Pinterest Alt Text Generator

Alt text is not a second description

The most common mistake is pasting the pin description into the alt text field. They serve different purposes. The description explains why someone should click. Alt text describes what the image contains — for people using a screen reader, and for Pinterest working out what it is looking at.

Duplicating the description means a screen-reader user hears a sales pitch instead of a picture, and Pinterest learns nothing new.

How to write good alt text

Describe the visible scene. Objects, layout, setting, colours, whether it is a photo, a chart or a text overlay.
Include the keyword only if it honestly fits the description. Forcing it produces text that helps nobody.
Skip “image of” and “picture of”. Assistive technology already announces that it is an image.
Keep it to a sentence or two. The field allows 500 characters; useful alt text rarely needs 100.
Describe text that appears in the image. If your pin has a headline baked into the graphic, that headline belongs in the alt text — otherwise it is invisible to anyone who cannot see it.

Why this matters beyond compliance

Accessibility is the reason the field exists, and on its own that is sufficient justification. But alt text is also one more honest signal about a pin's subject. Pinterest reads the title, the description, the board name, the destination page and the alt text together; a pin where all five agree is far easier to categorise than one where they conflict.

The gain is real but modest. Alt text will not rescue a weak pin — it is a finishing touch on a pin that is already well titled and well described.

Editing the output

The suggestions below are templates built around your keyword. They are starting points, and they should be edited — because good alt text describes your specific image, and this tool has not seen it. Change the setting, the colours and the objects to match what is actually in the frame.

Pair this with the description generator for the clickable copy and the character counter to keep every field inside its limit.

Alt text has two audiences

The first is a person using a screen reader, for whom your alt text is the entire image. The second is Pinterest, which uses it as an additional signal about what the picture contains. Both are served by the same thing — a plain, accurate description — which is fortunate, because writing for one at the expense of the other is where this usually goes wrong.

Writing only for the algorithm produces a keyword list, which is useless to a screen reader user and reads as low quality. Writing only for accessibility and omitting the subject entirely wastes a genuine signal. Describe the image accurately using the words people would search for it, and both jobs are done.

How to write it

Say what is in the picture, concretely. "A narrow balcony with three tiers of terracotta pots along a black railing."
Include the detail that matters to why the pin exists — the colour, the material, the arrangement, the season.
Use natural phrasing. A sentence, not a list.
Stop when the image is described. There is a 500-character allowance; a good alt text usually fits in one or two sentences.

Do not begin with "Image of" or "Picture of" — screen readers already announce that it is an image, so those words are heard as redundancy.

Alt text versus the description

They are separate fields with separate jobs, and pasting the same text into both wastes one of them.

The description sells. It gives context, makes a promise, tells someone why to click, and widens the range of queries the pin matches.
The alt text describes. It is factual, visual and present-tense. No call to action, no "read more on the blog", no hashtags.

A useful test: if your alt text would sound strange read aloud to someone who cannot see the screen, it is written for the wrong audience. Write the description with the description generator and keep the two distinct.

Text that appears in the image

If your pin has a text overlay — and most well-performing pins do — that text must appear in the alt text. Someone using a screen reader cannot see "12 Balcony Layouts That Work in Full Sun" rendered across your graphic, so if it is not in the alt text they have no access to the pin's main message.

This is also the case where alt text and description come closest, because the overlay text is often the pin's promise. That is fine: include the overlay text as part of describing the image, then let the description do the persuading.

Alt text on your own website

Pinterest reads the alt attribute of images on your pages when someone pins from your site, and for many blogs that is where the majority of pins originate. Two practical consequences:

Every pinnable image on your site needs real alt text, because it becomes the starting point for pins you did not create.
Purely decorative images should have an empty alt attribute (alt=""), not a keyword. That tells screen readers to skip them, which is correct — and stops a divider graphic being pinned with a description about your product.

Filenames help slightly too. small-balcony-garden.jpg carries a little more information than IMG_4821.jpg, on your site and in search generally.

Mistakes worth avoiding

Keyword stuffing. Heard aloud, a keyword list is unintelligible. It is also a quality signal against the pin.
Copying the description verbatim. Two fields, one job done.
Describing something not in the image. Inaccurate alt text is worse than none for the person relying on it.
Leaving it blank. Free signal, free accessibility, thirty seconds of work.
Decorative Unicode fonts. Screen readers read them character by character as mathematical symbols. Never use them anywhere a screen reader will go.

Length, and how much detail is enough

The allowance is generous but the useful length is short. One or two sentences that name the subject, the setting and the detail that matters will serve both audiences. Beyond that you are describing pixels rather than meaning, and a screen reader user has to sit through all of it.

A test that works well: if someone read your alt text aloud over the phone, would the listener be able to picture the image and understand why it was worth pinning? If yes, stop writing.

Examples, weak to strong

Empty — the image does not exist for a screen reader user, and Pinterest gets no extra signal.
"balcony garden ideas small space apartment plants" — a keyword list. Unintelligible aloud, and a low-quality signal.
"A balcony." — accurate, accessible, and says nothing about why anyone would save it.
"A narrow apartment balcony with three tiers of terracotta pots along a black railing, planted with herbs and trailing ivy." — describes the image, names the searchable subject naturally, and reads as a sentence.
"...with the overlay text: 12 Balcony Layouts That Work in Full Sun." — add this when the pin has a text overlay, because otherwise that message is invisible to the person relying on alt text.

Writing alt text at volume

If you publish a lot of pins, the honest problem is time. Two habits make it manageable:

Write it while you are looking at the image, as part of the upload, not later from a spreadsheet. It takes twenty seconds in context and five minutes out of it.
Describe, do not compose. Alt text is the one field where you are not trying to be persuasive, which makes it far faster to write than a description. Say what is there and move on.

Why this is worth the twenty seconds

Two reasons, and the order matters. The first is that a substantial number of people use assistive technology, and an image with no alt text is simply absent for them. That is reason enough on its own.

The second is that it is a text field Pinterest reads and most accounts leave empty. Signals that are both free and widely ignored are rare. This is one of them.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pinterest alt text for?

It describes the image for people using screen readers, and gives Pinterest additional context about what the pin shows. It is not a second copy of your description.

How long should Pinterest alt text be?

The field allows 500 characters, but one or two clear sentences is usually plenty. Describe what is visible and stop.

Does alt text help Pinterest SEO?

Modestly. It is one of several signals Pinterest reads alongside the title, description, board name and destination page. It supports a good pin rather than rescuing a weak one.

Should I put my keyword in the alt text?

Only if it genuinely describes the image. Forced keywords make the text useless for the people the field exists to serve.

Should alt text repeat the pin description?

No. The description sells the click; alt text describes the picture. Duplicating them wastes the field and gives screen-reader users a sales pitch instead of a description.

What is alt text on Pinterest for?

It describes the image for people using screen readers, and Pinterest reads it as an extra signal about what the picture contains. A plain accurate description serves both.

Should alt text be the same as the pin description?

No. The description sells and gives context; the alt text plainly describes what is visible. Using one text for both wastes a field.

Should I start alt text with "Image of"?

No. Screen readers already announce that it is an image, so those words are heard as redundant filler.

Do I need alt text on images on my own website?

Yes — Pinterest reads the alt attribute when someone pins from your site, so it becomes the starting description for pins you did not create.

What about purely decorative images?

Give them an empty alt attribute so screen readers skip them. Do not put keywords in a divider graphic.