How a Shopify Merchant Used AI and Excel to Bulk Optimize Image Names and Alt Text

The challenge: hundreds of images, no time to optimize

Liam runs a growing Shopify store selling fitness accessories. Over the past three years he uploaded:

• Hundreds of product images with camera-style file names like IMG_3827.jpg
• Alt text that was either empty or generic, such as "product image"

He knew this was hurting both SEO and accessibility, but manually renaming files and writing alt text for every image felt impossible.

Liam started searching for a solution that could:

• Use AI to generate better file names and alt text
• Work with his existing Shopify store
• Avoid custom code or complicated scripts

This is how he ended up combining Bulk Image Editor & Optimizer, Excel, and ChatGPT into a simple, repeatable workflow.

Step 1: Export product images from Shopify via Bulk Image Editor & Optimizer

Instead of opening product pages one by one, Liam used Bulk Image Editor & Optimizer to export his image data:

1. In Shopify admin, he opened Bulk Image Editor & Optimizer.
2. Chose the products he wanted to improve (his best-selling collections first).
3. Clicked Export Excel in Bulk Image Editor & Optimizer.
4. Waited a few moments while the app generated an Excel file with:
   • Product titles
   • Current image URLs
   • Existing file names
   • Existing alt text
   • Image positions and variants

Now he had one Excel file with all the information needed for AI to work on.

Step 2: Prepare a clean Excel for ChatGPT

Before sending anything to ChatGPT, Liam simplified the Excel file so the AI could focus on what mattered:

• Kept columns like:
  • Product Title
  • Image AltText
  • Image File Name (or a helper column for new names)
• Removed columns that AI did not need to change, such as IDs.
• Added two new empty columns:
  • New AltText
  • New File Name

This made the file easier for ChatGPT to understand and safer to edit.

Step 3: Ask ChatGPT to generate optimized names and alt text

Next, Liam uploaded the cleaned Excel to ChatGPT and gave a simple prompt. For example:

"You are helping a Shopify store optimize product images. For each row, please fill in New AltText and New File Name.

• Alt text should be short, clear, and describe what the customer sees.
• File names should use lowercase letters, numbers, and dashes. No spaces.
• Use this simple formula for alt text: main feature + product type + key attributes (color/material/use).
• Keep everything in English.
• Do not change any existing IDs or URLs."

ChatGPT then:

• Read each product title and existing alt text (if any)
• Suggested better, more descriptive alt text
• Generated SEO-friendly file names like:
  • adjustable-black-foam-roller-for-back-pain.jpg
  • blue-non-slip-yoga-mat-eco-friendly-material.jpg

Liam quickly scanned a few rows to make sure the style matched his brand, then asked ChatGPT to complete the whole sheet.

Step 4: Download the updated Excel from ChatGPT

Once he was happy with the AI output, Liam:

1. Downloaded the updated Excel file from ChatGPT.
2. Double-checked a few random rows to confirm:
   • Product titles were unchanged
   • Only New AltText and New File Name columns were filled
   • There were no strange symbols or extra columns

This review step took only a few minutes but gave him confidence before applying changes in bulk.

Step 5: Sync the optimized data back to Shopify with Bulk Image Editor & Optimizer

With his AI-enhanced Excel ready, Liam went back to Bulk Image Editor & Optimizer:

1. Opened the same Excel mode area in the app.
2. Selected Import Excel.
3. Uploaded the Excel file that contained New AltText and New File Name.
4. Mapped the new columns to the right fields:
   • New AltText → image alt text
   • New File Name → image file name
5. Confirmed the changes and started the task.

Bulk Image Editor & Optimizer processed the file and:

• Updated alt text for hundreds of product images
• Renamed image files to SEO-friendly names
• Kept all product IDs and variants intact

All the heavy lifting happened in the background—no scripting, no manual image uploads.

Results: better SEO with very little manual work

Within a few weeks, Liam noticed:

• More traffic from Google Image Search
• Better rankings for key product keywords
• Cleaner, easier-to-understand alt text when testing with screen readers

Most importantly, what used to feel like an impossible task—optimizing hundreds of images—was done in one afternoon:

• Export with Bulk Image Editor & Optimizer
• Optimize with ChatGPT
• Import back with Bulk Image Editor & Optimizer

When this AI + Excel workflow makes sense

This approach is a good fit if:

• You already have many product images in Shopify with weak or missing alt text
• Your image file names are random or meaningless
• You want to use AI, but you do not want to write code or manage APIs

By combining Bulk Image Editor & Optimizer, Excel, and ChatGPT, you get the best of both worlds:

• Shopify-native bulk image management
• Flexible AI text generation
• A simple, reviewable Excel file in the middle

Instead of choosing between "do nothing" and "spend days editing alt text by hand", you can now let AI handle the writing while Bulk Image Editor & Optimizer safely syncs everything back to your Shopify store.