Yes—treat a change in page purpose as a prompt to review its image alt text, but not as an automatic reason to rewrite it. Look at each image in the page’s new context and decide whether its current description still communicates useful information. Keep it if it still fits, revise it if the relevant information has changed, or leave the alternative text empty if the image is decorative in that context.
This is a small maintenance step for maintaining an accountable visual library: the description should make sense for the image’s role on the page as it exists now, not only for the page’s former purpose.
Start with what the page is for now
A page-purpose change can alter what a reader needs from an image. A picture once used to introduce a service might later sit beside instructions for booking it. The image itself may be unchanged, but its contribution to the page could be different.
Before reviewing the text, write down the page’s current purpose in one short phrase. Then ask: What information, if any, does this image add to this page now? Consider the surrounding heading, nearby text, and the image’s placement. If you need help thinking about the role an image plays in a particular section, the site’s website image use cases may be a useful reference.
The goal is not to describe every visible detail. It is to decide whether the image conveys information that matters in this context and whether the current alternative text communicates that information clearly.
Choose an action for each image
Use one of three outcomes:
- Keep the current alt text when it still describes the useful information the image contributes to the page.
- Revise it when the image remains informative but its current description no longer reflects what matters in the new context. Write a concise description focused on that relevant information.
- Leave it empty when the image is decorative in its current context and adds no useful information beyond what the surrounding page already communicates. An empty alternative is written as
alt="".
Do not change text just because the page title or section heading changed. Check the image itself and its relationship to the nearby content. Equally, do not keep an old description merely because it was accurate for the page’s previous purpose.
Use a short, repeatable review
For each image on the changed page:
- Record the page’s previous purpose and its current purpose.
- Inspect the image in its current position, together with the nearby heading and text.
- Read the existing alt text, if there is one.
- Decide whether the image is informative or decorative in this context.
- Record keep, revise, or empty, with a short reason.
- If revising, check that the new wording describes the image’s relevant contribution—not an assumption about the person viewing it or details that do not help explain its role.
This sequence makes the decision easier to revisit later. It also separates the page-change trigger from the actual judgment: a changed purpose starts the review; the image’s current role determines the action.
Example review record
Illustrative example: A page changes from introducing a small business’s services to explaining how to request an appointment. A banner image shows a person at a desk, and its existing text says, “A person working at a desk.”
- Previous purpose: Introduce the services.
- Current purpose: Explain how to request an appointment.
- Image role: Decorative; the surrounding instructions explain the booking process, and the banner adds no information needed to follow them.
- Current alt text: “A person working at a desk.”
- Action: Leave the alternative text empty.
- Reason: In this page context, the image does not add useful information to the appointment instructions.
The decision could be different if the image itself showed a meaningful step in the process. The record is not a universal rule for that picture; it documents why the chosen alternative fits this page’s current purpose.
Keep this review separate from rights checks
This routine is about whether an image description is useful in its current page context. It does not confirm image ownership, permission, licensing, or other usage rights. Treat those as separate questions in your image-maintenance process.