Image SEO
Image SEO for clothing stores: alt text, file names and more
Image SEO for a clothing store means helping search engines and shoppers understand each photo: descriptive alt text, file names made of real words, sensible sizes and formats, and images placed on the product page they show. Glammo AI makes the images; this post covers what to do with the files before and after you upload them. None of it guarantees a ranking, but each step makes your images easier to find and to use.
Glammo AI6 min read
What does image SEO involve for a clothing store?
Search engines understand an image mostly from the words around it. Google's image guidance calls alt text the most important attribute for describing an image, and says Google takes information about an image's subject from the content of the page. Google also needs to find the image in the page's HTML: it doesn't index images set as CSS backgrounds. Google Search Central: image SEO best practices
On most store platforms, the theme takes care of the HTML. What you control is the image itself, its file name, its alt text and the text on the page around it.
That makes the product description part of image SEO. Use the words a shopper would search for, such as the garment type, colour and fabric, and keep the gallery on the same page as that text.
How do you write alt text for clothing?
Describe what the photo shows, in the order a person would say it: the garment, its colour, the detail that matters and the view. 'Navy pleated midi skirt with a wide waistband, worn full length' tells a screen-reader user and a search engine the same useful thing.
Keep it short. Shopify recommends 125 characters or fewer for product media alt text, with a maximum of 512, and lets you upload alt text in a CSV file when a whole collection needs it. Don't start with 'image of', don't list keywords, and give each photo in the set its own text, because the back and the detail show different things. For colour variants, name the colour in every image's alt text, so a shopper using a screen reader hears which colour each photo shows. Image alt text, defined
Which alt text helps, and which doesn't?
| Doesn't help | Helps |
|---|---|
| shirt | Sage linen shirt with a camp collar, worn untucked |
| linen shirt sage linen shirt men's linen shirt | Back of the sage linen shirt, showing the box pleat |
| IMG_4021 | Close-up of the coconut buttons on the sage linen shirt |
| Best linen shirt, free delivery, buy now | Sage linen shirt laid flat on white |
What should image file names look like?
Use a few real words joined by hyphens: product, colour and view. Google prefers a descriptive name to a camera default such as IMG00023.JPG, though it says a file name gives only very light clues about an image, so treat naming as a small, free step rather than a lever. A name like sage-linen-shirt-back.jpg says what IMG_4021.JPG doesn't.
Rename files before you upload them, because the name you upload usually becomes part of the image's web address. Keep names lowercase and leave out spaces, which turn into %20 in a web address. Use one pattern across the catalogue so anyone can find a file later. Source files from suppliers can keep their working names; our supplier handoff guide covers those. Supplier photo handoff
Which sizes and formats should clothing images use?
| Question | Practical answer |
|---|---|
| Which formats can search engines read? | Google supports BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, SVG and AVIF. For photos, JPEG and WebP keep files small. |
| What size for Shopify? | Square images of 2048 × 2048 px usually display best. Images can be up to 5000 × 5000 px and must be under 20 MB. |
| What size for marketplaces? | Each marketplace sets its own limits, so check them per channel before you export. |
| Which aspect ratio? | One ratio across a collection. Shopify advises a consistent aspect ratio for collection pages, and Glammo makes 1:1, 4:5, 9:16 and 16:9. |
| How heavy can a file be? | Google notes that images are often the largest contributor to a page's size, so let your platform resize and compress them, and don't put huge originals on a custom site. |
Do you need an image sitemap?
An image sitemap lists image addresses so search engines can find images they might otherwise miss, such as ones loaded by JavaScript. Shopify builds a sitemap.xml file for every store, and its help page lists the contents as products, the primary product image, pages, collections and blog posts. Other gallery images are found on the product page itself, which is one more reason to give each of them good alt text.
On a custom site, add an image:image entry containing an image:loc address for each image on a page. Google now supports only those two image tags, having dropped the caption, title, location and licence tags. One page entry can list up to 1,000 images, and the images can sit on another domain, such as a CDN, if you verify that domain in Search Console as well.
Then submit the sitemap's address in Google Search Console so Google knows where to find it. Google Search Central: image sitemaps · Shopify Help: find and submit your sitemap
Why does consistency help?
A catalogue that follows one pattern is easier to keep right. When every file is named product-colour-view and every alt text follows the same order, a missing or wrong image stands out, and someone new can follow the pattern without asking.
Consistent pictures help too. One model, one scene and one aspect ratio across a collection make the grid easy to scan. And when the same image appears on several pages, Google advises referencing it with the same address each time.
When you replace an image, replace its alt text as well, and delete the old file from the product so shoppers don't see two versions of the same view. The same goes for a colour you stop selling: remove its photos, so the gallery only shows what can be bought.
What should you check on every product?
A descriptive file name
Product, colour and view, joined by hyphens.
Alt text on every image
A different description for each view.
The main image first
The whole garment, worn, in the selected colour.
One aspect ratio
The same as the rest of the collection.
Files within the limits
Checked against the channel's limits after editing.
Words that match the pictures
The colour name and details in the description match what the images show.
Where does this guidance come from?
Checked on .
Common questions
What is alt text on a product image?
Alt text is a short written description of an image that screen readers read aloud and browsers show when the image doesn't load. On a clothing product page, alt text should name the garment, its colour and what the photo shows, such as the back or a detail.
How long should product image alt text be?
Shopify recommends product media alt text of 125 characters or fewer and allows up to 512. One plain sentence that names the garment, the colour and the view is usually enough.
Should alt text say a photo shows an AI model?
Alt text describes what an image shows, so 'worn by a model' is usually enough. If you tell shoppers that your images show fictional adult AI models, put that in visible text on the page, where every shopper can read it.
Does Shopify create an image sitemap automatically?
Shopify generates a sitemap.xml file automatically at the root of your domain. Its help page says the file links to all your products, each product's primary image, and your pages, collections and blog posts.
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