How to Improve Website Accessibility for ADA Compliance

Improving website accessibility means making your site usable for people with visual, motor, auditory, or cognitive impairments — key steps include adding descriptive alt text to images, ensuring full keyboard navigation, using sufficient color contrast, and clearly labeling all form fields. Most accessibility fixes align with WCAG 2.1 guidelines, the standard referenced in most ADA-related web compliance cases.

Key takeaways:

• Accessibility fixes often improve usability and SEO for everyone, not just users with disabilities
• Color contrast and missing alt text are the most common, easiest-to-fix violations
• Keyboard navigation testing catches issues automated scanners frequently miss
• ADA lawsuits over inaccessible websites have increased, making this a real business risk, not just a nice-to-have

Core Accessibility Fixes and Their Impact

| No video captions | Add captions/transcripts to video content | Deaf/hard-of-hearing users, also aids SEO indexing |

| Missing heading structure | Use proper H1-H6 hierarchy | Screen reader navigation, also aids SEO crawlability |

What Is WCAG and Why Does It Matter for ADA Compliance?

WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is the internationally recognized standard for web accessibility, and while the ADA itself doesn't name a specific technical standard, courts and settlements have consistently referenced WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the practical benchmark for compliance. Aiming for WCAG 2.1 AA compliance is currently the most defensible standard for reducing legal risk.

Can My Website Get Sued for Not Being Accessible?

Yes — ADA-related website accessibility lawsuits have increased significantly in recent years, and businesses of all sizes, not just large corporations, have faced legal action or demand letters over inaccessible sites. Retail, restaurant, and service-based small business websites are common targets, particularly when core functions like checkout or booking forms aren't accessible.

A local restaurant's online reservation form lacking proper labels for screen readers, for example, is exactly the kind of specific, functional barrier that has triggered real demand letters in past cases — it's rarely about minor cosmetic issues.

How Do I Test My Website for Accessibility Issues?

Start with an automated scanner like WAVE or axe DevTools to catch common issues quickly, then manually test keyboard-only navigation (unplug your mouse and try to use the site) and run a screen reader like NVDA or VoiceOver through key user flows. Automated tools typically catch only 30-40% of real accessibility issues, so manual testing remains essential for genuine compliance.

Does Improving Accessibility Also Help SEO?

Yes — many accessibility best practices directly overlap with SEO fundamentals: descriptive alt text helps image search, proper heading hierarchy helps search engines understand page structure, and clear labeling improves overall content clarity. Businesses investing in accessibility often see a secondary SEO benefit as a natural side effect.

“"Accessibility work almost never shows up as a dramatic before-and-after on a dashboard — it shows up as fewer people quietly leaving your site because they couldn't use it in the first place." — a distinction worth remembering since accessibility ROI is often invisible in standard analytics.”

A Practical Accessibility Audit Checklist

• Run an automated scan (WAVE, axe) to catch obvious violations
• Test full keyboard navigation through your main conversion paths (forms, checkout, booking)
• Check color contrast on all text against its background using a contrast checker tool
• Add alt text to every meaningful image, leave decorative images with empty alt attributes
• Add captions to any video content
• Verify form fields have visible, programmatically linked labels

Prioritizing Fixes When You Can't Do Everything at Once

Start with your site's core conversion paths — checkout, contact forms, booking systems — since these carry both the highest usability impact and the highest legal exposure if inaccessible. Secondary content pages can follow in a phased rollout rather than requiring a single all-at-once overhaul.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does every business need to be ADA compliant online?

A: Most businesses serving the public, especially those with an online store or booking functionality, carry meaningful legal exposure if their site is inaccessible, regardless of company size.

Q: How much does it cost to make a website accessible?

A: Costs vary by site size and current state, but many core fixes — alt text, contrast, labels — are relatively low-cost compared to the cost of a lawsuit or lost customers.

Q: Can accessibility overlays or plugins fully fix compliance issues?

A: Overlay tools can help with some issues but have faced criticism and even lawsuits themselves for incomplete fixes; a genuine code-level accessibility audit remains the more defensible approach.

Q: How often should a website be re-audited for accessibility?

A: An annual audit, plus a review after any major redesign or new feature launch, helps catch new issues before they accumulate.

Want to know how accessible your website actually is right now? Get a free accessibility audit from Ostrune and we'll show you exactly what needs fixing.