What Accessibility means
Accessible sites serve more customers, reduce legal risk and are usually easier for everyone to use. It covers color contrast, alt text, keyboard navigation, captions and clear forms. Building it in from the start is far cheaper than retrofitting.
Why it matters for your website
An accessible site lets more people read about your services, fill out your forms and buy from you, including customers who use screen readers or a keyboard. It also lowers legal risk and often improves the experience for everyone, such as people on small phones or in bright sunlight.
Example
A physical therapy clinic adds labels to its booking form fields, fixes low-contrast gray text and makes sure every menu item works with the Tab key. Patients using screen readers can now book online.
Tips
- Try navigating your site using only the Tab and Enter keys.
- Add clear labels to every form field instead of relying only on placeholder text.
- Use WCAG AA as your target when briefing designers and developers.
Common mistakes
- Treating accessibility as a one-time project instead of checking new pages and content.
- Relying only on automated scanners, which miss many real usability problems.
Questions about Accessibility
What is Accessibility?
Designing and building a site so people with disabilities can use it, including with screen readers and keyboards.
How do I check if my website is accessible?
Start with a free automated checker to catch obvious issues, then test by hand with a keyboard and a screen reader. For a full picture, have an accessibility specialist audit key pages against WCAG.
Does accessibility help SEO?
Indirectly, yes. Many accessibility practices, like descriptive headings, alt text and clear link text, also help search engines understand your pages. It is not a direct ranking factor on its own.
