All non-text content has text alternatives

Missing or meaningless alt text on images is a hard blocker for screen reader users — assistive technology reads the filename, URL, or nothing at all instead of the image's meaning. WCAG 2.2 SC 1.1.1 (Non-text Content) is a Level A requirement: failure makes a site legally non-conformant under Section 508 and the EU Web Accessibility Directive. Beyond compliance, poor alt text degrades SEO, since search crawlers rely on the same attribute to index images.

Add descriptive alt text to every content image; use empty alt for decorative ones so screen readers skip them cleanly. In Next.js Image components:

// Content image — describe what it shows
<Image src="/hero.jpg" alt="Developer typing at a standing desk in a bright office" />

// Decorative image — suppress announcement
<Image src="/divider.svg" alt="" role="presentation" />

For charts and graphs, add a sibling text summary or table and link it with aria-describedby. Check every <img> in your codebase for missing or placeholder alt values like "image", "photo", or the filename.