Accessible Content & SEO

SEO is more than just tactics and techniques, it’s about making the correct information available to the right audience. Accessible design and content are just as important a consideration when it comes to optimising your site for SEO. A better experience for people will be rewarded by search engines which is clearly an SEOs end goal. So today, I’m sharing some information on accessible content and SEO, what is it and how to do it.

What Is Web Accessibility?

Website accessibility is the art of making websites accessible and usable for everyone. Its focus is on allowing all users to perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with a website. It is primarily utilised to ensure people with disabilities may access sites, whether their disability is auditory, cognitive, physical, neurological, or visual. It may also include:

• Temporary impairments such as a broken arm
• Situational difficulties such as being on moving transport
• Environmental impairments such as being in a noisy, public space.

Why is accessibility important for SEO?

It should be clear to all that making websites accessible is the same requirement as making a physical shop accessible as well. As businesses, we should provide our services and products to everyone who may want or need them. By creating an accessible website you are making the world more accessible for huge swaths of the population. We should do it simply because it is our moral obligation to ensure equity in our marketing. But there are also many purely business reasons to improve your site. An accessible website allows users to:

• Easily navigate the site and find the information they are looking for
• Improve their experience while on the site, making the process frictionless
• Trust the site and the business more readily, converting users into customers quicker.

All of which contributes to your SEO and eventually sales.

How to make a site accessible

There are four principles of accessibility which a website must fulfil to be accessible:

• Perceivable
• Operable
• Understandable
• Robust

Below we explore each ones meaning and what you can change in your site to comply.

Perceivable

Perceivable encompasses removing any barriers that a user may have when trying to access the content. This covers many aspects of design in how the information is presented. Here are some things to consider to make your website perceivable to all.

• Navigation & Anchor Text – Making the navigation clear and hierarchical. Any links, both internal and external, should be clearly labelled with an Anchor Text so users will correctly perceive where they will land once they have clicked a link. Anchor text can be used to describe the purpose of the page and help users determine whether they want to click the link and visit the page.
• Alt Text – For all images and videos you should include Alt Text information. This will allow those who are visually impaired to perceive the content. But it will also allow anyone who cannot access the images for technical or economic reasons to also perceive the information more clearly. Ensure alt text is as descriptive as possible about what is in the image.

Operable

The user interface and navigation are operable when all users can utilise the site regardless of the device they are using. You should also ensure that users can complete any required tasks such as filling in forms or scrolling through a gallery.

• Action Placement – If users need to click buttons to navigate or perform an action, these interactive elements on a website need to work and be able to be operated by all people. An example of poor action placement would be when buttons are placed too close together, especially on a mobile device. This may stop users from being able to effectively submit a form because they physically cannot click the correct button. Design should be considered for all devices separately.
• Time outs on forms – Some users will need to take a longer amount of time to perform actions than the average users. With this in mind, time outs should be extended to the longest time possible to allow users to complete actions in their own time frame. Employing automatic saving and staggered saves on very long forms can make a site more operable.

Understandable

Users need to be able to understand the information displayed on a webpage, as well as being able to understand how to interact with a site. Some SEO aspects to consider are:

• Keeping consistent design – Making the site layout and elements predictable and consistent will reduce the chances of confusion amongst users. The use of brand guidelines and system guidelines can help here immensely.
• Readable – Written content should always be tailored to your audience. however the majority of web pages should utilise a style that scores well on the Flesch Kincaid Reading Ease. This will make your content understandable to the widest audience
• Inclusive writing – Ensuring you write in a way that is inclusive to all will make users feel welcome, building their trust in your brand.

Robust

Accessibility isn’t a one-time thing. Technology develops and changes so in order to have a robust website it must remain accessible throughout updates to all platforms including alternative devices such as screen readers. Updates in language and disabled access sciences means we should be reviewing our site frequently to ensure it stays accessible for all throughout its lifecycle.

Ethical Marketing with Accessibility in mind.

If you would like to develop your website and SEO strategy with accessibility in mind, get in touch. I am an ethical marketer with a focus on research-based, SEO optimised content and copywriting and building websites that are accessible, fast and SEO optimised. I work on improving my accessibility every day and are committed to representations of diversity in marketing. Contact me, and let’s see how we can grow your business together.