Seeking ways to improve website accessibility? Website accessibility ensures that every user who visits your website can easily navigate and understand your website’s content, regardless of their abilities or disabilities. Improving website accessibility broadens the audience of your website to include different users, building engagement, and demonstrating a commitment to inclusivity. In this blog post, we’ll explore five simple yet impactful ways to improve your website’s accessibility.
What's New: Website Accessibility in 2026
The accessibility landscape has evolved significantly with new regulations, updated standards, and technological advances shaping how businesses approach digital inclusion.
- Two major regulatory deadlines are reshaping digital accessibility requirements: the European Accessibility Act (EAA) and updated ADA Title II guidelines.
- The European Accessibility Act (EAA) became mandatory on June 28, 2025, requiring businesses offering digital products and services to align with EN 301 549 standard based on WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines.
- The Americans with Disabilities Act ADA compliance deadline of April 24, 2026, requiring all web content and mobile apps to comply with WCAG 2.1 AA standards.
- WCAG 2.2 includes nine new success criteria focused on stronger focus visibility, better mobile usability, improved cognitive accessibility, more efficient forms, and alternative authentication methods.
- AI-powered accessibility tools now automate compliance checks, generate descriptive alt text for images, and identify keyboard navigation issues, streamlining the testing process for development teams.
- Industry experts increasingly recommend comprehensive accessibility solutions built into website architecture rather than quick-fix overlay widgets, which often create additional barriers for users with disabilities.
What is Website Accessibility?
Website accessibility involves creating websites that are user-friendly, regardless of who the end user is. The principles behind achieving website accessibility involve providing alternatives for non-text content, enabling keyboard navigation, using clear language combined with logical organization, and ensuring compatibility across various devices and assistive technologies. The website content must accommodate various disabilities including visual, auditory, motor-related, and cognitive ones.
The Importance of Website Accessibility for Marketing Communications
Including web accessibility in a marketing strategy is not merely a formality, but rather serves as an effective approach to promoting inclusive marketing strategies. When businesses emphasize accessibility, it shows their dedication towards inclusivity which in turn appeals to different demographics and enhances the brand’s standing among customers who value diversity and equality. It represents a commitment towards ensuring equal resources availability for everyone.
Prioritizing website accessibility not only aligns with moral principles but also carries legal consequences. In 2024, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) lawsuits increased by 7%, with 8,800 ADA Title III complaints filed, with California leading 3,252 of the filings. Compliance with accessibility standards, such as those indicated in the ADA or international standards like WCAG 2.2, helps businesses in meeting their lawful obligations. and avoiding legal penalties. It’s important to know that the European Accessibility Act (EAA) became mandatory on June 28, 2025, requiring businesses offering digital products and services to align with EN 301 549 standard based on WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines, and as of April 24, 2026, an ADA compliance deadline requires all web content and mobile apps to comply with WCAG 2.1 AA standards. However, many organizations are adopting WCAG 2.2 because of its new criteria.
Moreover, embracing website accessibility positively impacts the perception and credibility of a brand. Companies that prioritize inclusivity and ensure their digital spaces are accessible to all convey a commitment to equality. These actions demonstrate a company’s social responsibility and care for all customers, resonating positively with a wider audience.
Why Should You Improve Website Accessibility?
Broader Reach and Increased Audience
Increasing website accessibility has benefits that go far beyond compliance; it opens up a market that is frequently ignored, inviting a broader audience to a brand’s digital realm. 26% of US adults have disabilities, holding $8 trillion in disposable income annually globally, representing a significant market opportunity. Enhancing a website’s accessibility often translates into increased traffic and deeper engagement, fostering a more connected and loyal audience base.
Even though statistics reveal that accessible websites attract more traffic and longer engagement durations, indicating a more invested and diverse audience base, websites still are not always meeting the accessibility standards. For instance, WebAIM’s 2025 report on accessibility of the top 1,000,000 home pages found that 96.3% of websites still have at least one detectable accessibility failure, with an average of 51 errors per page. In addition, the same report revealed that low contrast text (the most commonly-detected accessibility issue in 2025), below the WCAG 2.1 AA thresholds, was found on 94.8% of home pages. This high percentage underscores a widespread deficiency in meeting basic accessibility standards, emphasizing the need for improvements in ensuring text readability across websites and reaching a wider, untapped audience..
SEO Benefits
Improving website accessibility doesn’t directly impact search engine rankings, but it can indirectly benefit them in a few ways. Firstly, accessible sites often offer a better user experience, encouraging visitors to stay longer, reducing bounce rates, and signaling quality to search engines, potentially boosting rankings.
Secondly, accessibility improvements often align with search engine optimization (SEO) practices, such as using descriptive image alt text or clear navigation, providing search engines more context about the site’s content.
Finally, enhanced accessibility can lead to increased traffic and engagement, indicating to search engines that the website is valuable and relevant, potentially positively influencing rankings.
While search engines don’t use accessibility compliance as a direct ranking factor, the correlation between accessibility and factors search engines consider can indirectly contribute to better rankings.
The 5 Key Strategies to Improve Website Accessibility
1. Alt Text for Images
Descriptive alt text for images is essential for search engine optimization and accessibility. Users who use screen readers can understand the images’ content because it gives them context.
From an SEO perspective, alt text helps search engines interpret the content within images. It’s a valuable tool for internet crawlers, assisting in better indexing and potentially improving the website’s visibility in search results, especially those involving image searches.
Some tips to add effective alt text include the following:
- Describe the image accurately, focusing on its relevance to the content
- Keep descriptions concise, avoiding keyword stuffing or overly long texts
- For decorative images, use empty alt attributes to skip unnecessary descriptions
- Ensure the alt text fits seamlessly within the context of the webpage
- Leverage CMS tools like WordPress to add alt text when uploading images
- Regularly review and test alt text to maintain accuracy and relevance
By following these practical tips and creating descriptive alt text, websites can provide a better experience for visually impaired users while enhancing SEO performance.
2. Ensure Color Contrast
Color contrast is also a key consideration of website accessibility, particularly for individuals with visual impairments. It ensures content stands out clearly, aiding those with reduced vision to read comfortably. Online tools including Contrast Checker by WebAIM or browser extensions like ColorZilla can aid in assessing and improving contrast. They do this by mimicking different visual environments to ensure readability across a range of devices and settings. This can significantly enhance the user experience, making content more accessible to people with varying degrees of color perception.
3. Clear Navigation and Headings
Clear headings and navigation are crucial for users with disabilities, aiding in content comprehension and easy browsing. Semantic HTML and ARIA landmarks play a key role, providing structure and additional information for assistive technologies.
In addition, creating a keyboard-friendly website is important for ensuring accessibility for individuals who rely on keyboard navigation. Some tips for creating a keyboard-friendly website include:
- Use proper HTML tags for content structure
- Incorporate ARIA landmark roles for specific sections
- Include skip links and visible focus indicators
- Test keyboard navigation thoroughly
- Use descriptive link text
- Avoid user traps and time limits
4. Leverage AI-Powered Accessibility Solutions
AI now leads accessibility efforts by tailoring websites to users’ unique needs, offering hyper-personalized experiences with features like adjustable font sizes, color schemes, and text-to-speech settings. For users who are hearing impaired, AI can generate automatic captions and transcribe audio and video content. AI-powered speech recognition can allow users who are visually or mobility impaired to navigate websites and devices with voice commands. Voice-enabled navigation continues to gain popularity, with voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant becoming more integrated into websites. AI can also improve keyboard navigation for users who are unable to use a mouse, with platforms like AccessiBe and UserWay making compliance easier.
For website owners, AI-powered tools can automate accessibility checks, identifying accessibility barriers and suggesting fixes to ensure WCAG standards are met. For instance, WCAG 2.2’s new criteria include minimum touch targets of at least 24 by 24 CSS pixels, helping those with mobility and vision impairments, or those using mobile devices, from accidentally pressing the wrong button, creating a user-friendly site.
However, AI-powered tools won’t fix your website’s accessibility errors. AI is a tool you can use to flag where your website can be improved, but it doesn’t fix the errors on a coding level. UserWay, AudioEye, and accessiBe can identify missing Alt Text and write Alt Text, and identify poor color contrast in photos. However, AI Alt text doesn’t always create the appropriate descriptions, or give 100% accurate captions or transcriptions. AI can fix content organization, but if headings are image-based, AI will likely not identify them as headings. Most importantly, AI can not ensure compliance with accessibility laws.
5. Enhancing your existing content with mobile-specific guidance
Desktops and laptops are no longer the only tools to visit websites. With the number of mobile users projected to reach 7.49 billion by the end of 2025, it’s essential for companies to make their websites mobile. Mobile websites are helpful not only for people with visual, hearing, or mobility disabilities but also for people who are easily distracted and are unable to focus on many different screens, i.e., people who are diagnosed with ADD, dyslexia, and Alzheimer’s. Mobile websites and apps make for an easier-to-use option for customers across the board, but ensuring your app is accessibility friendly will expand audience reach, increasing sales and customer loyalty. Mobile websites are not only convenient for the abled-bodied person but for the disabled person as well.
Tips for creating an accessible mobile website:
- Keep different screen sizes in mind, keeping content on each page to a minimum for smaller-sized screens.
- Confirm that your site works in both landscape and portrait
- Focus on color contrast since mobile sites are often accessed outdoors
- Keep mobile website gestures to swiping or tapping
- Each element on the website page has enough space between each other for easy screen tapping
- Provide easy tab methods for data entry. Add check mark boxes and autofill information, like date and time, when possible
- Keep menu items in the same color and order on every page
Next Steps to Improve Website Accessibility
Leveraging accessible design tools and WordPress plugins can streamline the website accessibility process.
WP Accessibility, Accessibility by UserWay, and WP ADA Compliance Check Basic offer features to enhance accessibility by addressing common issues, improving keyboard navigation, and ensuring compliance with accessibility standards.
Design platforms like Figma and AccessWidget by accessiBe are integrating AI directly into design environments, with accessibility becoming a core feature rather than a plugin. However, 33% of accessibility issues can only be detected by expert human testers, so it’s important not to rely solely on AI accessibility checks.
There are also plenty of online resources including the A11y Project and Deque which provide comprehensive guides, tutorials, and training courses. Utilizing these tools and resources supports the creation of more inclusive and accessible online experiences.
Conclusion
Prioritizing website accessibility through strategies like alt text for images, color contrast adjustments, clear navigation and headings, and AI-powered tools goes beyond compliance—it fosters an inclusive digital environment. This not only enhances user experience but also amplifies audience reach, boosts SEO rankings, and strengthens brand reputation.
If you think it might be time for an accessibility check or website refresh, contact the Dogwood team today. We will ensure your website is compliant with the EAA and ADA 2026 compliance deadlines. For healthcare websites, we’ll ensure your website is HIPAA-compliant, too.
FAQ
1. What is WCAG 2.2?”
WCAG 2.2 is the latest version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. A set of international standards providing recommendations for making digital content accessible for all users, including users with disabilities and adaptive equipment.
2. When is the ADA website compliance deadline?
April 2026
3. Do small businesses need to comply with accessibility laws?
Yes. Title III of the ADA requires businesses open to the public to provide equal access to people living with disabilities. The Department of Justice considers websites to be a place of public accommodation.
4. How much does it cost to make a website accessible?
That depends on your website’s state, size, complexity, the need for remediation, content, and ongoing maintenance.
Dogwood Pricing starts at $2,000, averaging at $5,000. In some cases, the cost could be more than $10,000 if there are major issues. Contact us for a personalized estimate for an accessibility check.
