Update on Alternative Text for Headshots – Google makes things complicated

On October 22, 2025October 21, 2025 By dhrutibcIn AccessibilityLeave a comment

Tl:dr: When adding headshots of people to a public website, you should allow them to choose what information is in the alt text of their photo.

In my last post, I discussed writing alternative (alt) text for headshots and how much to describe someone. If you haven’t read it yet, I would recommend reading it before continuing this post.

In the post, I advocated for using skin color descriptors when making alt text. However, between when I wrote that and now, I have learned that Google will index the alt text of photos and display them as preview text in search results.

For example, at my work, there was a person who identified as a black woman, and our alt text for her headshot reflected this information. But when someone searched Google with her name, the alt text came up as the preview text for the page.

The same thing happens when you search for my name. Under the link in the Google results, in the preview text, it says, “Headshot of Dhruti Bhagat-Conway, a woman with light beige skin…”

This information isn’t inaccurate, but it may not be what everyone wants to have displayed when someone searches for their name.

My new policy is to ask the person how much information they would like included in their headshot, considering that Google and other search engines may display it.

So far, most people just choose “Headshot of Dhruti Bhagat-Conway.” Some are willing to include their gender in the alt text, so it would be something like “Headshot of Dhruti Bhagat-Conway, a woman.”

Here are the examples I’ve shared with people to give them an idea of their choices:

Headshot of Jamie Williams (this is the standard alt text we use for everyone who does not give us more descriptive alt text)
Headshot of Kayla Jones, a Hispanic non-binary person with curly black hair and glasses
Headshot of Leslie Smith, a White middle-aged male with shoulder-length straight green hair
Headshot of Alex Wilson, Head of Marketing, and a young Black female with a piercing through their left eyebrow
Headshot of Ember Jackson, a non-binary older adult

This mainly applies when adding headshots of current people to a public website. On your own intranet, for example, this will not be an issue. Additionally, if you are describing old photographs, this is also not a concern.

I stand by what I said in my previous post. I believe skin color descriptions are very important, and they should be included in alt text. But, as much as I want that to happen, people should have control over what language is publicly available about them.

Alternative text for headshots: should we mention skin color?

On April 19, 2023September 10, 2024 By dhrutibcIn AccessibilityLeave a comment

Tl;dr: yes, you should mention skin color in your alternative (alt) text.

I’ve seen people debate this online, but for me the answer is clear. The concern most people have with including it is that it can get really tricky to describe someone’s skin color or race. The problem is that in our society, a lack of skin color or race identifier means that the person is by default, a white caucasian person.

Representation does matter, even to those who may be visually impaired. Keep in mind that alternative text is used for many things. For example, if an image doesn’t load, the alternative text will display.

To avoid some of the tricky pitfalls around describing someone’s skin color or race, use this guideline:

If you are not 100% sure of the race/ethnicity of the person in the photo, do not make assumptions. Instead, use neutral descriptors of color.

Here are some examples to help illustrate this guideline with this photo of me:

Do not use: Headshot of Dhruti Bhagat-Conway from the shoulders up, smiling, in a sweater and glasses, with shoulder-length black wavy hair

Why? This does not include any descriptors of my identity as a person of color

Do not use: Headshot of Dhruti Bhagat-Conway, a person of Middle Eastern descent, from the shoulders up, smiling, in a sweater and glasses, with shoulder-length black wavy hair

Why? This is an assumption about my race/ethnicity, and it is incorrect

Do not use: Headshot of Dhruti Bhagat-Conway, a person with cashew-colored skin, from the shoulders up, smiling, in a sweater and glasses, with shoulder-length black wavy hair

Why? Using food as a descriptor for people’s skin color can make people uncomfortable. Given histories of oppression for people of color, describing them as something you might eat can make people feel like you view them as less than human.

Do not use: Headshot of Dhruti Bhagat-Conway, a person with sand-colored skin, from the shoulders up, smiling, in a sweater and glasses, with shoulder-length black wavy hair

Why? Using non-food objects to describe a person’s skin can still make them feel uncomfortable. Being described in comparison to an object other people know can make me feel like my skin color is so foreign to them, that they can only describe me by using another object. But, that’s not true. We have regular colors we can use.

Do use: Headshot of Dhruti Bhagat-Conway, a person with light beige skin, from the shoulders up, smiling, in a sweater and glasses, with shoulder-length black wavy hair

To help you, this is my proposed scale of words to use to describe a skin color from lightest to darkest:

Pale, beige, tawny, tan, brown, with lots of qualifiers to help distinguish between shades. For example, light beige, pale pink, dark brown, medium tan, etc.

Of course, colors are subjective, and I’m not expecting everyone to agree on what dark brown looks like versus very dark brown. But, the goal here is to illustrate for the reader and give them a general sense of who you are describing.

If color is difficult to describe, especially if an image is in black and white, light-skinned, medium-skinned, and dark-skinned work as well.

Even though this post is about using skin color, I will add that making gender assumptions is not a good idea. If you know that person’s preferred gender, use it, otherwise, stick with gender-neutral language.

Accessibility in Academic Research: Alternative Text for Images and Non-text Items

On March 3, 2021February 26, 2021 By dhrutibcIn User ExperienceLeave a comment

This series focuses on a few main problems with accessibility in academic research, but by no means are they they only ones. My last post covered problems concerning graphs and how we can improve them to be more accessible to color blind individuals. If you’re curious about other accessibility considerations, take a look at Anne Gibson’s Alphabet of Accessibility on the Pastry Box Project; it’s fantastic.

Images, graphs and other non-text items in research

As I mentioned in my previous post, lots of scholarly research relies of graphs and charts to represent data and results. Additionally, researchers use images and other non-text items (such as equations) in research. However, without proper alternative text, these visual representations are meaningless to users with certain visual impairments.

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What does Reading Level have to do with Racism and Equity?

On February 16, 2021February 13, 2021 By dhrutibcIn User ExperienceLeave a comment

As the Web Services Librarian, I play an important role in determining the standards for content on the Boston Public Library website. The blogs are some of the most important content I oversee. They’re important because they let library workers talk about things they and their patrons care about. I think that connection to the public is special and needs to be protected.

As a part of the annual training bloggers go through, I remind them to keep their posts to a 10th grade reading level or below (ideally 8th grade). The few exceptions are on a case-by-case basis. However, staff members come back to me and say that the requirement is too restrictive, and what’s the big deal anyway?

When you don’t consider the reading level of your content, you are shutting out people who don’t read at the same level as you. Those people will most likely include, but are not limited to:

People of color
People who are poor
People with learning disabilities
People who don’t speak English as their first language

TL;DR: The reading level of your content is a racism and equity issue. If you’re not thinking about the reading levels of your content, you are preventing large groups of disadvantaged people from reading it. About half of adults in the U.S. do not read above an eighth grade reading level, and you are excluding them. Use hemingwayapp.com to help you reduce the reading level of your content.

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A bell curve graph that has a color legend on the top right, and uses color to differentiate five sections of the bell curve. This graph's colors will pass the color blindness filter tests.

Accessibility in Academic Research: Using Color

On December 11, 2020February 10, 2021 By dhrutibcIn User ExperienceLeave a comment

So my fiancé is a PhD student. That fact is only relevant in that it’s my main source of information about processes at various academic institutions. While he is a student and works for only one university, he is on projects with other universities, and regularly reviews papers for journals.

There are times he shows me or tells me about websites, surveys, graphs, or practices that clearly violate current accessibility standards. At times he has mentioned this to the people in charge of these items and he frequently gets the response along the lines of “I don’t think people with visual impairments will use this.”

As someone who strives to ensure accessibility practices are followed, this response makes me frustrated. But, rather than having this be a series with me venting about these transgressions, I’d like to take this time to give a brief overview on how academic faculty and staff (or other researchers) can build accessibility practices into their workflow and why they should.

This series is going to focus on a few main problems with accessibility in academic research, but by no means are they they only ones. If you’re curious about other accessibility considerations, take a look at Anne Gibson’s Alphabet of Accessibility on the Pastry Box Project; it’s fantastic.

Continue reading →