Retrieval and usability, control 11 of 18
R-11 Use relevant images with accurate metadata
Images should serve the page, load reliably and have appropriate accessible descriptions. Preferred-image metadata influences selection but does not guarantee a particular preview.
- Priority
- Optimisation.
- Hard gate
- No
- Change class
- AUTO_WITH_TEST: A candidate requiring relevant tests.
- Quality bucket
- Retrieval and usability
Why it matters
Generic, oversized or badly described images slow the page down, add nothing for users and give search engines a weak preview to show. If you do not signal which image best represents the page, Google may pick one that is unhelpful, such as a logo or a text-heavy graphic.
Evidence to review
- Asset response, dimensions, alt-text review, performance test and metadata inspection.
How to implement
- Use relevant original media where available and clear rights for reused assets.
- Set descriptive alternative text according to image purpose; decorative images need not repeat keywords.
- Reserve dimensions, compress appropriately and avoid lazy-loading critical imagery indiscriminately.
- Align image metadata with the actual asset and page.
- Do not fill every alt attribute with the same commercial keyword; preserve useful image descriptions and correctly empty decorative alternatives.
How UltimateSEO checks this
Automated. A check in the scan sets PASS or FAIL for this control, and reports UNKNOWN or BLOCKED when its input is missing.
The check looks at: images missing alt text, missing width and height, oversized dimensions and lazy-loading attributes on crawled pages.
States used: PASS, FAIL, UNKNOWN, NOT_APPLICABLE or BLOCKED. UNKNOWN is never shown as a pass. How states work.
Sources
Part of The UltimateSEO Framework v4.3, catalogue dated 2026-10-14. Evidence states, control states and the publish gate are explained on the hub.