Describe my images for Google
If your site is mostly pictures — and for artists and makers it usually is — then to Google, an undescribed site is mostly blank. Image descriptions fix that, and they're the chore nobody ever does by hand. Your AI will do the whole site in one sitting.
How it works
- Get your access prompt. Log in to bernard, open your site, and copy the prompt from Edit with AI (it contains a key that works for 12 hours).
- Paste it into your AI — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, whichever you already use — then ask in your own words, or use the prompt below.
- Approve. The AI sends back a preview link and a list of the descriptions it wrote. Correct any it got wrong, press Approve, and it's live.
Good descriptions are factual, not flowery: what the thing is, what it's made of, roughly what it looks like. If the AI can't tell a linocut from a woodcut, it will ask you — that's the rule, not the exception.
The prompt
“Go through every image on my site and add a short, accurate description for search engines and screen readers to any image that's missing one or has a weak one — show me the list you write, and tell me about any image you can't identify so I can describe it — tell me about any image you can't identify so I can describe it.”
The [bracketed] parts are yours to fill in. First time? Log in to bernard → your site → Edit with AI → copy your access prompt, paste that into your AI first, then ask the above.
Questions people ask
- What is alt text and why does my website need it?
- Alt text is a short written description attached to each image. Google can't see your photos — it reads the descriptions — and so do screen readers used by blind visitors. Without it, your best work is invisible to both.
- How do I add alt text to my website images?
- If your site is hosted with bernard, ask your AI — ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini — to do a pass over every image. It writes a description for each, asks you about any it can't identify, and nothing goes live until you approve the preview.
- Will describing images help people find my work?
- Yes — image search is how a lot of art and craft gets discovered, and accurate descriptions are what it runs on. Descriptions like 'large blue stoneware vase with ash glaze' can surface your work to someone searching for exactly that.