Do you want a website that performs well on search engines? Do you want a website that is accessible to everyone, even those with mental or physical limitations? Do you want a website that Google deems relevant and valuable to users searching for solutions your website/company can provide? Then you want to be sure your site is optimized for search engines AND follows required and recommended ADA compliance standards.
A Quick Tidbit About the History of Online ADA Compliance
Since 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has been in effect to ensure that those with physical limitations can access a business’s establishment or a public space just like able-bodied customers can. Internet use started taking off in that same decade, and in 1996, federal law determined that ADA compliance applied to online spaces as well.
This determination meant that site owners were required to make their websites as user-friendly as possible, even for those with visual impairments, audial impairments, or mental hindrances or complications. It was and is important to ensure those with partial or total blindness, partial or total hearing loss, neurological conditions like epilepsy, mobility limitations, and other conditions could still access a website with the appropriate tools.
In 1999, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) produced the first publication of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to help inform site owners about designing and maintaining a compliant website. The latest version of WCAG, WCAG 2.2, was released in October of 2023 and includes everything a web designer or web developer needs to know about today’s expectations for ADA compliance.
What Is Required for a Site to Be Considered ADA Compliant?
That depends. WCAG 2.2 lists 86 success criteria that designers and developers can or should follow to ensure ADA compliance. Each criterium falls in one of WCAG’s three levels: level A, level AA, and level AAA.
Level A
This is the most basic level of criteria and includes standards and best practices that all websites are legally required to follow. Level A criteria are designed to serve the majority of users.
Example criteria:
- The user can navigate the content on a page using their keyboard
- The user can understand an image via alt-text
- The user can understand a video via captions
- The user can employ assistive tools like screen readers to access the content on the page
Again, legally, all websites must meet all criteria listed in level A.
Level AA
Level AA includes all criteria from level A, as well as additional criteria that further boost the site’s accessibility. While a few sites or web pages are exempt from requiring level AA conformance, the majority of websites are legally expected to include all criteria from this level.
Example criteria:
- The color contrast between text and background color should have a ratio of at least 4.5 to 1. For context, the color contrast ratio between white and black is 21:1, the highest ratio possible.
- The navigation elements are consistent across the site. For example, the menu bar on the homepage should be in the same place and in the same order as the menu bar on any service pages, location pages, specialty pages, contact page, and every other page featured on the website.
- The website’s orientation can adjust between landscape and portrait mode when accessed by a smartphone or tablet.
Again, with the exception of a few web pages, most websites are legally required to include level AA criteria in their web design.
Level AAA
If you want your website to be as accessible as possible, you want to ensure it meets all criteria listed in level AAA. Although this level is not legally required to remain ADA compliant, incorporating the criteria from level AAA would make it accessible to most users, regardless of their limitations.
Example criteria:
- Color contrast between text and background colors is a minimum of 7:1.
- Videos posted to the site include captions, audio descriptions, and even sign language translations.
- The site is completely accessible via the keyboard.
Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust: The Core of Accessibility
When you boil accessibility down to its core purpose, it’s to provide access to all digital information, no matter how a user needs to access it. If a user with a visual impairment requires a screen reader to understand the content on the web page, the site should be designed and developed to ensure compatibility with screen readers or other assistive technologies.
Ultimately, accessibility is about making your website perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust for the benefit of every user who lands on it.
- Perceivable: Whether a user needs assistance viewing or hearing the content on the website (in other words, perceiving the content), the design of the site allows them to achieve that.
- Operable: Everyone, regardless of their abilities or limitations, should be able to operate the website through user-friendly navigation, quality user interface (UI), and overall design.
- Understandable: Regardless of the message, the content on the page should be written or designed in a way that is easy to understand and presented in a way that is easy to follow.
- Robust: A robust web design means that it is usable across all browsers, compatible with assistive technology, and scalable, flexible, and adaptable overall.
How ADA Compliance Affects SEO
Google and other search engines like Bing and Yahoo consider a site’s ADA compliance when evaluating ranking factors for search pages. Presenting a site with signals indicating its accessibility means that the engine will maintain credibility with the user who clicks on the site and is able to engage with it. Algorithms are not interested in presenting a site that may or may not be helpful; they want to present a site that has the highest likelihood of serving a user, regardless of the user’s possible impairments.
Plus, by nature, many SEO best practices line up with accessibility best practices, allowing web creators to achieve two goals with one solution. Some examples of intersecting practices include:
Accurate and Optimized Page Titles
From an accessibility standpoint, accurate page titles:
- Make it clear to the user the topic of the page they have landed on
- Clarify how each page relates to one another and to the overall site itself
- Minimizes confusion and increases how operable and understandable the website is to the user
From an SEO standpoint, accurate page titles that are optimized with unique keywords or keyword phrases:
- Help the algorithm understand the content of each page and index them all properly
- Give the algorithm the information needed to present the page in a relevant search
- Improves the crawler’s navigation experience
Heading Usage With Proper Hierarchy
On-page content that is broken up into sections and appropriately labeled improves user accessibility, the crawler’s journey, and the search engine’s evaluation of your site’s relevance.
The most important heading on the page is your H1, the main heading*. While it’s understood that not much stock goes into any of your remaining headings (H2s, H3s, etc.), utilizing them helps clarify the content on the page for any user, including those using screen readers or other assistive technologies. With better understandability comes more engagement, which is a factor Google and other search engines consider when ranking a site. It also helps the crawler understand the page structure and properly index the content within its database. With both benefits combined, optimizing your headings can add to your likelihood of increasing your site’s ranking and performance in relevant searches.
*Every page should have an H1, and each page should only have one H1. You can include as many H2s, H3s, and others as necessary for the content and the message.
Optimized Anchor Texts for Links
Well-optimized anchor text for an internal or external link improves a user’s experience with the content as it helps to define what the link connects to. This adds to the user’s experience, ensures the content is understandable, and optimizes the site’s operability overall.
When a user or crawler comes across a link with generic anchor text like “read more” or “get info,” there may be surrounding content that explains the purpose of the link. Still, more descriptive text, ideally text that uses keywords or keyword phrases, can better define the purpose of the link and a.) aid the user in deciding whether to follow the link or stay on the current page and b.) tell the crawler precisely what the link is about, helping it understand the purpose of the link and how to index it.
Logical On-Page Navigation
The user interface (UI) is the part of web design that dictates how a user will interact with the website. It includes navigation elements like the menu, on-page navigation buttons, and toggles, among other components. Depending on how well-optimized the UI is, it can either benefit or hurt a user’s experience when navigating your website. It can also benefit or hurt how search engines evaluate your site’s navigation and accessibility for ranking purposes.
Good UI requires a design that uses necessary navigation tools to guide the user to where they need to be and guide crawlers through for proper indexing. It can be easy to overdo the navigation where it becomes too confusing to follow. It can also be easy to underdo it and leave the user or crawler without proper pathways to the pages they want or need to see. The navigation needs to connect the pages within the website easily and logically.
Alt Text on Images
Images can be challenging to make accessible to visually impaired users. It can also be difficult for search engine crawlers to interpret an image accurately. But that’s where alt text comes in. With clear, accurate, keyword-optimized text describing the image, you not only help paint a visual for screen readers to read aloud to visually impaired users, but you also provide relevant context to crawlers. As a result, your engagement can increase, and you can improve your site’s performance in a search and drive traffic to your site.
Content Quality and Readability
The quality and readability of your content are critical aspects of your website’s accessibility and scannability. You want your site to be as accessible to users and scannable to crawlers as possible. You rely on your content, especially your site’s copy, to convey your message and communicate effectively with users and crawlers. It’s only natural that you need to focus on creating clear, concise, and easy-to-understand copy for the benefit of everyone.
In terms of usability, attention spans are short, cognitive abilities vary greatly, and language challenges often come into play. Perhaps a user has a cognitive limitation that interferes with their attention span or ability to process what they read; or maybe English is their second language, which causes them to rely on simplified content to understand the message. No matter the circumstance or condition, it’s essential to consider and cater to these and other audiences as you create your copy.
Plus, the majority of users, including those with high reading levels or strong cognitive abilities, would instead find the simplest solution without having to work too hard to discover it. If your users must wade through copy that is poorly written, uses sentences that drag on from line to line, or is stuffed with complex words or concepts for no good reason, chances are that the majority of your visitors will bounce away from your site to find one with messaging that is easier to read and understand. Bad or challenging copy is a surefire way to turn most readers off, and it can interfere with your mission to make your site accessible.
In terms of scannability, poorly written or overly complex content can confuse the crawlers and make it unclear to them what your website’s message is or should be. If the crawlers are confused by what’s on the page, they could index your pages improperly or rank your site pages low in relevant searches.
To optimize your copy across the board, focus on producing keyword-focused content that is simple, clear, and concise. Use proper grammar, syntax, and diction, and write at no higher than an 8th-grade reading level. Keep in mind what Mark Twain once said, “Don’t use a 5-dollar word when a 50-cent word will do.”
ADA Compliance and SEO for Your Website Go Hand-in-Hand. Improve Both When You Partner With the SEO Pros at M&R Marketing!
ADA compliance is a required aspect of your business, both at your physical location(s) and in your virtual location(s), AKA your website(s).
Without web ADA compliance, you could face legal, financial, and social consequences, along with negative impacts on your SEO. At M&R Marketing, our team of copywriters, web designers, and web developers creates or redesigns sites that are compliant with required accessibility standards and fully optimized for SEO. Improve how you reach and serve your audiences through a marketing partnership that prioritizes your SEO performance and your mission to be accessible to all users.
Call 478-621-4491 or contact one of our business development managers today to learn more about our web solutions.
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