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Accessibility
Why is real text on websites better than text in an image?
Real text is better than text in an image because it can do everything an image can't: screen readers read it aloud, visitors can zoom it without any loss of quality, Google can search it, and translation tools can render it in other languages. An offer with opening hours embedded as a photo is invisible to all of these routes.
Text in an image is silent text
The classic case: the graphics team designs a beautiful promo banner — price, period, and conditions appear as lettering within the image. For sighted visitors, that looks good. For every other system, it's a dead end: a blind visitor's screen reader can't turn the pixels into speech, the letters become pixelated and blurry when zoomed in, Google finds neither the price nor the promotion, and automatic translation into English fails completely. On top of that comes the maintenance burden: every price change needs a graphic designer. The rule allows exceptions where the graphical form is essential — your logo, of course, may remain an image.
How our audit handles images of text
Whether text is hidden inside an image only becomes apparent once you look at the image's content — a machine would have to read every image like a human would and then judge whether the graphical form is essential, or whether the text could just as well exist as real text. That judgment call is a human task. Our measurement engine doesn't claim anything here that it can't measure: the criterion appears in the report as a human check point. At the Gold Standard level, an auditor reviews the images on your pages and flags banners, buttons, and graphics whose text content should be implemented as real text — along with a recommendation for how the design can be preserved in the process.
- Search your website for banners and tiles where prices, dates, or phone numbers appear as an image — convert exactly this content first.
- Ask your agency to separate design from text: background image as an image, text as real text on top.
- Select text on your page with your mouse — anything that can't be selected is an image and belongs on the check list.
- Keep your logo as an image with good alt text — the graphical-form exception applies here.
- Keep the side benefit in mind: every piece of text you convert becomes visible to Google and strengthens your findability.
FAQ
How can I tell that text is embedded as an image?
Try selecting or copying the text with your mouse. Real text can be selected, text in an image cannot. A second sign: when you zoom the page in a lot, letters in an image become pixelated and blurry, while real text stays crisp.
Can my logo be an image with lettering?
Yes. The rule exempts cases where the graphical design is essential — logos and trademarks are the standard example. What still matters is the alt text: a linked logo in the page header sensibly carries a description of the link's destination, such as "To the homepage".
Why does text in an image also hurt my Google ranking?
Google evaluates pages based on their searchable text. Prices, offers, and opening hours that only exist as an image are practically non-existent for the search engine — the page loses exactly the content customers are searching for. Switching to real text makes this information usable for search engines and visitors alike.