Image Count

## Why the count matters as context

Image-heavy pages have more surface area to manage: more alt text to write, more file weight to compress, more opportunity for Google Images traffic, and more things that can break. The raw count is only useful as context for the other metrics: missing alt, empty alt, file size. A page with 50 images and 48 missing alt text is a bigger fix than a page with 3 images and 1 gap.

## How Scalpel counts them

Scalpel counts img elements, picture elements, and CSS background images. The total appears in the Media tab alongside missing-alt and empty-alt breakdowns. That total is the denominator: if a page has 20 images and 2 are missing alt, that's a 10% gap, which tells you the scale of the work ahead. The count alone tells you nothing about quality; you need the breakdown.

## Raw count doesn't drive rankings

The image count alone has no effect on rankings. A page with 100 well-optimised images won't outrank a page with 10 just from the volume. What matters is optimisation quality: file size, format, alt text, lazy loading, aspect ratios. A single unoptimised hero image (2.5 MB uncompressed) will damage performance more than 50 tiny thumbnails, all compressed.

## One image matters more than count

<!-- Unoptimised: 2.8 MB, forces download even on mobile -->
<img src="hero.jpg" alt="Office building interior" />

<!-- Optimised: 180 KB, loads right size for each device -->
<img 
  src="hero-800w.jpg"
  srcset="hero-400w.jpg 400w, hero-800w.jpg 800w, hero-1600w.jpg 1600w"
  alt="Modern office building with glass atrium and natural light"
  loading="lazy"
  width="1600"
  height="900"
/>
Copy

The second version lets the browser download the right resolution instead of forcing the 1600-pixel version to a phone. Lazy loading defers below-the-fold images. File size dropped from 2.8 MB to 180 KB without losing quality. That single change matters more than the total image count on the page.

## How Scalpel shows it

The Media tab leads with total count, then breaks down missing-alt and empty-alt as separate rows. That hierarchy clarifies the problem: a 30-image page with 2 missing-alt gaps is a smaller fix than a 20-image page with 10 gaps, even though the first has more images.