If your website isn’t accessible, you’re shutting out a huge part of your audience. Millions of people with disabilities rely on accessible websites to browse, shop, and find information. If your site isn’t easy to use for everyone, you could lose visitors, face legal trouble, and hurt your search rankings.

What Is Website Accessibility?

Website accessibility means making sure everyone, including people with disabilities, can use your site. This includes people who are blind, deaf, have mobility issues, or experience cognitive difficulties.

An accessible website works with assistive technologies like screen readers, keyboard navigation, and voice commands. It also follows guidelines like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which set the standard for accessible websites.

Why Website Accessibility Matters

Ignoring website accessibility isn’t just bad for users it can also harm your business. Here’s why:

• You could lose visitors. If people struggle to navigate your site, they’ll leave and find another one that’s easier to use.
• It affects your SEO. Search engines favor websites that are user-friendly. Accessibility improvements, like alt text for images, also help with search rankings.
• You might face legal trouble. Many countries, including the U.S., have laws requiring website accessibility. Companies have been sued for failing to comply.
• It creates a better experience for everyone. Accessibility features help all users, not just those with disabilities. For example, captions help people watching videos in noisy places.

How to Check Website Accessibility in 7 Steps

Want to make sure your website is accessible to everyone? Accessibility isn’t just about compliance it’s about creating a better experience for all visitors, including those with disabilities. An accessible website improves usability, increases engagement, and can even boost your SEO.

1. Run an Accessibility Test

One of the easiest and fastest ways to identify accessibility issues on your website is by using free online testing tools. These tools scan your site and highlight areas that may be difficult for people with disabilities to navigate. Popular options include WAVE, Lighthouse, and axe DevTools.

These tools help detect common problems such as:

• Missing alt text – Without alt text, users relying on screen readers won’t know what an image represents.
• Low color contrast – Poor contrast can make text unreadable for people with vision impairments.
• Keyboard navigation issues – Some users cannot use a mouse and rely on the keyboard to browse.

Running an accessibility test gives you a clear and immediate snapshot of your website’s strengths and weaknesses. Instead of manually checking each element on every page, these tools do the heavy lifting for you, saving valuable time and effort.

How This Helps You

Using an accessibility checker benefits your site in multiple ways. First, it helps you quickly identify and fix major usability issues, making your site more welcoming to a wider audience. Second, improving accessibility can enhance your SEO, as search engines favor user-friendly websites.

Finally, addressing accessibility gaps reduces the risk of legal issues, as many regions have laws requiring websites to meet accessibility standards.

2. Test Keyboard Navigation

Not everyone can use a mouse to navigate a website. Many users with mobility impairments, repetitive strain injuries, or other physical limitations rely on keyboards or assistive technologies like switch controls to browse the web. A well-designed, accessible website should allow users to navigate through content and interact with links, buttons, and forms using only a keyboard.

To check if your site supports keyboard navigation, try this simple test:

• Press Tab to move forward through interactive elements like links, buttons, and form fields.
• Press Enter to activate a selected option, such as clicking a button or following a link.
• Use Shift + Tab to move backward through elements.

If you find yourself stuck on certain parts of your website, unable to reach key features, or notice that the navigation order feels confusing, your site likely needs adjustments. Common problems include missing focus indicators (which highlight where the cursor is on the page), elements that can’t be selected with the keyboard, and pop-ups or forms that trap users.

How This Helps You

Ensuring proper keyboard navigation improves accessibility for people with mobility impairments, but it also enhances usability for a much larger audience. Many power users prefer keyboard shortcuts for faster navigation, and keyboard accessibility makes it easier to interact with a website on devices that don’t use a mouse, such as tablets or smart TVs.

Additionally, fixing keyboard accessibility can help improve your website’s search engine optimization (SEO) and reduce your risk of legal issues, as many accessibility laws require websites to support alternative navigation methods. By making your site easier to use for everyone, you improve user engagement and retention.

3. Use a Screen Reader

Screen readers are essential tools for people who are blind or visually impaired. These programs read website content aloud or convert it into Braille, allowing users to navigate and understand information without relying on visual elements. To ensure your website works well with screen readers, test it using one of these popular options:

• NVDA (Windows) – A free, open-source screen reader used worldwide.
• VoiceOver (Mac & iOS) – A built-in screen reader for Apple devices.
• JAWS (Windows) – A feature-rich, paid option used by many professionals.

When testing your site, listen to how the screen reader interprets your content. Pay attention to whether it reads headings, links, and buttons in a logical order. If it skips important information or announces confusing labels like “button1” instead of “Submit Form,” you may need to improve your headings, labels, and alt text.

How This Helps You

Making your site screen reader-friendly ensures that blind and visually impaired users can fully engage with your content. This not only improves accessibility but also creates a more inclusive experience for all visitors.

Proper screen reader compatibility also benefits your website’s SEO. Search engines rely on text-based content to understand your site, so well-structured headings, descriptive alt text, and clear labels improve how your site is indexed. Additionally, ensuring screen reader accessibility helps you meet legal accessibility requirements and prevents potential lawsuits.

4. Check Alt Text for Images

Alt text, or alternative text, is a short written description of an image that helps visually impaired users understand what the image represents. Screen readers read alt text aloud, allowing users who cannot see the image to gain context and meaning from it.

Every meaningful image on your website should have a well-written alt text description. For example, instead of using a vague filename like “image1.jpg,” a more useful description would be “A golden retriever puppy playing in the grass.” This provides clear and relevant information without unnecessary details.

When writing alt text, avoid stuffing it with keywords or making it overly complex. Keep it natural, descriptive, and concise. The goal is to communicate the purpose of the image effectively without overwhelming the user with unnecessary information.

How This Helps You

Adding proper alt text enhances the accessibility of your website, ensuring that visually impaired visitors can fully engage with your content. This is not only an important step toward inclusivity but also helps improve user experience.

Alt text also plays a significant role in search engine optimization (SEO). Search engines like Google rely on alt text to understand the content of images, which can improve your rankings in image search results. A website with well-optimized alt text is more likely to attract organic traffic and perform better in search engine results.

By including meaningful alt text for images, you improve both accessibility and SEO, making your website more user-friendly and easier to discover online.

5. Verify Color Contrast

Color contrast plays a crucial role in website readability, particularly for users with vision impairments such as color blindness or low vision. If the text on your website does not stand out clearly against the background, some visitors may struggle to read it.

To ensure good readability, follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) contrast recommendations:

• Normal text should have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 against its background.
• Large text (18-point or larger) should have a contrast ratio of at least 3:1 against its background.

You can use tools like the WebAIM Contrast Checker to test different color combinations and ensure your text is easy to read.

How This Helps You

Ensuring proper color contrast improves readability for all users, not just those with vision impairments. A well-designed website with high-contrast text makes content easier to consume, reducing eye strain and keeping visitors engaged longer.

Clear and readable text also reduces frustration and bounce rates. If users find your content difficult to read, they may leave your site and look for alternatives. By optimizing color contrast, you improve user retention and create a more enjoyable browsing experience for everyone.

Additionally, high contrast and good readability contribute to better SEO. Search engines prioritize user-friendly websites, and accessible design elements can positively impact your rankings.

How to Fix Website Accessibility Issues

Once you’ve identified accessibility issues on your website, the next step is to fix them. Addressing these problems not only improves the experience for users with disabilities but also enhances the overall usability of your site. Taking the time to make these changes ensures that your website is inclusive, legally compliant, and optimized for a broader audience.

Here are the key steps to fixing accessibility issues:

Update Your Code

Many accessibility issues stem from the underlying code of your website. If you have a developer, share the list of accessibility problems with them so they can make the necessary adjustments. If you manage your site yourself, you can take advantage of accessibility plugins and tools to simplify the process.

For example, if you’re using WordPress, there are several plugins designed to help improve accessibility, such as:

• WP Accessibility – Adds accessibility features like skip links and improved keyboard navigation.
• AccessibleWP – Provides tools to help make images, forms, and other content more accessible.

Updating your code may involve tasks like:

• Adding alt text to images so screen readers can describe them.
• Ensuring keyboard navigability by fixing tab order and interactive elements.
• Adjusting color contrast to improve readability for visually impaired users.

Fixing these issues makes your site more inclusive and user-friendly, reducing frustration for visitors and keeping them engaged longer.

Choose an Accessible Website Theme

Your website’s design plays a huge role in accessibility. Some themes are built with accessibility in mind, while others can create barriers for users with disabilities. If you’re using a content management system like WordPress, consider switching to an accessibility-ready theme.

A good accessible theme will include:

• Clear, readable fonts and proper contrast ratios for text and background colors.
• Keyboard-friendly navigation that allows users to move through the site easily without a mouse.
• Well-structured headings and labels that help screen readers interpret the content correctly.

Selecting an accessible theme ensures that your website is built on a solid foundation, reducing the amount of manual work required to make it inclusive.

Train Your Team

Even if your website is fully accessible now, ongoing content updates could introduce new issues. If multiple people manage your site, it’s important to educate them on accessibility best practices.

Team members responsible for uploading content should know how to:

• Write descriptive alt text for images.
• Use clear and concise headings to organize content.
• Add captions and transcripts for videos and audio files.
• Ensure links have meaningful anchor text instead of vague phrases like “Click here.”

By training your team, you prevent accessibility problems from creeping back into your website over time.

Keep Testing

Website accessibility is not a one-time fix. Web content changes frequently, and new accessibility guidelines may be introduced as technology evolves. Regular testing ensures your site remains accessible to all users.

You can test your website by:

• Running automated accessibility scans using tools like WAVE or Lighthouse to catch errors.
• Conducting manual testing, such as navigating the site with a keyboard or using a screen reader.
• Gathering user feedback, especially from individuals with disabilities, to identify real-world accessibility barriers.

Ongoing testing helps you stay compliant with accessibility standards and provides a better experience for all visitors.

Why Fixing Accessibility Issues Benefits You

Making your website accessible is about more than just compliance it creates a better online experience for everyone. A more user-friendly site leads to higher engagement, lower bounce rates, and better SEO rankings. It also protects your business from potential legal issues, as many countries require websites to meet accessibility standards.

Website accessibility isn’t just about following rules it’s about creating a better web for everyone. By making your site more accessible, you’ll reach a bigger audience, improve your SEO, and create a better user experience.