We cognize Google has hundreds of ranking factors erstwhile it comes to determining wherever a URL volition onshore connected Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). According to Google, website accessibility is not a direct ranking factor due to the fact that it’s hard to quantify.

So if that’s the case, is determination immoderate correlation betwixt accessibility and SEO?

While determination whitethorn not beryllium a nonstop link, determination is apt to beryllium an indirect one. This comes down to idiosyncratic acquisition metrics. So what precisely is the correlation and what should you expect arsenic a website owner?

In this post, we’ll present website accessibility standards and wherefore they exist. We’ll past comparison the show of 4 websites with varying levels of accessibility compliance to spot if accessibility does person a noticeable interaction connected SEO. So let’s dive in!

Why We Have Website Accessibility Standards

Accessible websites that are intuitive and casual to usage for each visitors are the close happening to do. Unfortunately, that doesn’t often construe to what website owners actually do.

It’s not retired of malice. In fact, it’s mostly from a deficiency of cognition connected the topic. How tin 1 adjacent statesman to marque their website accessible if the explanation of “accessible” varies from idiosyncratic to person?

That’s wherever website accessibility standards travel in. These standards laic the instauration for accessibility champion practices. So alternatively of website designers and developers creating what they deliberation is accessible, they tin cognize the techniques they instrumentality are portion of the approved standards.

Where Do Sites Struggle Most With Website Accessibility?

The top conflict for sites is successful the matrimony betwixt plan and accessibility. That is, web designers and developers consciousness similar they person to prioritize 1 implicit the other. A fewer communal examples of this include:

• Popups oregon flyouts that whitethorn confuse visitors oregon surface readers
• Text connected images without a precocious capable opposition for visually impaired visitors
• Text connected images with excessively tiny font size
• Complex nested navigation
• Poorly structured tables
• Lack of “skip to content” link

There are plentifulness of ways to harvester plan and accessibility whether you’re utilizing a pre-built layout oregon gathering your ain from scratch.

What We Learned From Analyzing 4 Websites

In this portion of the article, we’ll look intimately astatine the breakdown of accessibility issues for each site. We’ll besides see the past six months of domain ranking accusation and that domain’s keyword positions for the period of June. This volition assistance america to make a fuller representation and recognize the existent interaction of web accessibility and SEO.

Amazon: Not As Accessible As You Would Think

Surely a planetary elephantine similar Amazon would person website accessibility each figured out, right? Unfortunately, that’s not the lawsuit based connected our analysis. Amazon is really fig 2 connected our database erstwhile it comes to the fig of full accessibility issues.

The breakdown of issues, arsenic of this writing, is 1 captious issue, 18 superior issues, and 114 insignificant accessibility issues.

To supply immoderate context, present are the differences betwixt these classifications:

• Critical issues are those that halt astir users of assistive exertion (e.g. surface readers, surface magnifiers, refreshable braille displays) from utilizing the website.
• Serious issues are those that whitethorn origin problems oregon accrued vexation for users, but it doesn’t afloat forestall them from utilizing the site.
• Minor issues are those that whitethorn origin problems oregon frustrations for a smaller fig of users.

To recognize the interaction of accessibility and SEO, we indispensable besides see different domain ranking factors. As such, we’ve analyzed the past six months of website domain statistics.

Over the past six months, Amazon has maintained a domain standing of 96, 18.8 cardinal backlinks, and 179,700 referring domains. When looking astatine their ranking profile, successful particular, we spot 73.7 cardinal integrated keywords with astir 900.9 cardinal integrated postulation visits per month.

To constrictive successful adjacent further, successful June 2022, Amazon has 13.25 cardinal keywords ranking successful positions 1 done three. Of those keywords, 13 cardinal are non-branded.

Etsy: All-Around Accessibility and Performance

Etsy is simply a marketplace, similar Amazon. Unlike Amazon, which has a wide scope of manufactured products, Etsy focuses connected handmade and vintage products.

When it comes to accessibility issues, Etsy has 68 full issues with 1 captious contented and 1 superior contented among them.

Over the past six months, Etsy has maintained the 2nd highest domain ranking connected our list, 93. In addition, its fig of backlinks is 204.7 cardinal with 1.1 cardinal referring domains. When looking astatine keyword statistics, successful particular, Etsy ranked for 37.2 cardinal integrated keywords with astir 247.8 cardinal integrated postulation visits per month.

And however astir keyword ranking performance? In June 2022, Etsy has 2.76 cardinal keywords ranking successful positions 1 done three. Of those, 2.74 cardinal are non-branded.

Nordstrom: The Front-Runner

Amazon and Etsy are e-commerce marketplaces with tens of thousands of brands (or millions, successful the lawsuit of Amazon). Nordstrom, connected the different hand, is an e-commerce storefront. So however does it compare?

According to our analysis, Nordstrom is the astir accessible website connected our database with a full of 42 accessibility issues. Nordstrom has nary captious oregon superior accessibility issues, dissimilar the different 3 websites successful our analysis.

When it comes to domain rating, Nordstrom scores an 87. The e-commerce tract has 5.4 cardinal backlinks and 79,100 referring domains. It besides ranks for 3 cardinal integrated keywords with astir 43.2 cardinal integrated postulation visits per month.

For June 2022, Nordstrom has 343,800 keywords ranking successful positions 1 done three. Of those keywords, 329,600 are non-branded.

Lululemon: How Accessibility and Performance Interact

Lululemon is an diversion deterioration and manner apparel marque founded successful the ‘90s. It grew successful popularity wrong the Yoga community, but it soon expanded its scope to each areas of diversion and leisure apparel. Similar to Nordstrom, Lululemon hosts an e-commerce storefront.

According to our investigation of accessibility issues, Lululemon is the slightest accessible website connected our database with 133 full issues. This includes 3 captious issues and 49 superior issues.

Coincidentally, Lululemon besides has the lowest domain standing connected our database with an 82. Over the past six months, Lululemon has maintained 1.1 cardinal backlinks, 30,000 referring domains, and 489,900 integrated keyword rankings. This has netted Lululemon astir 8.3 cardinal successful integrated website postulation per month.

When zeroing successful connected June 2022, Lululemon has conscionable 12,800 keywords successful positions 1 done three. Of those, conscionable 1,900 are non-branded.

Web Accessibility Main Takeaways

The extremity of this portion of the nonfiction is to find conscionable however overmuch of a origin website accessibility is connected website rankings. To bash so, compared the keyword ranking metrics of each website based connected overlapping keywords. What did we find?

Using the Keyword Gap instrumentality successful ahrefs, we narrowed it down to astir 2,900 overlapping keywords that ranked successful positions 1 done three. These see keywords similar “mesh sports bra,” “tie dye mens shorts,” and “mid emergence skirt.”

Of those astir 3,000 keywords, this is however each of the 4 sites performed:

• Amazon ranked for 2,470 keywords successful positions 1 done three;
• Etsy ranked for 479 keywords successful positions 1 done three;
• Nordstrom ranked for 694 keywords successful positions 1 done three; and
• Lululemon ranked for 84 keywords successful positions 1 done three.

Lululemon did fertile lowest among the 4 websites, which isn’t astonishing considering its domain standing and integrated keyword profile. If website accessibility was a large factor, though, you’d expect Amazon to bash poorly. However, Amazon has the highest fig of ranking keywords by far. This whitethorn person to bash with its beardown domain rating.

While these results don’t amusement a nonstop correlation betwixt mediocre website accessibility and keyword rankings, it’s inactive a ineligible requirement. While determination are nary enforceable laws successful the United States specifically referencing website accessibility, astir websites bash autumn nether Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This means website owners tin look civilian lawsuits from website users and perchance beryllium fined by the national government.

We besides cognize sites with amended User Experience (UX) execute the champion successful SERPs, truthful having an accessible website is simply a must.

Creating an Accessibility Improvement Strategy for Your Website

According to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) arsenic outlined by The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), to beryllium compliant, a website indispensable be:

• Perceivable
• Operable
• Understandable
• Robust

These presumption of subjective, truthful however tin we cognize what’s genuinely accessible? Fortunately, WCAG lays that retired very clearly.

So however bash we enactment this into practice?

There are a batch of steps you tin instrumentality to conscionable ADA website compliance requirements. If you’re conscionable getting started, these are the astir important ones to consider.

Choose a Content Management System that Supports Accessibility

Not each e-commerce platforms are created equal. There are immoderate that enactment accessibility amended than others. So if you’re successful a presumption to take a caller content absorption system, past bash truthful with accessibility successful caput and beryllium definite to adhd it to your redesign checklist.

An accessible level volition marque it casual to incorporated accessibility features similar alt text, anchor text, high-contrast text, and contented structure. It whitethorn besides person accessibility elements built into its HTML structure, oregon it gives you afloat entree to the HTML files to bash truthful yourself.

Include Descriptive Alt Text for Images

Images marque up astir 50% of integer content. As such, they cannot beryllium ignored erstwhile it comes to making accessibility accommodations connected your website.

One mode to optimize your images is with descriptive alt text.

Alt substance is simply a written statement of the contented of the image. It describes what it is and the contextual intent it serves connected a website oregon blog post.

As an added bonus, descriptive alt substance tin besides summation the likelihood of your contented being recovered with Google representation search.

Use a Logical Content Organization Structure

Screen readers and different types of web accessibility bundle trust heavy connected HTML to find what contented should beryllium work successful what order. A logical contented enactment operation is important for this benignant of software, but besides for ocular readers successful general.

What bash we mean by a logical structure?

This includes the leafage structure itself, consisting of the header, nav, main, aside, and footer elements. It besides includes contented operation arsenic you mightiness spot connected a merchandise leafage oregon blog post. This includes the usage of heading and subheading tags similar H1, H2, etc.

Use Descriptive Anchor Text for Links

How you nexus tin beryllium conscionable arsenic important arsenic wherever you link. Descriptive anchor text ensures users recognize wherever they are going earlier they click a hyperlink connected your site.

An illustration of non-descriptive anchor substance would be:

“To larn much astir this topic, spell here” with “here” serving arsenic the anchor text.

A amended mode to nexus to interior and outer sites is to incorporated your links people into your content. In the illustration representation above, you tin spot “Search Console website” is different nexus that goes to – you guessed it! – the Search Console website.

The wide and concise anchor substance leaves nary questions arsenic to what benignant of contented the nexus volition pb to.

FAQs

Do you inactive person questions astir web accessibility and SEO? Here are the answers to immoderate often asked questions.

What is website accessibility?

What are immoderate examples of accessible design?

Why is website accessibility important?

Where tin I find tools to cheque my website's accessibility?

How bash I marque my website accessible?

Conclusion

There isn’t specified a wide transportation betwixt web accessibility and SEO. While it is likely a ranking origin considered by Google, it’s not 1 that seems to person a noticeable interaction connected hunt results. That doesn’t mean it’s thing you tin forego.
Web accessibility standards are a ineligible requirement, truthful a website not successful bully ineligible lasting is apt to spot immoderate antagonistic impacts. So if you privation to execute SEO success, it’s conscionable bully signifier to person an intuitive, user-friendly, accessible website.