The Crucial Importance of Making Your Website Accessible and ADA Compliant

In today’s digital world, making sure your website is accessible and meets ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) guidelines isn’t just about following the rules—it’s about being a good business and making your site usable for everyone. Accessibility affects millions of people, and not getting it right can lead to legal issues, missed opportunities, and excluding potential customers.

In this article, we’ll break down what accessibility means and why it matters, so you can be better prepared before you look for help with your website. Knowing the basics will help you make smarter choices and ensure your site works for everyone.

Why Website Accessibility Matters

Website accessibility ensures that all users, including those with disabilities, can navigate and interact with your site effectively. Disabilities can range from visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, to neurological impairments. The World Health Organization estimates that over 2.2 billion people live with some form of visual impairment, while an additional 1.3 billion experience other significant disabilities. Given these numbers, it is essential for websites to be accessible and inclusive for all users.

Accessible websites are not only a matter of social responsibility but also an avenue to enhance user experience for all. Features like alt text for images, proper color contrast, and keyboard navigation improvements help create a smoother experience for all users, not just those with disabilities. These enhancements often result in better user engagement, lower bounce rates, and improved SEO.

What is ADA and What Does it Stand For?

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law on July 26, 1990 by President George H.W. Bush. Its primary goal is to ensure that individuals with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else, prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities in several areas of public life.

What Effect Does Accessibility Have on SEO?

Accessibility plays a key role in improving your website’s usability, which can positively impact SEO. While Google doesn’t have a specific ranking factor for accessibility, factors like mobile responsiveness, page speed, and ease of navigation—which is influenced by accessibility—are part of the broader usability signals Google uses to rank websites.

Search engines do consider aspects of ADA compliance and website accessibility as part of their ranking signals. When your site is accessible, search engines are better able to crawl and index it, ensuring your content reaches more people. For example, properly tagged images with descriptive alt text improve both accessibility for visually impaired users and help search engines understand your content more clearly.

A user-friendly experience, such as having easy-to-read text, clear color contrast, and proper font sizes, not only makes the site accessible to all users but also aligns with search engine preferences for websites that are well-structured and easy to navigate. This leads to better SEO performance. Additionally, enhanced user experience results in lower bounce rates and longer engagement, which are key metrics that search engines use to rank sites higher.

Accessibility improvements often overlap with technical SEO best practices. Features like proper use of HTML tags (e.g., using <header> instead of a generic <div>), ensuring that the site is navigable by keyboard, and providing captions for videos can enhance both accessibility and search engine rankings. The technical structure of your website, when accessible, provides clear signals to search engines, allowing for more accurate indexing and a better chance of ranking higher.

Legal Implications of ADA Compliance

The ADA mandates that businesses and organizations provide equal access to their services, which extends to digital content. Websites that fail to comply with ADA standards can face lawsuits, which have been on the rise in recent years. Notably, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued new regulations that set the WCAG 2.1 AA as the legal standard for web accessibility under Title II of the ADA. Title II covers State & Local Governments, and although there is no specific regulation mentioning WCAG 2.1 AA as the standard for Title III (businesses), there is a recommendation to follow the same guidelines for websites and mobile applications.

Non-compliance can result in costly litigation, fines, and a damaged reputation. Overlays and quick-fix plugins that claim to make websites ADA compliant often do not meet legal requirements and can even increase the risk of lawsuits.

Understanding Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

To achieve ADA compliance, your website should adhere to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), specifically version 2.1, which is considered the technical standard.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 provide a set of recommendations to make websites and web content more accessible to individuals with disabilities. These guidelines are organized into four key principles, which make up the foundation of accessibility: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust (often remembered by the acronym POUR).

Each principle contains a set of success criteria, which are testable standards to determine whether a website is accessible. The success criteria are ranked by three levels of conformance: A (basic), AA (mid-range), and AAA (high standard).

The WCAG guidelines are comprehensive and critical to making websites accessible, but we won’t be diving into every detail here. Instead, our goal is to give you a solid foundation and a good understanding of why accessibility matters and highlight the key aspects you should be aware of for your website. This will help you determine whether seeking help from an expert is necessary for your business. By understanding the basics, you’ll be able to assess your site’s current accessibility level and decide on the next steps to make it more inclusive and compliant with ADA standards.

Where to Begin?

Improving your website’s accessibility can feel overwhelming, but starting with a few key steps makes the process manageable. Here are the most common accessibility issues that can make your website difficult to use for people with disabilities, and why addressing them is important:

Poor color contrast: People with limited vision or color blindness may struggle to read text if there’s not enough contrast between the text and background (e.g., light gray text on a light background). Ensuring high contrast helps users easily read content.

Use of color alone to convey information: People who are color-blind may not be able to access important information if it’s only communicated through color cues. For example, using red to indicate required fields on a form can be problematic for those who cannot distinguish red from other colors. Additionally, screen readers don’t relay color information, so relying on color alone leaves some users in the dark.

Lack of text alternatives (alt text) for images: Alt text describes the content and purpose of images for users who are blind or visually impaired. Without it, they cannot understand the context of pictures, illustrations, or charts on your website.

No captions on videos: People with hearing disabilities won’t be able to follow the audio in a video without captions. Captions allow users to read what’s being said, ensuring they have equal access to video content.

Inaccessible online forms: Forms can be tricky for people with disabilities if they lack proper labels, instructions, or error messages. For example, screen readers should be able to identify form fields, and users should be alerted if a field is incomplete or filled incorrectly.

Mouse-only navigation (lack of keyboard navigation): People who cannot use a mouse or trackpad, such as those with motor impairments, rely on keyboard navigation to access web content. If your site isn’t navigable via keyboard, these users will be unable to interact with it.

By addressing these key issues, you can improve your website’s accessibility and provide a better experience for users with disabilities, ultimately ensuring that everyone can interact with your content.

Technical Best Practices for Accessibility & SEO

The technical choices made during website development have a significant impact on both accessibility and SEO. Choosing the correct HTML tags from the start makes your site easier to navigate for users with disabilities and more understandable for search engines.

Building accessibility in from the beginning is not only more efficient but also improves usability and search engine ranking, saving you from costly fixes later. Here are some common accessibility pitfalls to avoid:

Incorrect HTML Tags: Using non-semantic tags (like <div> or <span> instead of <button> or <nav>) makes it harder for assistive technologies and search engines to understand your content. Proper HTML tags ensure better accessibility and SEO.

Pop-ups: Pop-ups can block users, especially if they can’t be easily closed or navigated with a keyboard. Ensure pop-ups are accessible and don’t trap users.

Autoplay Content: Videos or sliders that play automatically without controls can overwhelm users, especially those with sensory impairments. Always allow users to pause or stop autoplay.

Sliders and Carousels: These can be difficult to use if they move too quickly or can’t be controlled via keyboard. Make sure they can be paused and navigated with ease.

Unlabeled Forms: Forms without proper labels make it difficult for users with disabilities to understand what’s required. Ensure all form fields are clearly labeled.

By avoiding these pitfalls and focusing on accessibility from the start, you’ll create a website that works better for all users and improves your SEO ranking at the same time.

Investing in accessibility not only helps you avoid legal issues but also broadens your potential audience. An accessible website is likely to attract more users, including those with disabilities, leading to increased engagement and customer loyalty. Moreover, many accessibility improvements overlap with best practices for SEO, thus improving your site’s visibility in search engines.

Incorporating accessibility into your web design is no longer optional—it’s a necessity. Beyond the legal requirements, it’s about creating an inclusive online environment that welcomes all users. As digital marketers and business owners, ensuring your website is ADA compliant reflects your commitment to inclusivity, potentially leading to higher customer satisfaction and better business outcomes. If you need assistance in making your website accessible and ADA compliant, Spring Digital is here.