Website accessibility is rarely discussed when it comes to SEO. Accessibility is not directly used as a ranking factor for SEO. However, better accessibility improves your user’s experience. In turn, a better experience improves your site’s performance and, by extension, search performance.
Why Make a Website Accessible?
Accessible websites perform better than non-accessible sites because they receive more traffic. They get better metrics with lower bounce rates and longer session durations on account of being friendly for all kinds of users.
In addition to improved performance, there is the legal aspect. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires most government entities to have an accessible website. Even businesses may fall under regulations to require accessibility features to ensure equal access for those with disabilities.
How to Make Your Website Accessible
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 offers a standard for creating accessible websites. While the guidelines are long, there are plenty of tools which exist to help.
Accessibility may seem like another thing to worry about. However, several SEO improvements also double as accessibility improvements. Image alt text, proper heading structure, and descriptive link text all help users and search engines understand your page content.
In the realm of tools, WordPress offers a tutorial on improving your site’s accessibility. Additionally, color contrast checkers can help ensure that there is enough contrast between text and the background to pass WCAG standards.
Website checkers, such as Accessibility Checker, can also be helpful at pointing out some issues. However, manual testing is still required to ensure compliance in certain areas.
Conclusion
There is no reason not to improve website accessibility. Meeting accessibility requirements saves companies from legal trouble, improves overall user experience, and pays off in the long run. Improving accessibility is not difficult, there are plenty of tools to help with the basics.
3 Responses
I thought you did a really good job explaining website accessibility. The headings you added are actually a practice recommended to make websites more accessible.
I likes that in your conclusion you said that it also helps with overall user experience. I think some people get confused over what SEO is claiming it “stunts creativity” when it really does not do that it all. It is optimizing for your search engine, but your search engine has the user in mind. So, I think that if someone is really struggling with writing for their user, then they have come to the conclusion that they are not doing it for anyone else but only themselves.
Nice post! Great use of linking as well! 🙂