By Izabela Misiorny, Head of Solutions Marketing and Evangelism at Siteimprove
I was recently out shopping in Seattle, searching for a gift for my friend’s youngest. I discovered a toy store with a vibrant, eye-catching window display that was a true paradise for Minecraft lovers. Miniature toy characters from the game battled in 3D animation, framed by towering, pixelated trees and cascading waterfalls made of emerald green and turquoise blocks. The boy would have loved it! But when I stepped inside, I was immediately overwhelmed by the chaotic layout, messy displays, and crowds. I left in search of a better option and found the perfect gift at the store’s competitor a few blocks away.
This might sound like a mundane experience, but what if I were one of the 1.3 billion people around the world with a disability? Imagine being visually impaired and stumbling into the drone display, or being in a wheelchair and not being able to get around the boxes piled up in the aisles. In that scenario, the store would be more than inconvenient: it would be inaccessible. This isn’t just an issue of ethics and legality; the moment you offer products that some of your customers can’t connect with or access, you’re losing money.
I work in the digital accessibility and SEO space, and I see the same thing online all the time: Companies spend a fortune on SEO to draw people in, with digital advertising taking up 57 percent of marketing budgets in 2024, but they don’t invest in accessibility. They’re not recognizing that if their website isn’t accessible, they’re potentially excluding millions of customers with disabilities.
But here’s the thing: digital inclusivity is a moral and legal obligation, but done right, it can also boost SEO revenue and overall brand reputation.
Accessibility and discoverability: two sides of the same coin
Comprehensive accessibility and discoverability should be integrated into your design process from the get-go. In-store accessibility might look like clear layouts, ramps, and automatic doors, while discoverability is a matter of being in the right location with the highest foot traffic or making your storefront stand out.
Online, accessibility is your user experience, and it’s determined by what obstacles (e.g., broken links, poor navigation, lack of sufficient color contrast) users do or don’t experience while on your site. Discoverability is how your users find your site and is rooted in SEO.
In the digital world, the link between SEO and accessibility is even stronger than it is in the physical world. An inclusive website improves “crawlability,” meaning algorithms can better understand and index your content to boost your SEO rankings and attract even more visitors.
Plus, a better user experience positively impacts SEO metrics like bounce rate and time on site, making it a virtuous feedback loop. Add in the fact that SEO and accessibility require clear and concise content, and you can see how accessibility affects your brand reputation and benefits SEO. By attributing SEO to accessibility, you can tie it to conversion revenue and clearly demonstrate the ROI and value of digital inclusion.
So, how do you ensure your website is discoverable and inclusive for all? It’s all about committing to the tenets of digital accessibility and SEO at every stage of the marketing funnel, so you have a seamless process that brings out the best of accessibility, search, and content.
6 steps to make your website accessible and SEO-friendly at every stage of the marketing funnel
1) Planning
Effective website SEO and accessibility begin with careful planning. Research relevant, accessible keywords, define your target audience to include people with visual, hearing, motor, and cognitive impairments, and structure content logically using headings like “H1 for main title”, “H2 for subheadings,” and “H3 for sub-subheadings” to make your content easy to navigate.
2) Content Creation
Inclusive and accessible content is crucial. Use clear, concise language that’s easy to understand by avoiding jargon and complex sentence structures. Incorporate descriptive alternative text for images (e.g., “image of a smiling man”), provide transcripts for videos, optimize image file sizes for faster loading, and use descriptive file names (e.g., “product-image-red-dress.jpg”).
3) Design and Development
Website design and development significantly impact SEO and accessibility. Employ semantic HTML (headings, paragraphs, lists, etc.) and accessible CSS by reviewing color contrast and font size for readability. Prioritize responsive design and keyboard navigation for optimal viewing on various devices. Implement keyboard navigation for users who can’t use a mouse. Utilize ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) attributes to provide additional context for blind screen reader users, such as ARIA labels for buttons with icons.
4) Testing and Launch
Thorough testing is essential before launching your website, and you’ll need a mix of automated and manual testing to ensure comprehensive coverage. Tools like Siteimprove are great for accessibility testing and for SEO audits to identify optimization opportunities, but don’t forget to gather user feedback from people with disabilities. Finally, be sure to conduct a manual analysis of SEO to understand algorithms and user behavior.
5) Ongoing Maintenance
Accessibility and SEO are ongoing processes, so it’s important to regularly update website content and accessibility features, monitor website performance metrics (e.g., bounce rate, time on page), and track SEO rankings to identify areas for improvement.
Investing in web accessibility boosts your SEO bottom line
Ignoring accessibility is like having a storefront with a broken door and not bothering to fix it. No matter how enticing your display, customers can’t get in. And if they can’t get in, they’re not going to buy. Investing in making your website accessible and compliant isn’t just doing the right thing; it increases organic traffic, improves search rankings, and bolsters your brand reputation. By connecting accessibility to revenue, you are making your search and content efforts work together to meaningfully engage audiences, make a more inclusive world, and drive quantifiable growth. Now that’s what I call a compelling business strategy.
Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán; Pexels
