What Website Accessibility Means for SEO

Accessibility is about making sure anyone can use your website, regardless of how they’re interacting with it. That includes people using screen readers, browsing on mobile with poor reception, navigating with a keyboard, or even just trying to read your content in bright sunlight.

In 2025, I’d argue that website accessibility is required, not just a ‘nice-to-have’. From an SEO and marketing perspective, it’s essential to rank well and capture your entire audience as intended. But more importantly, from a human perspective, everyone deserves equal access to the internet and digital content.

So, what exactly do I mean when I talk to business owners about accessibility? Let’s break it down.

What Is Website Accessibility, Really?

At its core, website accessibility means removing the barriers that might prevent someone from using your site. That could be:

• Visual barriers (e.g. tiny text, poor colour contrast)
• Functional barriers (e.g. buttons that don’t work with keyboard navigation)
• Informational barriers (e.g. missing image alt text or unclear headings)

There are global standards for this — the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) — and both Google and users pay attention to them, even if they’re not always aware of it.

Accessibility is about building for real-life use. It’s making sure someone can fill in a contact form without getting stuck. It’s ensuring someone with slower internet can still load your page. It’s using logical content structure so screen readers (and search engines) can understand your page.

How Accessibility, SEO, and UX Work Together

Accessibility is about making sure your website can be used by as many people as possible – including those with visual, auditory, cognitive, or physical impairments.

SEO (search engine optimisation) is the process of improving your website so it appears more prominently in search engine results like Google.

UX (user experience) refers to how people interact with and feel about your website – is it intuitive, easy to navigate, and enjoyable to use?

What’s good for one is often good for all three. For example:

• Accessibility improves UX –
  • Accessible websites are clearer, easier to navigate, and work better across different devices and contexts – which leads to a better experience for everyone, not just users with disabilities.
• Accessibility strengthens SEO –
  • Many accessibility features (like proper heading structure, descriptive alt text, readable content, and fast loading) are also SEO best practices. When your site is accessible, it’s easier for search engines to crawl, understand, and rank it.
• UX and SEO overlap heavily –
  • Search engines want to rank websites that offer value to users. That includes not just the content itself, but the way it’s delivered, which ties directly into UX. A good experience can reduce bounce rates, increase dwell time, and improve overall engagement signals that influence rankings.

How to Start Assessing Your Website’s Accessibility

If you’re new to this space, the good news is that there are a few free tools and techniques that can help you start assessing your site’s accessibility in minutes.

Here are a few places to start:

1. Use the WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool
   1. Enter your URL and WAVE will highlight accessibility errors, contrast issues, missing alt text, and more.
2. Run a Lighthouse Report
   1. Using Google Chrome as your browser, follow this guide to run a general report on the webpage’s speed and performance.
3. Try keyboard-only navigation
   1. After opening up your webpage, without using your mouse, press the Tab key to start moving through interactive elements (like menus, links, and buttons) and hitting ‘Enter’ to activate a selected item
   2. If you get stuck or lost, that’s a sign that users with assistive technology might be having a bad experience.
4. Use a screen reader emulator
   1. On a Mac, Press Command + F5 to turn on VoiceOver – a tutorial will run you through how it works, firstly, then you can navigate your webpage and identify any headings, elements, and content that doesn’t make sense within a screen reader experience.
   2. On Windows, download and install NVDA for a similar experience.
5. Navigate your own website using different devices, lighting, glasses on and off, etc.

Quick Accessibility & SEO Audit Checklist

Many accessibility issues directly impact how users experience your website and how Google understands and ranks your content.

This checklist covers high-impact areas where accessibility, SEO, and UX overlap, so even small improvements here can lead to better rankings, higher engagement, and a more inclusive site.

1. ALT Text on Images

What to check: Are all meaningful images (not decorative ones) described with accurate, helpful alt text?

Why it matters:

• Helps users who rely on screen readers understand what an image conveys
• Google uses alt text to understand image content and context
• Also helps images show up in Google Image Search

Quick fix: Write alt text like you’re describing the image to someone over the phone. Be concise, specific, and avoid keyword stuffing. This can typically be edited in the media library or page builder of your website.

2. Heading Structure (H1 > H2 > H3…)

What to check: Are your headings used in the correct order, without skipping levels or misusing them for styling?

Why it matters:

• Screen readers and search engines use headings to navigate and understand your content hierarchy
• A clear structure improves readability for all users
• Helps Google determine page relevance and structure

Quick fix: Make sure each page has a single H1 (usually the page title), followed by H2s for main sections, and H3s for sub-points within those.

3. Colour Contrast

What to check: Is there enough contrast between text and background colours?

Why it matters:

• Low contrast = hard to read for users with visual impairments, colour blindness, or in bright environments
• Poor contrast affects usability and trust
• It can also be flagged by Google’s Lighthouse audit

Quick fix: Use a tool like WebAIM Contrast Checker or run a WAVE scan to catch problem areas.

4. Descriptive Link Text

What to check: Do your links make sense out of context (without relying on vague labels like “click here” or “learn more”)?

Why it matters:

• Screen readers often list links in isolation, and vague labels give no context
• Descriptive links improve UX and SEO by reinforcing relevance
• Helps Google better understand internal linking and content relationships

Quick fix: Use meaningful anchor text like “See our pricing breakdown” instead of “click here” if it’s possible.

5. Mobile-Friendliness

What to check: Does your site display and function properly across different screen sizes and devices?

Why it matters:

• Accessibility includes users on mobile, tablet, or older devices
• Google uses mobile-first indexing, so your mobile site is what it ranks
• Frustrated mobile users are more likely to bounce

Quick fix: Test your site on a few real devices or use Bing’s Mobile-Friendly Test (rest in peace Google Mobile-Friendly Test).

6. Form Accessibility

What to check: Are all input fields clearly labelled and usable by keyboard and screen reader?

Why it matters:

• Forms are where users convert, so if they’re hard to use, you’re losing business
• Users with visual or motor impairments may not be able to fill in unlabeled or poorly designed forms
• Form errors or confusion can cause bounce or abandonment

Quick fix: Make sure every field has a visible label, the tab order makes sense, and any errors are clearly explained.

How an SEO Can Help

Accessibility doesn’t sit in one department. It’s not just a dev job or a designer’s responsibility, and it’s not just about ticking boxes to meet compliance.

SEOs are uniquely positioned to spot accessibility issues early and make meaningful improvements over time, especially because so many accessibility fixes also improve search performance.

An SEO can support accessibility from:

1. Site Audits: We can identify accessibility barriers during regular technical audits, like missing alt text, poor heading structure, or links without context.
2. Content Strategy: We help shape content that’s readable, scannable, and logically structured.
3. Collaboration: We work alongside developers and designers to implement improvements in ways that support both user experience and organic search goals.
4. Ongoing Improvements: Accessibility isn’t a one-time fix. It should be part of your broader content and optimisation strategy.

For clients, this means you’re not paying for something “extra”; you’re getting more value out of your existing SEO work by making your site more inclusive, usable, and high-performing.

Accessibility is Everyone’s Business

Website accessibility might seem like something that only applies to large organisations or government bodies, but the truth is, it benefits everyone.

It doesn’t have to be overwhelming, either. Even small steps, like improving alt text, cleaning up heading structures, or checking contrast, can make a real difference.

If you’re unsure where your website stands or want help prioritising what to fix first, feel free to get in touch. We can run a quick accessibility and SEO check to help you get clear on what’s working, what’s not, and what to do next.