Implementation overview
Label Charts, Images & Transcripts in Webflow for AI (2026)
AI systems can’t see images, watch videos, or read charts. They read text. When your content relies on visual or audio formats without accompanying text descriptions, those assets are effectively invisible to LLMs — and to screen readers, search engine image crawlers, and users on slow connections.
Well-labeled multimedia content solves this: alt text, figure captions, video transcripts, and chart data tables give AI systems a text-based representation of your visual content. This means a statistic embedded in an infographic can be extracted and cited, a video tutorial can be referenced, and a data chart can inform an AI-generated answer — as long as the data exists in readable form on the page.
In Webflow, this is primarily a CMS and template discipline: building the fields, components, and publishing workflows that ensure every media asset is labeled before it goes live.
How to do it on Webflow?
1. Set alt text standards for all image uploads
In Webflow, alt text can be set at two levels:
• Asset level: In the Assets panel, click any image and add alt text — this becomes the default alt text every time that image is used
• Element level: In the Designer, select an Image element → Settings panel → Alt Text field — this overrides the asset-level default for that specific placement
For CMS-driven images, add an Image Alt Text (Plain Text) field to each collection and bind it to the Image element’s Alt Text in the template. This ensures every article’s featured image has a unique, descriptive alt text that editors control.
Alt text rules: describe what the image shows, include the target keyword naturally if relevant, keep it under 125 characters, and never start with “Image of” or “Photo of”.
2. Add captions and data descriptions to charts
For any chart or data visualisation embedded on a Webflow page:
• Add a visible caption below the chart as a plain text element — describe what the chart shows and its key finding
• Add a data table below complex charts with the underlying data in HTML table format — this gives AI systems direct access to the numbers
• If the chart is an image (PNG/SVG), add a longdesc field or an adjacent paragraph summarising the data
Never rely solely on the image to communicate data. If the image fails to load, the information should still be available in text form on the page.
3. Add transcript fields to video and audio content
For Webflow pages with embedded video (YouTube, Vimeo, or Webflow Video elements):
• Add a Transcript (Rich Text) field to your CMS collection
• Place the transcript in a collapsible section below the video — visible in the DOM but collapsed by default for UX
• For auto-generated transcripts, export from YouTube Studio or use a transcription tool, then clean and add to CMS
A transcript on the same page as a video dramatically increases the page’s text content, keyword coverage, and AI extractability. It also improves accessibility compliance (WCAG 1.2).
4. Structure multimedia metadata in the CMS
Create a consistent set of media metadata fields across all content collections in Webflow:
• Media Type (Option) — Image, Video, Audio, Infographic, Chart
• Alt Text (Plain Text)
• Caption (Plain Text)
• Transcript (Rich Text)
• Data Source (Plain Text) — for charts and statistics, cite the data source
Combine this with embedded author IDs and canonical URLs to ensure every media asset has both content metadata and ownership metadata.
5. Automate multimedia audits with the Webflow MCP server
Use the Webflow MCP server to regularly audit published CMS items for missing alt text, empty transcript fields, or images without captions — surfacing them as an accessibility and AEO debt list for editorial review.
Once multimedia is properly labeled, the next step is to ensure your written content is also structured for AI extraction by adding FAQ and Q&A sections to pages with high AI answer potential.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between alt text and a caption?
Alt text is a hidden HTML attribute that describes an image to screen readers and search engine crawlers — it’s not visible on the page. A caption is visible text displayed below or beside an image for all users. Both are important: alt text serves accessibility and crawlers, captions serve user comprehension and content scannability.
Do AI systems like ChatGPT read image alt text?
When AI systems access web pages as text (via crawling or retrieval), they process the HTML source — which includes alt text attributes. If your image contains important information (a statistic, a diagram, a chart), the alt text is the only way that information reaches an AI system. Without it, the content is invisible to LLMs.
How long should a video transcript be on the page?
As long as the video content requires. A 5-minute tutorial video might produce 700–1,000 words of transcript. This is valuable: it gives search engines and AI systems full access to all the information in the video, dramatically increasing keyword coverage and citation potential for that page.
Is adding a transcript required for WCAG compliance?
Under WCAG 2.1 Level AA, pre-recorded video with audio requires captions (Level A) and an audio description or media alternative (Level AA). Full transcripts are required for audio-only content at Level A. Beyond compliance, transcripts are one of the most efficient ways to make multimedia content indexable by both search engines and AI systems.
Sources
• W3C — WCAG 2.1 Understanding Document
• Google — Google Images best practices
• Schema.org — VideoObject structured data reference
Do's
✅ Add descriptive alt text to every image: Include what the image shows and, where relevant, the key insight or data it contains
✅ Provide data tables alongside charts: Raw data in HTML table format is directly accessible to AI systems and search crawlers
✅ Add video transcripts to the page: Full text transcripts expand keyword coverage and make video content extractable by AI
✅ Label chart elements clearly: Titles, axis labels, legends, and source citations should all appear as readable HTML text, not embedded in the image
✅ Build media metadata fields into every CMS collection: Alt text, captions, and transcripts should be structured fields, not afterthoughts
Do's
❌ Don’t use generic alt text: “Chart showing data” or “Image 1” gives AI systems and screen readers nothing useful
❌ Don’t embed important text inside images: If key information — a statistic, a step, a label — only exists inside an image file, it’s invisible to search engines and AI
❌ Don’t skip audio descriptions: For videos where important information is conveyed visually without narration, add an audio description or equivalent text
❌ Don’t rely on platform-hosted transcripts only: YouTube auto-captions aren’t crawled by Google as page content — transcripts must be on your Webflow page to be indexed
❌ Don’t forget mobile rendering: Ensure charts, captions, and transcript sections display correctly on small screens — collapsed but DOM-present is fine; hidden entirely is not
Tools
