🔍 Overview

OTTO SEO can automatically generate alt text for images across your site, but this feature only works with specific image formats. If your site contains SVG images, OTTO SEO will flag them as missing alt text — but it cannot generate alt text for SVGs. This article explains why, and walks you through the fastest way to bulk-exclude those URLs so they stop appearing in your task list.

⚠️ SVG Format Is Not Supported

OTTO SEO's alt text generation engine does not support the SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) format. SVG files are code-based and structured differently from raster formats, which prevents OTTO SEO from analysing and describing their visual content.

Supported formats for alt text generation include:

• JPEG / JPG
• PNG
• WebP
• GIF
• BMP

If you see SVG image URLs listed under your alt text tasks in OTTO SEO, those items will not be resolved by enabling alt text generation or using the Enable All option. Applying those actions to SVG URLs has no effect and will not fix the flagged issues.

🚫 Why You Should Not Use "Enable All" for SVG URLs

A common workaround — enabling alt text generation for all flagged image URLs at once — does not apply to SVGs. Because the format is unsupported, OTTO SEO will skip SVG files during processing regardless of whether they are toggled on. This means:

• SVG URLs remain unresolved in your task list
• Your completion rate appears lower than it actually is
• You may waste time re-checking tasks that can never be completed

The correct approach is to exclude SVG URLs in bulk so they are removed from your active task queue entirely.

✅ How to Bulk-Exclude SVG URLs from OTTO SEO

Follow these steps to remove SVG image URLs from your OTTO SEO task list in bulk:

1. Go to OTTO SEO → All Sites (SEO Automation) in the left sidebar of your Search Atlas dashboard (URL: /seo-automation-v3).
2. Open the OTTO SEO session for the relevant site.
3. Navigate to the Images or Alt Text task section where your SVG URLs are listed.
4. Use the filter or search function to isolate URLs containing .svg in the file path or extension.
5. Select all filtered SVG URLs using the bulk-select checkbox at the top of the list.
6. Click the Exclude or Ignore option from the bulk-action menu to remove them from your active task queue.

Once excluded, these URLs will no longer appear in your task list or affect your overall completion metrics.

🕷️ Prevent SVG URLs from Being Crawled

If your site has a large volume of SVG files — such as 700 or more — you can stop them from being surfaced in future crawls altogether by setting up a crawl filter. This prevents OTTO SEO from flagging new SVG images as tasks when your site is re-crawled.

To set up a crawl filter for SVG files:

1. In your OTTO SEO session, navigate to the Crawl Settings or Exclusion Rules section.
2. Add a URL pattern rule to exclude paths ending in .svg (for example: *.svg).
3. Save your settings and trigger a new crawl.

SVG URLs matching the exclusion pattern will be skipped during the crawl and will not appear as open tasks in your OTTO SEO session going forward.

📋 Quick Reference: SVG and OTTO SEO

• Can OTTO SEO generate alt text for SVGs? No. SVG is not a supported format.
• Will enabling alt text generation fix SVG tasks? No. SVG files are skipped regardless.
• Best action for existing SVG tasks: Bulk-exclude them from your task list.
• Best action for future crawls: Add a crawl exclusion rule for *.svg URLs.
• Does this affect your SEO score? Excluding unsupported formats from OTTO SEO tasks does not negatively impact your site's SEO — SVGs typically do not benefit from alt text in the same way raster images do.

💬 Need Help?

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