AltTide: AI Alt Text & Image SEO

Overview

Every image on your site should have alt text, a short written description of what the image shows. Screen readers read it aloud for people who cannot see the image, accessibility rules such as WCAG expect it, and search engines use it to understand and rank your images.

AltTide writes that alt text for you. You connect an AI provider you trust (OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, or Google Gemini), and AltTide generates alt text for every image that is missing it, one image at a time.

AltTide is a bring-your-own-key plugin. You use your own provider API key, so there are no per-image fees from us. You pay only your provider’s usage, often a fraction of a cent per image.

The free plugin has six tabs: Dashboard, Providers, Settings, Activity, Tools, and Our plugins. AltTide Pro adds more, covered in the Pro sections near the end.

Requirements

• WordPress 5.6 or higher
• PHP 7.4 or higher
• An API key from one provider: OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, or Google Gemini
• Supported image types: JPG, PNG, WebP, and GIF

Pro AltTide Pro is a separate add-on. The free AltTide core must be installed and active first, and Pro is installed from the ShoreZella store, not from the WordPress.org directory.

Installation and setup

You can be generating alt text in about three minutes.

1. Install the plugin. Either upload it in Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin, or search for “AltTide” in Plugins > Add New, then click Activate.
2. Go to AltTide > Providers, paste an API key for OpenAI, Claude, or Gemini, and click Test.
3. Go to AltTide > Dashboard and click Generate all missing, or generate image by image.

That is the whole free setup. Everything else is optional tuning.

Dashboard

AltTide > Dashboard is where you see coverage and generate alt text. By default AltTide only fills images that are missing alt text and never overwrites text you wrote yourself, unless you turn on overwrite in Settings.

Coverage

The share of your images that already have alt text, so you can watch it climb toward 100 percent.

Missing alt text

A list of every image that still needs alt text. Each row has a Generate button and a Decorative action.

Has alt text

A list of images that already have alt text, so you can hand-pick ones to redo, for example after changing your model.

Generate all missing

Starts a bulk run over every image without alt text, processed one at a time so your provider account is never flooded.

Regenerate selected

In the Has alt text view, tick images and click this to redo them with your current provider and model.

Decorative

Marks an image as decorative (a divider, spacer, or flourish that a screen reader should skip). It gets an empty alt, drops out of the missing count, and is skipped during generation.

Providers

AltTide > Providers is where you connect an AI service. AltTide never contacts an AI provider until you add a key, and it only ever contacts the one you choose. Keys are stored in your own WordPress database and sent only to the provider you select. Click Save Changes when done.

Pro this tab also gains OpenRouter and a Custom endpoint. See More AI models (Pro).

Active provider

Pick OpenAI (GPT), Anthropic Claude, or Google Gemini.

API key

Paste your key for the selected provider. Each key is masked after saving; use the eye button to reveal it or the delete button to remove it.

Model

Choose from the current models listed, or type any newer model name the provider releases. A link opens each provider’s model page. Defaults are gpt-4.1-mini (OpenAI), claude-haiku-4-5 (Claude), and gemini-2.5-flash (Gemini).

Test

Confirms the key and model respond before you rely on them.

Settings

AltTide > Settings controls how alt text is written and what else is filled in. Click Save Changes when done.

Generate on upload

Automatically write alt text for each new image as it is uploaded. Off by default.

Overwrite existing

Allow generation to replace alt text that is already there. Off by default, so your own writing is safe.

Language

auto follows the page or site language, or choose a specific language to always write in.

Alt text style

descriptive (a natural sentence), concise (shorter), or keyword (leans on the focus keyphrase).

Preserve brand casing

Keeps names like iPhone and WordPress correctly cased instead of forcing sentence case. On by default.

Use SEO focus keyphrase

Read the focus keyphrase from your SEO plugin and use it to steer wording. Works with Yoast SEO, Rank Math, All in One SEO, and SEOPress. On by default.

Maximum length

The character limit for generated alt text. Default 125, the accessibility best-practice length.

Generate title, caption, and description

Also fill each image’s title, caption, and description (the standard WordPress attachment fields) in the same pass. Each has its own toggle, all on by default.

Rename files on upload

Rename new uploads from their generated alt text, so IMG_4821.jpg becomes blue-ceramic-vase.jpg. Off by default. This only ever touches brand-new uploads, never images already in your library, so no published URL can break.

File name maximum length

The longest a generated file name may be, in characters.

Bulk batch size

How many images each bulk batch processes before the next, which paces your provider account.

Activity

AltTide > Activity is an in-dashboard feed of what AltTide has done: alt text written, metadata filled, files renamed, and images marked decorative. It is a quick way to confirm a bulk run did what you expected. Use the clear button to empty the log.

Tools

AltTide > Tools holds housekeeping options. Deactivating the plugin never deletes anything, and AltTide never edits the content of your images.

Delete data on uninstall

Off by default. When off, deleting the plugin leaves your settings in place. Turn it on if you want AltTide to remove all of its options when you delete the plugin.

Our plugins

AltTide > Our plugins shows the other plugins ShoreZella makes, so you can find companion tools. It loads a public product list only when you open the screen, and it sends no information about your site.

In the media library

You do not have to open the dashboard to generate alt text. AltTide adds controls right where you work with images.

Generate with AI

A button next to the alt text field in the media modal (the popup for inserting an image) and in the attachment editor. It writes alt text for that one image on the spot.

Use filename

A quick, non-AI button that fills the alt text from the image’s file name.

Decorative image

A checkbox in the attachment editor that marks the image as decorative, giving it an empty alt so screen readers skip it.

WP-CLI

If you manage your site from the command line, AltTide adds a command for bulk work on large libraries or scheduled server tasks:

wp aialtte generate            # fill images that are missing alt text
wp aialtte generate --all      # regenerate for every image
wp aialtte generate --limit=50 # process at most 50 images

A terminal running wp aialtte generate.

Setup Wizard and license Pro

After you activate AltTide Pro, a short Setup Wizard walks you through setup. Manage the license any time on the License tab. If a license is expired or inactive, Pro features switch off but the free plugin keeps working normally.

License key

Enter the key from your ShoreZella purchase to unlock Pro features and updates.

AI key

Confirm your provider key (the same bring-your-own-key setup as the free plugin).

License tab actions

Activate, deactivate, and re-check the key from the License tab.

Testing on a staging site

You can safely install and test AltTide Pro on a staging or development copy of your site without using up one of your license activations. Whether this happens automatically depends on your staging site’s web address.

A staging site still needs an active license to unlock Pro features and receive updates. The only difference is that it does not use up one of your activations.

Your staging site is recognized automatically, with nothing to set up, when its address looks like a test site. If it looks like an ordinary live address, you add one short line to tell WordPress it is a staging site. This table shows both cases with examples:

If your staging site is in the Yes, add one line group above, open that site’s wp-config.php file and add this line near the top, above the line that reads That's all, stop editing:

define( 'WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE', 'staging' );

That one line tells WordPress the site is a staging site, and AltTide Pro then treats it as one, so it does not use a license activation. Adding it is safe and never hurts: if your site was already detected automatically, this line simply confirms it. If you are not sure which group your site is in, adding the line is the reliable choice that works in every case.

Important: only add this line on a real staging or test site, never on your live site. A live site marked as staging behaves differently in WordPress and in some plugins, and your live site should always count as a normal activation.

More AI models Pro

Pro adds two more choices on the Providers tab.

OpenRouter

One key reaches hundreds of models, shown through a vision-only picker so you only see models that can read images.

Custom endpoint

Point AltTide at any OpenAI-compatible service by entering a base URL, key, and model name. This works with self-hosted servers (Ollama, vLLM), gateways such as Groq or Together, or a private company endpoint.

Image-SEO report Pro

The Report tab scores your image SEO, not just whether alt text exists.

Score checks

Each image gets a score out of 100 from six checks:

A check that does not apply (for example, no focus keyphrase on the page) is left out of the math, so scores stay fair.

CSV export

Export the whole report to CSV to work on offline or hand to a client. The report also shows overall coverage, a grade distribution, and a per-image table.

E-commerce context Pro

For store images, Pro can feed real product data into generation so alt text names the actual product. Set this up in the E-commerce settings.

WooCommerce

Turn it on to describe product images using the product name, category, and attributes.

Easy Digital Downloads

Turn it on to describe product images using the product name, category, and tags.

OpenGraph image meta Pro

When a page is shared on social media, the preview image can carry its own meta. Pro adds OpenGraph image meta (og:image and og:image:alt), and it can reuse the alt text AltTide already generated for the og:image:alt value, so shared links describe their image correctly.

Scheduled bulk Pro

Instead of running bulk generation by hand, Pro can process your library in the background on a schedule.

Frequency

How often the scheduled run happens: hourly, twice daily, daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly.

Batch size

How many images each scheduled run processes.

Status and Run a batch now

The Scheduling area shows the next run, any queued one-off run, and how many images are still missing alt text, with a button to run a batch immediately.

Brand-voice templates Pro

Pro shapes the tone and framing of generated text so it sounds like your brand.

Tone

neutral, professional, friendly, or playful.

Context strength

literal, balanced, or rich, which controls how much the AI infers beyond what is literally in the image.

Prefix and suffix

Optional text added to the start or end of every generated description.

Role access Pro

By default only administrators can use AltTide. Pro lets you grant access to chosen non-admin roles and pick exactly which tabs each role sees, across both the free and Pro screens, from the Agency area’s access table. Sensitive controls (API keys, licensing, and saving settings) can be kept admin-only, so you can, for example, let an editor run generation without exposing your provider keys.

Agency and multisite Pro

For agencies and networks, Pro adds white-label and network tools.

White-label

Rename and rebrand the AltTide admin for client work.

Multisite management

On a WordPress network, a Network screen shows each site’s coverage, lets you change each site’s settings remotely, and can run a background bulk generation per site, all from one place.

Frequently asked questions

Changelog

1.0.0

• Initial release.