Website Accessibility: Why It Matters for SEO and Who You’re Excluding Without It
Website accessibility means your site works properly for people using screen readers, keyboard-only navigation, or dealing with visual impairments — and it’s a larger share of your audience than most business owners assume, alongside being genuinely good for SEO, since many accessibility fixes (alt text, clear headings, readable contrast) are things search engines also reward.
The overlap between accessibility and SEO
Alt text on images, originally an accessibility feature for screen readers, is also how Google understands what an image shows — a page with proper alt text ranks better in image search and gives Google more context about the page overall. Clear, logical heading structure helps both screen reader users navigating by heading and Google’s understanding of page structure and topic hierarchy.
Common accessibility gaps on small business sites
Missing or generic alt text (“image1.jpg”) on every photo is one of the most common and easiest fixes available. Low colour contrast between text and background looks fine to some users and is genuinely unreadable to others, including a meaningful share of older visitors regardless of formal visual impairment. Forms and buttons that only work with a mouse exclude keyboard-only users entirely, a group that includes people with motor impairments and, increasingly, users of certain assistive technologies.
A realistic starting point
Add specific, descriptive alt text to every image, check text contrast with a free online contrast checker, and confirm your site’s key actions (menu, forms, buttons) work using only a keyboard, tab key included. These three fixes alone address a large share of common accessibility gaps without needing a full technical audit.
The honest limitation
Full accessibility compliance (WCAG standards) is a genuinely deep technical topic — this is a starting point, not a complete audit. For businesses in regulated industries or serving a larger public audience, a proper accessibility review is worth the investment.
Our website design team builds accessibility fundamentals into every new site by default.
Keep reading
- How to Audit Your Own Website’s SEO in an Afternoon
- Website Speed and SEO: How Much Does It Really Matter?
- Mobile-First Design: What It Actually Means for Your Website
This is the kind of work we do every week — see how our web design in Cape Town works.