Image SEO and alt text Optimize images and alt text with ChatGPT dots
Handling image SEO with a ChatGPT dot means letting an always-on agent watch which StoreSEO image checks (product, collection and article images lacking alt text, compression or a good file name) still fail, while the actual optimizing waits for a chat you are in.
Last updated: October 2026
Set up ChatGPT dots for StoreSEO
Skip this if ChatGPT dots is already connected. The full guide, with the alternatives, is on the ChatGPT dots page.
- 1
Create the StoreSEO app in ChatGPT
OpenAI's help center says plugins are shared across dots and ChatGPT, so you set StoreSEO up once. In ChatGPT on the web, turn on Developer mode under Settings, Security and login, open Plugins, select the plus button and create an app named StoreSEO with this MCP server URL and OAuth. Sign in when the browser asks: pick your Shopify store and approve access. If ChatGPT already has the StoreSEO app, skip this step.
URLhttps://mcp.storeseo.com/mcp
- 2
Make sure your dot can see it
Open your dot's profile, then Customize and Plugins, and check StoreSEO is connected. Then give your dot a first task that names StoreSEO.
PromptUsing StoreSEO, show me my store's SEO score breakdown.
How does this work in ChatGPT dots?
Image problems pile up quietly. A merchant adds twenty photos for a new range, nobody writes alt text, and the files stay at camera weight. That is exactly the kind of drift a dot is good at noticing. Schedule a task that calls storeseo_list_images with has_alt_text set to false, then again filtered to images that are not optimized, sorted so the heaviest files come first. The report names the resource each image belongs to and which of the three axes, compression, alt text and file name, is still open. Both calls are reads and cost nothing.
Fixing is a different matter, and the tool shows why. storeseo_optimize_image works on one image per call, runs synchronously and takes the axes you ask for. Alt text and file names spend AI Content Optimizer credit, and compression needs the Image Optimizer add-on and counts against its monthly quota. An unattended dot looping over a long list would burn through both. So take the list the dot sent, open a ChatGPT conversation with the same StoreSEO plugin, and ask for the first five. Passing every axis you want in a single call per image avoids two calls racing on the same file.
If you dislike a result, storeseo_restore_image reverts one or more axes, including bringing back the alt text you had before StoreSEO wrote one. Keep restore in the chat too. A dot that could undo an image on its own schedule could just as easily undo one you had kept on purpose.
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You: Every Wednesday, use StoreSEO to list images with no alt text. Report only.
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ChatGPT dots: Scheduled, report only. Running the first check now.
- storeseo_list_images read-only
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ChatGPT dots: 31 product images have no alt text, and the five heaviest are all in the Summer collection. Want me to write alt text for the first one now? It spends AI credit and changes the image.
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You: Yes, alt text only, for that one.
- storeseo_optimize_image needs approval
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ChatGPT dots: Done for that image. Say so if you want the next five.
What to ask ChatGPT dots
Every Wednesday, use StoreSEO to list images with no alt text and the five heaviest uncompressed images. Report only and change nothing.
Optimize alt text and file name for the images on the product Linen Shirt, one image per call, and tell me the credit cost first.
Restore the alt text on that last image to what I had before.
- Find my ten heaviest unoptimized product images and compress them. Tell me the quota it will use first.
- Which product images have no alt text at all? Write alt text for the ones on my best seller.
- Optimize every image on the product Canvas Tote: compression, alt text and file name.
- Restore the original alt text on the last image you changed.
- Give my collection images descriptive file names, and warn me which URLs will change.
What StoreSEO does: image seo and alt text
StoreSEO tracks three things per image: file-size compression, alt text and file name. The agent finds the heaviest or unlabelled images, optimizes them one call per image, and can restore any of the three if you do not like the result.
Requires: Compression needs the Image Optimizer add-on and counts against its monthly quota; alt text and file names spend AI Content Optimizer credit.
- 1
Find the images
The agent lists product, collection or article images, heaviest unoptimized first by default. It can filter to images with no alt text, or scope the list to one product by title.
- 2
Check what it found
A title search can also match image file names from other resources, so the agent checks each row belongs to the product you meant.
- 3
Agree the scope and cost
Compression uses image quota and alt text and file names use AI credit, so the agent confirms before working through many images.
- 4
Optimize one image per call
Each call takes the axes you want: compression, alt text, file name or all three. The axes always run compression, then file name, then alt text, and the response reports each one separately.
- 5
Report or restore
The agent reports what applied, what was already done and what was refused. If a result is wrong, the restore tool brings back the original file, alt text or name.
Image SEO and alt text reference
| Axes per image | Compression, alt text, file name |
|---|---|
| Image sources | Products, collections and articles (pages have no images) |
| Batching | One image per call; never two calls on the same image at once |
| Compression | Image Optimizer add-on and its monthly quota; an already compressed image is reported as already applied |
| Alt text and file name | AI Content Optimizer credit; both together are billed as one generation |
| File name change | Renames the file on Shopify and changes the image's storefront URL |
| Collection and article renames | Re-upload the image, so the call can take a couple of minutes |
| Restore | Reverts compression, alt text or file name per axis |
| Score impact | Alt text and file names count on products, collections and articles; compression counts on products |
Rules ChatGPT dots follows
- The agent confirms the number of images and the kind of spend before a bulk run.
- One image per call, all wanted axes together; never parallel calls on the same image.
- A renamed image has a new URL, so the agent tells you, because anything that hard-coded the old URL keeps serving the old file.
- If a response is lost, the agent re-lists the image instead of retrying, because a retry regenerates and spends again.
- A refused axis, for example compression without the add-on, is reported as such while the other axes still apply.
In ChatGPT dots
Compression only works when the Image Optimizer add-on is on your store, and it counts against that add-on's monthly quota, so a scheduled dot should never loop storeseo_optimize_image across a catalog. Alt text and file names also spend AI credit on every image. Keep the timer to storeseo_list_images and run optimizing from a chat where you can see each call. A file name change swaps the image's underlying Shopify media, which is one more reason to keep it supervised.
What runs without asking. Reads such as SEO scores, store listings, settings and Google reports run straight away. Generating a preview spends AI credit but writes nothing, and StoreSEO tells the agent to say what a generation will cost before it runs one. Applying content, optimizing images, changing settings, publishing llms.txt or agents.md, writing a product description and deleting anything wait for your yes in the conversation. That yes is an instruction the agent follows, not a lock on the server, so your client's own tool-approval setting is the hard stop.
Questions
Can my dot optimize images overnight on its own?
It can if you instruct it to and your custom rules let tool calls run unattended, but we would not. Each image spends credit or add-on quota and a file name change swaps the media. Let the dot report and run optimization in a chat.
How does the dot know which images still need work?
storeseo_list_images returns each image with the status of compression, alt text and file name, and it can filter to images with no alt text. The dot reads that list, so its report comes from your store's current state.
Can the agent compress images without the Image Optimizer add-on?
No. Compression needs the Image Optimizer add-on and counts against its monthly quota. Alt text and file names work without it and spend AI Content Optimizer credit instead.
Can I undo an image optimization?
Yes. The restore tool reverts compression, alt text or file name for one image, per axis. Restoring compression brings back the original file.
Why did my image URL change?
Giving an image a new file name renames the file on Shopify and re-points its storefront URL. Pages that use the image through Shopify keep working, but anything that hard-coded the old URL keeps the old file.
Can I write my own file name or alt text through the agent?
No. StoreSEO writes the alt text and file name from the resource's own context. You can steer the language, and you can always edit alt text yourself in Shopify admin.
Keep going
Image SEO and alt text with other agents
More ChatGPT dots guides