Shopify guide · Catalog Health
How to find Shopify products with missing images, alt text or SEO
Updated
Short answer
The Shopify product list has no filter for products missing images, image alt text or SEO fields. Export your products and filter the blank columns in a spreadsheet, or use a catalog checker such as Toolbench's Catalog Health, which lists every product with each gap and updates as you fix them.
How to do it with Toolbench
Toolbench's Catalog Health scans your whole catalog and lists each product with what's missing. It checks for no images, missing image alt text, no SEO title, no SEO description, no product category, no cost per item, no description or a thin one, no product type, no vendor, no tags, no SKU, no barcode, duplicate SKUs and compare-at prices at or below the price. You can turn off any check you don't care about.
- Install Toolbench from the Shopify App Store, open Catalog Health and click Turn on.
- Catalog Health scans your catalog. On a large store this takes a few minutes.
- Filter the results by issue, such as Image alt text missing or No SEO title.
- Fix the products in the Shopify admin or bulk editor. Each one drops off the list once it's fixed.
Why this happens
Missing images and alt text hurt image search and accessibility. Products with no category can miss out on Shopify's tax and marketplace features. Products with no cost per item throw off profit reports.
On a catalog of a few hundred products or more, finding the gaps by opening products one at a time isn't realistic.
Your options in Shopify
CSV export and a spreadsheet
Export all products and filter for blanks in the Image Src column (no image), Image Alt Text, SEO Title, SEO Description, Product Category and Cost per item.
SEO fallbacks
When the SEO title or description is empty, Shopify falls back to the product title and description. A missing SEO field matters most when titles are long or descriptions start with boilerplate.
Bulk editor
Once you know which products need work, Shopify's bulk editor lets you fill fields for many products at once.
You only approve what Catalog Health needs
Toolbench asks for no permissions when you install it. When you turn on Catalog Health, Shopify asks you to approve only what this tool uses: read products and inventory.
It doesn't ask for orders, customers, discounts or checkout settings. Each of Toolbench's other tools asks for its own access separately, and only if you turn that tool on, so you never grant access for tools you don't use. Read access means Toolbench can see that data but can't change it.
Before you turn it on
- It checks products only, not collections, pages, blog posts or theme images.
- It only reads your products. Fill the missing fields in the Shopify admin or a bulk editor.
Pricing
Catalog Health is a free tool. The free plan runs any 3 of Toolbench's 12 free tools at a time, with no time limit and no credit card. Premium is $9.99 a month for all 16 tools at once and starts with a 14-day free trial.
Questions
How do I find products without images in Shopify?
Export your products and filter for a blank Image Src column, or use Catalog Health, which lists products with no images.
How do I find images missing alt text in Shopify?
Filter the Image Alt Text column in a product CSV export, or use Catalog Health's Image alt text missing check, which covers product images.
What is a bad compare-at price?
A compare-at price at or below the selling price. The storefront shows it struck through as if it were a discount when it isn't one.
What permissions does Catalog Health need?
Only the ones it uses: read products and inventory. It doesn't ask for orders, customers, discounts or checkout settings. Toolbench asks for no permissions at install, and each of its other tools asks for its own access separately, only if you turn that tool on.