Alt text for logos: what to write

Alt text is the short text, set in an image's alt attribute, that stands in for the image when someone cannot see it. A logo is a picture that stands in for a name, so its alt text is that name. The HTML Standard says that when a logo represents an entity, such as a company, an organization, a project or a software package, its alt text must be the name of that entity and must not contain the word "logo", because the image conveys the entity, not the fact that it is a logo. WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content asks for the same in general terms: a text alternative that serves the equivalent purpose. For a logo, that purpose is to name the organization and, when the logo is a link, to say where the link goes.

This guide covers each situation a logo turns up in, including the ones where the right alt text is no text at all. Our complete guide to alt text covers every other kind of image, and our WCAG 1.1.1 page explains the criterion. Example Co and Example Partner are placeholder names.

Which alt text for which logo

The right text depends on the job the logo does in that spot, not on the logo itself. One image can need different answers on the same page, so find the row that matches.

The first and third rows both put a logo in a link. The difference is whether anything else in the link already names it.

Why the word "logo" does not belong in alt text

Three sources say it in different words. The HTML Standard gives the reason above. W3C's functional images tutorial prefers "Example.com homepage" to "Example.com logo". WebAIM's alt text article says the word "logo" is usually not an important part of the image's content or function, and advises against opening alt text with "image of" or "graphic of", because screen readers already announce a graphic.

A description of the artwork fails for the same reason. "Green wordmark on a white background" tells a listener about the design, when the logo's job is to say who it stands for. Describe the artwork only when the design is the subject, as in the sixth row of the table. Length rarely matters for a name; our guide on how long alt text should be covers when it does.

A logo that links to the home page

Many sites link the header logo to the home page, a convention WebAIM describes below. When the logo is the only content of that link, its alt text is the link's accessible name, the text assistive technology announces for it. Success criterion 1.1.1 has a rule for this case: non-text content that is a control needs a name that describes its purpose. Our WCAG 2.4.4 page covers how a link's purpose is judged from its text and its context.

Published guidance differs on one small point. W3C's functional images tutorial gives alt="W3C home" for a logo that is the only content of a link to the W3C home page, so the text says where the link leads. WebAIM says the company name alone usually suffices, because a logo that links home is a common convention. W3C's 1.1.1 Understanding page uses a newspaper's name alone for a thumbnail that links to the paper's home page.

We use the name plus "home" on the header logo. That is our judgment, not a W3C requirement: screen reader users can pull up a list of a page's links, as our link text checker page explains, and an entry reading "Example Co home" says more than one reading "Example Co". Whichever pattern you pick, use it on every page, including a footer logo that also links home.

<a href="/">
  <img src="/img/example-co.svg" alt="Example Co home">
</a>

What happens when the alt text is missing or empty

The W3C tutorial warns that when the alt value is missing or empty, screen readers will typically announce the image file name, the image URL or the URL of the link destination, which it says is unlikely to help users understand what the link does. W3C's failure technique F89 treats an image that is the only content of a link and has no accessible name as a failure of 2.4.4, 2.4.9 and 4.1.2, unless the link gets a name some other way, such as an aria-label.

A logo next to the name, and logos in strips

When a link also contains the name as visible text, the logo adds nothing the text lacks, so it gets an empty alt. W3C's tutorial calls such an image a decorative adjunct or visual cue to the link text, and says the empty value avoids redundancy and repetition.

<a href="/">
  <img src="/img/example-co-mark.svg" alt="">
  Example Co
</a>

If the logo and the text are two separate links to one place, merge them into one link, as W3C technique H2 recommends. The HTML Standard's examples add two more cases for an empty alt: a paragraph that mentions a company with its logo right beside the name, and a logo in an aside to an article about that company, where it is decoration. Our guide to decorative images explains the empty alt in depth.

A row of logos with no names beside it is a different case. Each logo is the only place its name appears, so each needs its name. Badges for accepted card brands or memberships work the same way: use the name the badge shows, such as "Example Card", and if it states something, such as a membership, say that, as in "Member of Example Association". That is our reading of the equivalent-purpose rule in 1.1.1, not a separate W3C rule for badges. Small symbols follow the same logic, covered in alt text for icons.

Logos made with SVG, CSS or live text

An SVG logo file placed with an img element follows every rule above, because the alt attribute belongs to the element, not to the file type. The other ways of building a logo need their own naming.

• Inline SVG. An <svg> element has no alt attribute. In WAI-ARIA 1.2, an element with role="img" needs a label from aria-label (an attribute that gives an element a text name) or aria-labelledby to be perceivable, as the img role says. Give it the text the alt would have had, or hide it with aria-hidden="true" if it sits beside the name as text. Our SVG accessibility guide goes further.
• CSS background image. A background image cannot carry alt text, so a logo set this way gives a link no name. Put the name in the markup, as visually hidden text or as an aria-label on the link. W3C's F89 names aria-label and aria-labelledby as ways to give a link an accessible name. Our background images guide has the details.
• Live text. A wordmark typed into the page and styled with CSS needs no alt text, because the text is the name. If the link around it needs a fuller name, such as "Example Co home", give the link an aria-label.

<a href="/">
  <svg role="img" aria-label="Example Co home" viewBox="0 0 120 32">...</svg>
</a>

Logo contrast and text inside logos

A logo that contains words is an image of text, meaning text shown as a picture, and WCAG gives logos special treatment there. W3C's Understanding page for 1.4.5 Images of Text counts logotypes (text that is part of a logo or brand name) as essential, and the page for 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) says such text has no contrast requirement.

Two limits apply. When a logo is also a link, W3C recommends considering a variant with sufficient contrast if the brand guidelines allow it, or providing an equivalent control that meets the requirement. And a logo faded by the author's choice, for instance until a visitor hovers over it, is not exempt. See our WCAG 1.4.3 page, the color contrast guide and images of text.

Logo alt text mistakes to look for

• The word "logo." alt="Example Co logo" names the wrong thing. Use alt="Example Co".
• A file name or no alt attribute. alt="example-co-final-v2.png" is read as written, and a missing attribute can lead a screen reader to read the file name or URL.
• An empty alt on a logo that is alone in a link, which leaves the link without a name.
• The name twice. A logo with alt="Example Co" in a link that also reads "Example Co" is announced twice.
• A keyword added to the name. alt="Example Co best cheap hosting" is not true of the image. See alt text and SEO.
• An old name. After a rebrand, alt text that carries the previous name is no longer true of the image.

In the WebAIM Million 2026 analysis of home pages, 45% of the images missing alternative text were linked images, which left links that were not descriptive, and 10.8% of images with alternative text had questionable or repetitive text, including file names and text identical to adjacent text.

Check it yourself

Logos are quick to audit because there are few of them. A logo set once in a theme or in site settings repeats on every page, so one wrong alt text shows up everywhere. On Squarespace, for example, our Squarespace guide notes that the site logo takes its alt text from the site title, so that is where to fix it.

1. List every logo on the page and decide each one's job with the table above.
2. Read what the browser makes of each. In Chrome, select the element in the Elements panel and open the Accessibility tab of DevTools, which shows the computed accessibility properties of the selected element.
3. Tab to each linked logo and, if you can, listen with a screen reader. Our guide on how screen readers read a page explains what you will hear.

These free tools cover the mechanical part:

• Alt text checker. It downloads up to six of a page's images and compares each alt text with the picture, so it can flag a logo whose alt text is a file name, is generic or names another company. It cannot see the text beside an image, so a logo that correctly has an empty alt next to its name may be flagged, and that call is yours. Our published accuracy test included no logos, so treat a logo verdict as a prompt to look.
• Link text checker. It lists every link on a page with the name a screen reader announces, so you can read what the header logo link is called and see links that have no name.
• Accessibility bookmarklet. It checks the live page in your browser, including a staging site or a page behind a login, and flags images with no alt, alt text that is a file name or placeholder, a link whose only content is an image with empty alt, and role="img" with no name.
• The free scan runs 16 rule-based checks on up to 3 pages and flags images with no alt attribute or placeholder-style alt text. Scan my site for free.

The alt text generator drafts descriptions of what an image shows, which suits photos and not logos, because you already know a logo's name.

Keep it checked

A redesign or a theme change can quietly replace a logo or its alt text, and the change repeats on every page. GotAlt checks the pages you monitor every week, compares the alt text of up to six images per page with the image itself, runs its rule checks, opens monitored pages in a browser for contrast and other checks that need a rendered page (see what we check), and reports what changed. Plans start from $69 a month. Audit my whole site from $69/mo.