Fixing Alt Tags Not Showing In WordPress In 2 Easy Steps

By Karsten Madsen, SEO specialist at Morningscore with over 10 years of experience auditing WordPress environments. Last updated: 2026.

Have you ever wondered why, despite adding alt attributes to your images in WordPress, they still don’t appear? If you notice an empty alt attribute, WordPress might be failing to update your code, even if you filled in the Media Library fields. Alt text may be hidden for two common reasons:

1. WordPress did not insert or update your alt tag even if it’s added in Media settings
2. You need to clear your cache, including WordPress, server, and DNS cache

Find my step-by-step guide below to fix both problems 🙂

Fixing an empty alt attribute WordPress issue

As we know, alt text is an important part of your image SEO and gives context to the images on your page. This isn’t just for rankings – according to accessibility standards from WebAIM, alt text is crucial for screen reader users. Google still needs this text, among other things, to know what is shown on an image on your page.

So, as you are here, you are probably experiencing issues getting your alt tags to show using WordPress. Normally, we find that this is caused by one of two things, which I will explain in detail to guide you in fixing alt tags that don’t show.

Often, you find out that there is a problem with alt tags using an SEO tool that shows if your website is missing alt tags. This tool might report that in WordPress, this image has an empty alt attribute. But when checking your Media Library, you see the alt tags right there. The problem here is that any crawler – even Google’s – doesn’t really care about your Media Library, as they can’t access it.

Web crawlers look at your page code, and therefore you need to search and find the image in the source code and check if there is an alt attribute – or search for: alt=””

If the field between the quotes is empty, that means there is no alt tag present in the code even though you added it through your Media Library. So, what to do now?

Now we’ll look at how exactly these two errors manifest themselves.

Fix 1: Solve the “WordPress this image has an empty alt attribute” error manually

In my experience managing large-scale WordPress migrations, I have noticed that sometimes an image is inserted without the alt text, even if you added it in the Media settings. WordPress simply inserts an empty alt text that then needs to be overwritten manually.

Expert Insight: This happens because WordPress stores image attributes within the post’s HTML content at the moment of insertion. If you change the alt text in the Media Library later, WordPress does not always “retroactively” update the posts where that image already exists.

The same could happen if you’re updating your alt tags in the Media Library. WordPress won’t update the actual alt tag in the page’s code until you re-insert the page’s image if you decide to change it later. If you find an empty alt attribute, WordPress requires a fresh update. To get that rolling, simply:

1. Re-insert the image on the page – so that the HTML code part updates automatically and adds your alt tag.
2. Or copy and paste the alt text from your Media Library to the Image Detail editor on the specific image.
3. Or copy and paste the alt tag from your Media Library to the HTML code (in the “Text” editor) on your page.

Unfortunately, you have to do this manually in all three scenarios – but the first one is, at least for me, much quicker to do. Also, consider that you’re editing the HTML of a potentially important page. Both the first and second methods save you from potentially deleting images from important pages and thus breaking them.

All of this means that finding alt tags for all images can be a daunting task, especially for large websites with many pictures on each page. Because I face the same challenge, I’ve figured it’s best to use a Site Audit checker. A simple tool like this gives you the full list of all images where, in WordPress, the image has an empty alt attribute.

From there, making a to-fix list is much easier and allows you to do all of them in, say, one slow afternoon.

Fix 2: Clear website cache to fix an empty alt attribute WordPress

Whenever you implement WordPress changes, it’s best to clear your cache so that you’re sure the changes are applied. Most modern WordPress sites have several layers of caching running at the same time. That is great and more or less critical for good website performance. However, it can sometimes cause the annoying issue of not updating a page’s contents even after you’ve saved your changes.

If your tool still says in WordPress that this image has an empty alt attribute after you fixed it, all you have to do is clear the cache on your website and your local machine (i.e., your computer).

Real-world Example: I once worked with a client who updated 200 images but saw zero changes in their SEO tool. The culprit was a server-level cache (Object Cache) that was holding onto old versions of the page data. Once purged, the alt tags appeared instantly.

To clear the cache from your website (WP Rocket example):

1. Navigate to your caching plugin of choice.
2. Click “Clear Cache.”

Your caching plugin is also usually displayed in the top navigational bar of your WordPress dashboard.

If you happen to be using an extra layer of caching through a Content Delivery Network (CDN), it’s best to clear that, too. The most widespread CDN is Cloudflare, so much so that it comes together with some hosting plans (e.g., Bluehost offers it by default). Log into your Cloudflare account and clear the cache, as shown below.

If you don’t remember creating a Cloudflare account, you will likely find the setup for that in the dashboard provided to you by your website hosting company.

To clear cache from your computer:

And now, onto the step of clearing the cache stored on your computer, assuming you’re using Google Chrome:

• On Windows, press CTRL + F5.
• On Mac, press CMD + SHIFT + R.

For those of you using Firefox, the shortcuts are:

• Once again, on Windows, simply press CTRL + F5.
• Similarly, on Mac, press CMD + SHIFT + R.

Lastly, Safari is also a popular browser, and the shortcut key combination there is:

• On Mac, click CMD + ALT + E.

If you’re using a different browser, simply search for “how to clear browser cache in [your browser here]” on Google.

In all instances, you’re simply going to see the website refresh and potentially take a couple more seconds to load. After that, you’re good to go!

Closing Off

I’ve personally seen dozens of websites experiencing alt-tag missing issues and cases where in WordPress this image has an empty alt attribute, and in 95% of instances, simply following the steps above solved the issue. If you’re still having trouble and see an empty alt attribute, WordPress may have deeper issues with how your website is made, such as a custom theme overriding the default image behavior.

If you are using Morningscore and you see the tool report missing alt tags but you can confirm that there is an alt tag in the source code for that exact image, please try to “scan” the problem again. If it doesn’t get resolved, feel free to reach out to us in the chat in the bottom right corner.

Check our list of the simplest SEO tools for beginners to monitor missing alt tags.

Take care!

Frequently Asked Questions

Why isn’t my alt text showing after I added it to the Media Library?

This happens because WordPress usually stores image HTML in the post content at the exact moment you insert it. If you update the alt text later in the Media Library, your existing posts still keep the old code, which often results in an empty alt attribute that WordPress users find frustrating. To fix this, you need to either re-insert the image or manually update the alt text within the page editor.

Does clearing the cache fix the “WordPress this image has an empty alt attribute” error?

Yes, clearing your cache is a critical step because your site might be serving an old version of the page to crawlers. Even if you have fixed the tag, WordPress plugins, server-level caching, or CDNs like Cloudflare can keep the old code active. I recommend purging all cache layers and then hard-refreshing your browser to see the updated alt tags.

Can a WordPress theme or page builder cause alt tags to disappear?

In some cases, custom themes or certain page builders override the default WordPress behavior and fail to pull your saved alt text from the database. If you follow the manual fix and still see that in WordPress the image has an empty alt attribute, your theme’s template might be missing the function to display it. Ensuring your site follows WebAIM accessibility standards is vital, so you may need to contact your developer if the code is being overwritten.

How do I find every image where WordPress has an empty alt attribute?

Manually checking every page is a daunting task, so I suggest using a site audit tool to find these errors automatically. These tools can scan your entire site and provide a report showing exactly where “WordPress this image has an empty alt attribute” occurs so you can fix them all at once. This saves you time and ensures your image SEO is consistent across the whole website.

Can I get a plugin that automatically finds and adds missing alt tags?

Yes several plugins now exist for this. Our own plugin is now used by hundreds of customers who are very satisfied with the quality of the automation and the alt tag text itself. Check it out here