2.8 – Using ChatGPT to Describe Images for Alt Text or SEO Lesson

Lesson Overview

Throughout your work with images, there are times when you need a clear and descriptive summary—whether you want to recreate an image, differentiate your work, or optimize your website for search engines. This lesson focuses on efficiently generating both vivid descriptions and concise alt text for your images by making smart use of ChatGPT.

You’ll see how to start with any image—perhaps one you found online or captured yourself—upload it to ChatGPT, and receive a breakdown of the setting, subject, and atmosphere. This process helps if you want to prompt another AI tool to make a new but related image, or simply want to clarify what’s in a graphic for your records.

The lesson also explores creating alt text: the short textual alternatives used on websites to help with both accessibility and SEO. ChatGPT’s ability to summarize an image concisely, while including relevant keywords, can save time and ensure your image uploads are complete and web-ready.

These skills are valuable for web designers, marketers, e-commerce managers, and anyone managing digital images who wants to improve site performance and accessibility.

Who This Is For

Whether you work with images professionally or casually, this lesson helps you add clarity and value to your digital content. It’s especially useful for:

• Marketers who need SEO-friendly content for websites and campaigns
• Web designers adding accessible, descriptive alt text to images
• E-commerce sellers writing product listing descriptions
• Content creators managing image libraries or social media posts
• Educators preparing instructional materials
• Anyone interested in using AI to speed up image documentation tasks

Where This Fits in a Workflow

Describing images and writing alt text usually happens after content is created or when new images are added to a website or project. This lesson fills the gap between sourcing or generating images, and publishing them in a way that meets accessibility and search engine standards.

For example, after designing a homepage or uploading new product photos, you would upload your finished image to ChatGPT, ask for a detailed description and SEO-focused alt text, and then edit as needed before publishing. This ensures every image is properly labeled and optimized, without the guesswork.

If you’re developing creative briefs or image prompts, you can also use ChatGPT’s descriptions as starter material to help generate new visual assets that are inspired by, but unique from, the original.

Technical & Workflow Benefits

Traditionally, writing accurate descriptions and SEO-focused alt text for each image on your website was a slow, manual task. It often required a mix of design knowledge and keyword research, and could easily be overlooked.

By using ChatGPT’s image capabilities, you can automate this step. Instead of writing every description from scratch, upload your image and request a custom description or alt text in seconds. This approach ensures your content is both accessible and optimized, improving your website’s search rankings and user experience.

For anyone managing dozens or hundreds of images, the difference is significant: ChatGPT provides consistent, relevant alt text that you can quickly tailor, reducing errors and missed opportunities for SEO. It’s also helpful for iterating prompts when working with other AI image tools, letting you create new visuals with just a few edits.

Practice Exercise

To practice what you’ve seen in this lesson:

1. Choose an image from your own collection or download a copyright-free photo of a scene (such as an office, landscape, or event).
2. Upload the image to ChatGPT and request both a detailed description (“Describe everything you see, including environment, people, lighting, and mood”) and an alt text (“Write a 150-character, SEO-friendly alt text for this image”).
3. Edit the resulting descriptions to fit your needs, or modify the prompt to fit a slightly different scene.

Ask yourself: Is the alt text both concise and descriptive? Does the detailed description include elements you might have missed? How do ChatGPT’s suggestions improve your workflow compared to writing from scratch?

Course Context Recap

This lesson builds directly on earlier steps where you learned to use ChatGPT with images, moving beyond basic uploads towards practical description and SEO writing skills. Here, you add an important piece to your toolkit: making your images more findable and accessible, and generating prompts for creative experimentation.

Next, you’ll explore strategies for integrating your newly described or generated images into projects, ensuring that your workflow remains efficient and your content stays high quality. Continue with the course to see how these methods fit into broader image management and AI-powered creative tasks