Why Accessibility Matters for Your SEO Strategy

Ever wondered if your website might be turning away potential customers without you even knowing it? Chances are, it probably is. In the EU alone, over 101 million internet users have a disability. That’s a lot of people who might struggle to use your site if it’s not accessible, making it a high priority for every website owner and developer. 

But here’s the good news: making your website more accessible isn’t just the right thing to do – it can also give your SEO a serious boost! You see, search engines are getting smarter. They’re starting to look at things like user experience when deciding which sites to show first. And the truth is that fulfilling accessibility requirements will inherently make your website more user-friendly as well. 

In this article, we’ll explore how accessibility and SEO go hand in hand. We’ll cover:

Ready to make your site more inclusive and boost your search rankings at the same time? Let’s dive in!

While Google doesn’t explicitly use accessibility as a ranking factor, many accessibility best practices align perfectly with what search engines prefer – a world where everyone can access and enjoy the web. It’s a situation where improving one aspect naturally benefits the other.

Consider headings, for example. Using proper heading structure (H1, H2, etc.) helps people using screen readers navigate your content easily. At the same time, it helps search engines better understand and interpret your content.

Alt text for images is another great example. It’s invaluable for people who can’t see the images, but it also provides search engines with more context about your page content, which is always good. 

Accessibility can also indirectly improve your SEO through improved user engagement metrics. If your site is easy to use for everyone, visitors are more likely to stay longer and explore more pages. Lower bounce rates and longer session durations are positive signals that search engines interpret as indicators of quality content. 

Finally, as voice search becomes more prevalent, the clear, semantic markup used for accessibility becomes even more important for SEO. 

All of this contributes to a smoother user experience and forms part of the Google Core Web Vitals, which are proof of how important it is to think about the way users browse and consume content. 

Web accessibility is a fundamental aspect of creating an inclusive online environment, so naturally, there are many legal regulations and requirements that ensure anyone can browse freely. SEO and UX are important, but you also need to make sure that you’re fully compliant with the accessibility laws, as well. 

In the US, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has been interpreted to apply to websites, leading to numerous lawsuits against non-compliant sites. These legal issues can harm websites through negative publicity and potential financial penalties, so if you want to learn more about how to avoid them, we recommend taking a look at our ADA Compliance Guide. 

In the UK, the accessibility of websites is covered by the Equality Act 2010. This legislation encourages site owners to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to make their sites accessible to people with disabilities. While the law doesn’t specify exact technical standards, following guidelines like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) can help ensure compliance.

An accessible website offers easy navigation that feels natural, and it has a low comprehension level. This means everyone can use it, regardless of their abilities or what devices they’re using. To achieve this, you need to follow POUR principles (Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust) and meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

Let’s see how you can achieve these:

Implement a clean, intuitive layout with consistent navigation and a clear visual hierarchy. Ensure WCAG compliance for colour contrast (4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text). You should also use responsive design techniques (e.g., allowing users to resize pages without content loss or issues) and implement semantic HTML to enhance accessibility across devices and assistive technologies.

Craft unique, descriptive titles with the user in mind and avoid keyword stuffing at any cost. Keep titles under 60 characters, with primary keywords front-loaded. Implement dynamic titles for pagination and filtering. Use schema markup to provide additional context for search engines and screen readers.

Implement a logical heading structure to create a clear content hierarchy: use a single H1 per page, incorporating your primary keyword and the H2–H6 tags for subheadings, maintaining a hierarchical order. We also recommend implementing ARIA landmarks to enhance navigation for screen reader users. If you’re not familiar with them, you can learn more about how to do that in our friendly guide about ARIA landmark roles. 

Most of all, ensure the heading text is relevant to the content below so that readers don’t get confused.

Provide concise, descriptive alternative text for all meaningful images so that people who are blind or have other visual impairments can understand the context. However, if you’re using images purely for decoration, we recommend using an empty alt tag instead, which looks like this: 

Just like in your normal content, include the relevant keywords naturally, prioritising accuracy and avoiding keyword stuffing. And if you have a more complex image, use the longdesc attribute or ARIA-describedby. 

⚠️Don’t use alternative descriptions to fit keywords unless they actually belong there. 

Use descriptive anchor text that clearly indicates the link’s destination. Avoid generic phrases like “click here” because they don’t give out any clues as to where the person will land if they do click on it. For example, if you’re linking to a study or a different article, the best anchor would be the name of the study or the blog post. 

It’s also important that the link is easily distinguishable from the rest of the text. You can achieve that by changing the colour and underlining it so it is easy for everyone to see, even users with colour blindness. You can make the visual changes so that they fit with your site design – just ensure you don’t rely on colour alone and you make it clear that it’s a link!

Finally, use rel attributes appropriately to guide search engines and manage link equity.

Create both HTML and XML sitemaps for improved navigation. HTML sitemaps offer a clear overview of a website’s structure, making it easier to locate specific sections, while XML sitemaps ensure that all important pages are indexed properly.

Craft unique meta descriptions (150 –160 characters) incorporating primary keywords. Meta descriptions summarise the content of a page and appear in search engine results. While primarily for SEO, they also help users understand the content of a page before they visit it.

Design clear, consistent navigation menus and implement keyboard accessibility with visible focus states. Limit user interactions by separating the content by pages and showing only 10 or 15 on a page. You could also provide “View All” options for people who prefer to scroll.

Implement breadcrumb navigation using structured data markup. Position breadcrumbs near the top of the page, ensuring keyboard accessibility. Use clear, concise labels and include the current page (non-clickable). If you want to learn more about breadcrumb links, our “Accessible Code” course includes a lesson on them!

Long, chunky paragraphs can tire anyone’s eyes, so optimise your content with shorter sections, bullet points, and numbered lists. You can also implement expandable content sections (accordions) for long-form content. 

Use schema markup for FAQs and How-to content. This is code that you add to your HTML’s <head> section to help search engines understand the meaning of your content, not just the words on the page. The best way to do that is with the JSON-LD format, as it’s what Google prefers. 

Other elements of content accessibility include creating a logical reading order for screen readers and implementing proper language attributes for multilingual content.

Multimedia can be amazing for your content, but it can also hinder the entire experience if you don’t make it accessible. Here is what you must do: 

Even with the best intentions, it’s easy to make accessibility mistakes that can harm your SEO efforts. Here are five common pitfalls to watch out for:

Testing is a crucial part of improving your website’s accessibility as it helps you identify issues and track your progress over time. While manual testing is irreplaceable, several tools can help streamline the process and catch common issues quickly.

Here are three popular accessibility testing tools:

These tools can help you catch many accessibility issues, but remember they’re not foolproof. They might miss some context-dependent problems or nuanced issues. That’s why it’s important to combine these tools with manual testing and, ideally, testing with users who rely on assistive technologies.

When using these tools, don’t just aim for a perfect score. Instead, use them as a guide to understand where your site might be falling short and how you can improve. Each fix you make is a step towards a more inclusive and SEO-friendly website.

Ready to take your accessibility skills to the next level? The A11Y Collective offers specialised courses that teach both accessibility best practices and their direct SEO benefits. They are taught by industry experts and include practical assignments to help you apply your new knowledge immediately.

Start your journey with our free “Web Accessibility, the business case” course. This introductory course will help you understand why accessibility matters from a business perspective, including its impact on SEO.

Once you’ve got the basics down, dive deeper with these courses:

We’ve explored how accessibility and SEO work together to create better websites for everyone. From proper heading structures to descriptive alt text, many practices benefit both users and search engines. Remember, avoiding common mistakes like low colour contrast or keyboard-inaccessible elements can significantly impact your site’s usability and search rankings.

The most important thing you need to remember is that improving accessibility isn’t just about ticking boxes but creating a web that works for all. And as we’ve seen, it can give your search rankings a real boost too.

Take the next step in your web accessibility journey with The A11Y Collective’s courses. Learn everything from basic principles to advanced techniques at your own pace and earn valuable certificates to showcase your skills!