Web accessibility isn’t just ethical—it’s essential. This guide breaks down the key strategies to create inclusive digital experiences that also support SEO and business performance.

Why Accessibility Should Be a Priority in Web Design

A website that isn’t accessible risks excluding over 1 billion people worldwide who live with some form of disability, according to the World Health Organization. This audience includes individuals with visual, auditory, cognitive, or motor impairments—many of whom rely on assistive technologies or alternative navigation methods to access digital content. Their needs are often ignored, not out of malice, but due to a lack of awareness in the design and development process.

Making your website accessible isn’t just about compliance—it’s about creating a frictionless experience that works for everyone. Whether it’s a user navigating via keyboard, relying on a screen reader, or using voice commands, accessible design enhances usability across the board. These improvements don’t just serve users with disabilities; they benefit all users by making sites cleaner, faster, and more intuitive—leading to higher engagement, better conversion rates, and stronger SEO performance.

What Is Web Accessibility?

Web accessibility means designing and developing websites so that all users, including those with disabilities, can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with digital content in a meaningful and independent way. This includes permanent disabilities such as visual, hearing, cognitive, or motor impairments, but also considers temporary conditions (like a broken arm), situational limitations (like slow internet or glare from sunlight), and the use of various assistive technologies.

An accessible website removes barriers and adapts to different needs and contexts—ensuring that no user is excluded. The ultimate goal is digital equity: crafting experiences that are usable and respectful of every individual's abilities, right from the start, not as an afterthought.

Core Principles of Accessible Design (WCAG Framework)

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the internationally recognized benchmark for building accessible websites. Developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), these guidelines help ensure that web content is usable by everyone, including people with disabilities.

WCAG is structured around four foundational principles, known as POUR:

• Perceivable: Users must be able to perceive the content, regardless of how they consume it. This includes providing text alternatives for non-text content (like images), ensuring sufficient color contrast, and offering adaptable layouts for different devices or screen readers.
• Operable: Navigation and interaction must be possible for all users, including those who don’t use a mouse. This means enabling full keyboard access, avoiding time-based interactions without alternatives, and making sure controls are easily reachable and visible.
• Understandable: Content and interfaces should behave in predictable ways. Clear instructions, error prevention on forms, and consistent navigation structures make websites easier for everyone to use, including people with cognitive or learning disabilities.
• Robust: Your website should be built to work reliably across a wide range of user agents—including current and future browsers, devices, and assistive technologies. This means using clean, semantic HTML and testing regularly for compatibility.

Together, these principles serve as a roadmap for designing inclusive digital experiences that adapt to diverse human needs and evolving technologies.

10 Best Practices for Better Accessibility

1. Use Semantic HTML

Clean, well-structured HTML isn’t just good for code clarity—it’s essential for accessibility. Semantic HTML provides meaning to content elements, allowing assistive technologies like screen readers to understand and navigate the structure of your website. Use tags like section headers, navigation menus, main content areas, article structures, and page footers to define sections clearly. Headings (ranging from large titles to smaller subheadings) should follow a logical hierarchy to help users skim and orient themselves.

2. Add Descriptive Alt Text to Images

Images should never be a barrier to information. Informative images (like charts, product photos, and icons) need clear, concise alternative (alt) text to describe their purpose or content. Decorative images should use an empty alt attribute (alt text left blank) to be skipped by screen readers, avoiding unnecessary noise. Alt text also boosts SEO by providing context to search engines that can’t “see” images.

3. Ensure Keyboard Navigation

Users with motor impairments or vision loss often rely entirely on the keyboard. Ensure all interactive elements—menus, buttons, forms, modals—can be accessed and activated using Tab, Shift+Tab, Enter, and Arrow keys. Make sure interactive items have a visible focus indicator to show where the user is on the page.

4. Provide Sufficient Color Contrast

Color contrast affects readability, especially for users with low vision or color blindness. Text should meet WCAG standards of 4.5:1 contrast for body text and 3:1 for large or bold text. Avoid relying on color alone to convey information (e.g., error states). Use contrast checkers during design and development to validate your palette.

5. Use ARIA Landmarks and Roles When Necessary

ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) attributes can enhance accessibility when used properly. Use them to define roles like banner roles, navigation landmarks, or labels that describe related content to describe relationships between elements. However, ARIA should complement—not replace—semantic HTML. Overuse or misuse can actually create confusion for assistive technology users.

6. Make Forms Accessible

Forms should be usable by all users, including those relying on screen readers. Each form field must be associated with a the field label, and input types should match the expected format (for example, specifying an email format for email fields). Group related fields using descriptive section headers and labels, provide clear instructions, and display accessible error messages that describe the problem and how to fix it.

7. Enable Resizable Text

Avoid fixed pixel values for fonts. Instead, use relative units such as scalable measurements or percentages that allow users to zoom in or adjust text size without breaking the layout. This flexibility supports users with low vision and ensures your design remains usable at 200% zoom, a key requirement of WCAG.

8. Include Captions and Transcripts

Provide synchronized captions for video content and full transcripts for audio. This supports users who are deaf or hard of hearing, non-native speakers, and anyone watching without sound. Captions should be accurate and not auto-generated unless thoroughly reviewed for quality.

9. Avoid Auto-Playing Media

Unexpected audio or video can disrupt users—especially those with cognitive conditions or screen reader users. If media must auto-play, ensure it’s muted by default and easy to pause or stop. Follow the WCAG guideline: don’t auto-play audio that lasts more than 3 seconds without controls.

10. Test with Real Users and Assistive Technologies

Automated tools like Lighthouse or axe are useful for identifying basic issues, but they can’t replace testing with actual users who rely on screen readers or keyboard-only navigation. Conduct usability testing sessions with people who have a range of disabilities to uncover problems tools might miss and validate the effectiveness of your design.

Incorporating these practices will not only make your site more inclusive—it will also improve your overall user experience and help meet compliance with legal standards like the ADA or Section 508.

Accessibility and SEO: A Win-Win

Many accessibility best practices also provide measurable SEO benefits:

• Alt text helps search engines understand the content and context of images, improving image search visibility and providing fallback descriptions for users when images can’t load.
• Headings and semantic structure make it easier for crawlers to index and understand the hierarchy of content on a page, improving keyword relevance and featured snippet opportunities.
• Readable content increases dwell time and lowers bounce rates, which are positive behavioral signals for Google’s algorithm.
• Faster performance and mobile-friendliness—both accessibility and SEO priorities—contribute directly to page experience signals and mobile-first indexing.

When accessibility and SEO are aligned, your site becomes more discoverable, more usable, and more impactful for every visitor.

Tools to Audit and Improve Accessibility

• Lighthouse (Chrome DevTools): An open-source tool built into Chrome’s DevTools that audits web pages for performance, best practices, SEO, and accessibility. It provides an accessibility score and suggests specific improvements like missing alt attributes, contrast issues, and ARIA landmarks.
• axe DevTools: A powerful browser extension developed by Deque Systems that allows developers to test pages directly in-browser for WCAG violations. It highlights issues in the DOM, explains why they matter, and offers actionable solutions.
• Wave by WebAIM: A visual accessibility evaluation tool that overlays diagnostic icons and annotations on your website. It helps identify problems with contrast, heading structure, form labeling, and ARIA usage. Ideal for designers who want a quick visual summary.
• Screen readers: Software that reads out content for users who are blind or visually impaired. Popular tools include:
  • NVDA (Windows): Free and widely used, great for testing.
  • VoiceOver (macOS/iOS): Built-in on Apple devices and crucial for mobile accessibility checks.
  • JAWS: A paid, enterprise-level tool often used in corporate or educational settings.
• Keyboard testing: Simply using the Tab, Shift+Tab, Enter, and Arrow keys to navigate your site ensures interactive elements can be accessed without a mouse. A vital test for keyboard-dependent users and those using alternative input devices.

Inclusive Design Is Better Design

Designing for accessibility isn’t a one-time task—it’s an ongoing commitment to creating a web that works for everyone. It requires intentionality, regular audits, and a user-first mindset that evolves with both technology and human needs. By embedding accessibility into your design and development processes from day one, you don’t just comply with standards—you demonstrate empathy, boost usability, and unlock your site’s full potential.

Inclusive design isn’t just about reaching more users—it’s about building better experiences that reflect the diversity of the real world. Inclusion is not just a feature—it’s the foundation of good design, brand trust, and long-term digital success.