS systems
✓ Processing of newly uploaded images
✓ Quality assurance and optimisation of results

The result is not a one-off project, but a sustainable workflow for the ongoing maintenance of digital content.

AI is no subtsitute for quality control

Automation can significantly reduce the effort involved in maintaining legacy text. Nevertheless, it is advisable to check the results regularly – particularly in the case of complex graphics, banners containing multiple pieces of information, or images with strong contextual references.

The best results are achieved through a combination of AI, clear rules and random quality checks. This ensures that image descriptions are both consistent and meaningful.

More than just accessibility: benefits for SEO

Alt text does more than just support accessibility. Search engines and AI-based search systems also use this information to better categorise image content and place it in the correct context.

Carefully maintained alt attributes can improve the discoverability of images and provide additional contextual cues. However, the focus remains on conveying information in a way that is easy to understand.

Why companies should act now

Many companies initially focus on their existing image libraries. However, the real challenge arises from new content that is added on a daily basis.

An automated process ensures that alt text is not just updated once, but is continuously updated. This maintains accessibility in the long term, even as product catalogues grow, new campaigns are launched and additional content areas are added.

Creating processes rather than one-off measures

By establishing alt text as an integral part of their content workflow, organisations reduce manual effort whilst laying the foundations for the sustainable implementation of BFSG requirements.

Conclusion

Alt text is one of the key building blocks of digital accessibility. Whilst manual maintenance quickly reaches its limits when dealing with large image libraries, AI-supported processes offer an efficient and scalable alternative.

By combining image analysis, rule sets, contextual consideration and system integration, image descriptions can be generated automatically and kept up to date on an ongoing basis. In this way, accessibility ceases to be a never-ending task and becomes an integral part of modern content and e-commerce processes.

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions about alt text and AI

Does every image need alt text?

No. Purely decorative images should generally have an empty alt attribute so that screen readers can skip them. Relevant images that convey information, on the other hand, require a meaningful description.

Can existing image collections be automatically updated?

Yes. AI-powered solutions can analyse existing images and automatically generate suitable alt text, even for large image libraries.

 

This creates a scalable, AI-powered alt text process for both existing and new image libraries.

Why is image recognition alone not enough?

A good alt text takes into account not only the subject of the image but also the context of the page. It is only through a combination of image analysis and contextual content that truly helpful descriptions are created.

Can alt text be updated automatically?

Yes. New images can be automatically detected, analysed and provided with appropriate alt text.

Which shop systems can be integrated?

The specific implementation depends on the particular system environment. In principle, AI-generated alt text can be integrated into many common e-commerce and CMS systems.

Implementing BFSG requirements efficiently

Would you like to generate alt text automatically and integrate it directly into your online shop or CMS system? We can assist you with analysis, prompt design, technical integration and the development of a sustainable alt text process.

Check the potential for your shop →
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