Amazon killed ALT text indexing in late 2025. And didn't tell anyone. Keywords y
By Will Haire · February 25, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
Amazon killed ALT text indexing in late 2025.
And didn't tell anyone.
Keywords you embedded in A+ Content image ALT text fields are no longer indexed for search ranking. If you relied on ALT text as hidden keyword real estate, you just lost ranking power for those terms.
Here's what happened:
For years, sellers used the 100-character ALT text field in A+ Content to add backend keywords that helped products rank without cluttering visible copy.
It worked.
⤷ Amazon indexed those keywords, and brands gained ranking power for terms that didn't fit naturally in titles or bullets.
Amazon changed this without announcement.
ALT text is now purely for accessibility - describing images for screen readers - not for SEO manipulation. The shift appears tied to Amazon's compliance push to meet accessibility standards.
The problem?
If your ranking strategy included keywords only in ALT text, you've lost indexing for those terms. Brands that stuffed niche long-tail keywords or competitor terms into ALT text are now invisible for those searches.
☰ Audit your ALT text fields.
☰ Pull up your A+ Content.
☰ Check what keywords you've been using in image ALT text.
If any critical search terms only appear there (not in title, bullets, backend search terms, or A+ body text), you're not indexed for them anymore.
☰ Relocate critical keywords.
☰ Move important terms to indexed fields: backend search terms (250 bytes), bullets, A+ Content text modules, or product description.
☰ Don't lose ranking power for high-value keywords.
ALT text is no longer a ranking tool on Amazon.
⤷ It's a compliance requirement.
Brands that adapt fast will recover lost indexing by properly distributing keywords across indexed fields. Brands that don't will keep bleeding traffic.
ALT text SEO on Amazon is dead.
Accessibility compliance is mandatory.
→ Adjust now.