As a content writer, I spend much of my time writing stories and creating products with the audience in mind. When you want to create something of value, it’s important that you are reaching your target audience — and web accessibility and SEO are both key components of making sure you reach the widest audience possible.
I spent weeks writing this article and speaking with web design and accessibility experts. After learning so much about the topic, I felt compelled to give my business site a good refresh. Inclusivity is an important value to me, and I wanted to make sure that my website was as user-friendly as possible.
In this article, I’ll share more about ways that I’ve improved my own site, what I’ve learned about accessibility and SEO in the process, and how you should be incorporating these principles for your own product or business.
Table of Contents
- How Does Web Accessibility Impact SEO?
- Does Google Care About Web Accessibility?
- How to Improve Web Accessibility for SEO
- Giving My Site an Accessible SEO Boost
- Why Accessibility and SEO Matters
How Does Web Accessibility Impact SEO?
While accessibility is not an SEO ranking factor, they work together to make a better user experience. Accessibility helps search engine algorithms understand website content better to increase the chances of the site getting found.
Michael Schmied, one of the founders of Kredite Schweiz, has a helpful way of thinking about accessibility and SEO.
“Improving accessibility isn‘t just about ticking boxes — it’s about creating a user-friendly site that search engines love,” he said.
“When I made our site more accessible, I saw an immediate boost in SEO. Clear headings, alt text for images, and a simple navigation menu — these changes made a huge difference, not only for users but also for search engines.”
Accessible websites will often have cleaner code, better, more logical navigation, and more descriptive content, all of which are favored by search engines.
Who wouldn’t want that, right?
Does Google Care About Web Accessibility?
The short answer is yes, but it’s complicated. Enhancements to your website’s accessibility don’t technically influence Google’s search rankings, according to Google’s Search Advocate, John Mueller.
However, Google is committed to making the web accessible and enjoyable for everyone. One of the company’s core principles is, “Focus on the user and all else will follow” and that usability and accessibility go together. Google also has a tool called Google Lighthouse that measures accessibility, along with other metrics like performance, best practices, and SEO.
While Google doesn't directly check if content meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) when determining search engine rankings, accessible websites can indirectly improve SEO performance.
Accessible websites tend to offer better user experiences, which can lead to increased engagement, lower bounce rates, and stronger user experience signals that are easier for SEO to measure. As you’ll see below, many of the best practices for SEO will also improve accessibility.
Web Accessibility SEO Ranking Factors
It’s always best practice to design your website with the user in mind. What will make their experience easier to navigate? When thinking through how you can improve your accessibility and SEO simultaneously, here are some areas you can focus first.
Alt Text
Having descriptive alt text is one of the best ways you can improve both SEO and accessibility. Think about it this way: You are helping the reader understand what is on the website. SEO crawlers are looking for ways to identify the topics you are writing about.
At Reviewflows, clear alt text for photos and suitable heading structures resulted in a 20% boost in organic traffic.
This example from Harvard University’s Digital Accessibility Services offers a helpful way to think about optimizing alt text. You’ll see that useful alt text example is not only more descriptive but would help SEO crawlers get more information about the image on the page.
HTML
Accessible websites often combine clean, simple designs with robust behind-the-scenes code. This can include clear heading structures, high color contrast, and keyboard-friendly navigation. Generally the structure of a website also lends itself to perform well in search engines as all content is easily indexed and searchable.
Heading Tag Structure
Use a proper heading hierarchy to structure the content, which can help people with disabilities navigate the page and help search engines understand the content and structure.
You also should use descriptive and relevant page titles that accurately describe your content. This can help the website rank better in search results. Access Guide offers a helpful resource to help you write more descriptive page titles — which will improve accessibility and SEO.
Readability
Sentence length and readability can impact time on page and bounce rate, which can affect SEO. Google generally favors content that is readable. Meanwhile, it’s also a good accessibility practice to write in plain language that's easily understood by all readers.
Readability starts first with correctly formatting text on a page. Here are some best practices you can follow from Harvard’s DAS:
- Clear formatting when pasting text in new document.
- Use semantic markup (i.e., use header tags for headings).
How to Improve Web Accessibility for SEO
Making your website accessible to all users, including those with disabilities, can significantly improve user experience and site reputation — factors increasingly prioritized by search engines.
I spoke to a few experts to find some practical tips to improve web accessibility. Here’s what they recommend.
Follow SEO best practices.
Search-friendly websites and user-friendly websites go hand in hand. So, if you follow the key principles for SEO, you’ll likely be at a good starting place for accessibility, says Darryl Stevens, CEO of Digitech Web Design.
Here are a few examples that Darryl shared with me:
- Optimizing for accessibility (e.g., reducing image sizes, improving code efficiency) often leads to faster page load times, which is a ranking factor for search engines.
- Ensuring your website is accessible on mobile devices (e.g., responsive design, large touch targets) can improve both accessibility and SEO, as mobile-friendliness is a ranking factor.
- Good internal linking practices enhance navigation for both users and search engines, making it easier to discover and index content.
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Website Accessibility Checklist
This checklist will help you make the following more accessible on your website:
- Web Pages
- Navigation
- Video & Media
- And More!
Download Free
All fields are required.
Make audits a regular part of your SEO process.
One strategy that can be effective is integrating your accessibility improvements into your routine SEO process. If you already have a place for updating and maintaining your SEO, it’s a wise idea to add an accessibility component to your checklist.
Lyn Callanto, a marketing specialist at KBA Web, explains how this works in practice. “For example, when we optimize images for search engines, we also ensure they have descriptive alt text for screen readers. Similarly, when we structure content for SEO, we make sure it's also easily navigable for users with disabilities.”
Prioritize the user experience.
Your site will get a major boost if you focus on improving all aspects of the user experience. Jordan Brannon, President and Co-founder of Coalition Technologies, explains how:
“Search engines prioritize user experience. An accessible website generally has improved navigation and readability, benefiting all users, not just those with disabilities.” By doing so, you’ll “ensure that the website is accessible to attract a broader demographic, which will lead to more potential traffic and conversions.”
Hire industry experts if needed.
Sometimes you’ll need the help of an expert. That’s where accessibility consultants and SEO agencies can help. They can help you identify areas in your website where you could benefit from additional accessible elements as well as improve the content per SEO best practices.
Giving My Site an Accessible SEO Boost
I wanted to test out my own site to see how it could be improved for accessibility and SEO. I’m a writer who runs a ghostwriting business (hence not a designer or web developer), so my website is pretty straightforward and text-heavy.
With these tips in mind, I started with three key components: color contrast, alt text, and page structure.
The first tool I used was this website accessibility checker. Luckily, it looks like my site is currently scoring high (98/100) and has a low risk of ADA lawsuit (that’s a relief!).
But of course there are still some improvements that can be made. I couldn’t figure out how to fix the frame elements, so I’ve made a note to get support from my website hosting platform to figure it out.
I intentionally kept the design of my site simple and straightforward — I wanted to let the storytelling have the most impact.
I first ran my primary colors through this web accessibility color contrast checker. It looks like I have a healthy contrast ratio (which isn’t a huge surprise given the majority of it is just black and white).
However, this tool also tells me that I comply with WCAG at both the AA and AAA levels for elements like small text, large text, and UI components.
Next, I wanted to take a closer look at the page structure and header organization. While this is SEO 101, it’s also crucial to make sure users with disabilities and those with screen readers can also navigate the page.
After reviewing my site, I needed to make some changes to my H2s and H3s on the home page. I added more description to sections like “Client Testimonials” so it was clear what the content was referring to.
Next, I wanted to check the alt text for all of the images on my site. I knew it was important to have any SEO keywords present for topics I wanted to rank for, but now I was looking for ways to improve the description of the image to make it even clearer for users.
For example, you’ll see below that I updated alt text for an image from “executive ghostwriter Taylor Cromwell” to something that made a little more sense to users — “neon sign that reads ‘what is your story?’”
My biggest takeaway is that small tweaks can make a big difference. By taking the time to look at the minute details like color contrast and alt text, I can ensure that more people are able to access my content.
One thing to note: Overall I was disappointed with the lack of features that Squarespace (my hosting platform) offered me to improve my settings for accessibility. I found myself improving my site with the features that I could change and tweak but felt that I would need a more technical developer to make larger changes. I think this is important to note if you’re looking to do a serious overhaul on your own without a technical background. And of course, that’s why so many consultancies exist to help you improve your site’s accessibility.
Why Accessibility and SEO Matters
Improving web accessibility isn‘t just about compliance or SEO — it’s about creating a better experience for all users.
Although there are still major areas of improvement I can likely make to improve accessibility for my own website, I feel pleased with this initial revamp. I’ve learned a ton about how SEO and accessibility intertwine and support each other. I work with a wide range of startups and companies on marketing content and will definitely be applying these bits of advice when creating inclusive content for my clients.
If you want to learn more about accessibility in website design, check out our accessibility audit checklist and learn more about WCAG here.
