What You Need to Know About Accessibility SEO

The world of SEO is overwhelming to the inexperienced, and especially to those who are not computer or technical savvy. Nevertheless, the importance of SEO for your business cannot be ignored, and having an online presence is paramount.

To truly get the best out of your SEO, you need to consider all people, at all times, who may have a range of impairments. This is where accessibility SEO comes in.

What is Accessibility SEO?

This is SEO which has been tailored for those who have a visual impairment. This could be anything from the inability to see colours, low vision function, or perhaps even completely blind. Impaired people still have a requirement for the internet, and with this in mind, it’s important that websites are tailored to their needs, too.

Accessibility SEO means your website’s content is tailored more for those who may struggle with basic content which they may not be able to see or easily understand.

This may seem overwhelming if you’re already trying to get to grips with SEO in general, but if you take your time to research both options, there’s no reason it can’t be edited to comfortably fit for all groups most of the time.

Examples of Accessibility SEO

To make this simpler, let’s look at some examples. It’s essential when considering accessibility SEO content to put yourselves in the shoes of a visually impaired person and imagine what exactly you would need from a website if you were unable to see it properly.

So, if you needed the website content to be read aloud to you using a screen reader, imagine if you came to a product you had been searching for – perhaps a bag –and the screen reader read the description. It relayed: “Ladies leather bag.” You’re ideally looking for a specific size and colour, perhaps with a certain strap option. You won’t know whether this is the correct bag based on the information supplied.

Using this example, to better optimise your accessibility SEO as the business owner, you could ensure that the full description of this bag was very detailed: “Ladies 15cm by 30cm bag with thick strap in dark brown leather”.

It may seem clunky to a person who is not visually impaired – but for those who are, this extra detail is invaluable, and the extra description won’t compromise a potential customer who is able to see the bag easily.

How to Better Use Accessibility SEO

As with the example above, it’s important for any information to be as detailed as possible. It’s also crucial to ensure that any media, text, and visuals can be seen, easily accessed, and understood by a screen reader. The content structure also needs to be well presented and well laid out.

Ensure your linksHyperlinks, also known as links, are the connection points on a webpage that take you to other webpages. are working correctly. Incorrect links can affect both search engines, non-impaired users, and assistive technology like screen readers alike. Also, try and avoid link texts such as “click here” – try and add a more descriptive link text, which further illustrates the point.