Website accessibility is designing and developing websites to be accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. Making a blog post accessible is important to reach a wider audience and to improve search engine optimization (SEO). In this blog post, we’ll explore why making a blog post accessible is beneficial for SEO, how many internet users use accessibility tools such as screen readers, and highlight some WCAG tools that can be used to achieve WCAG 2 AA compliance.
Why Making Your Website Accessible is Good for SEO:
Search engine algorithms are designed to rank websites based on relevance and usefulness for users. By making a blog post accessible, you provide additional information and context to help search engines understand your content and rank it higher in search results. Using descriptive and well-structured headings and subheadings can help search engines understand the hierarchy and structure of your content, which can also help to improve user experience by making it easier for users to find what they are looking for in your blog post.
The interesting twist is that WCAG and SEO conventions and standards are intertwined in many key areas. Thus blogs and small website owners can be compliant and benefit from both.
Another way in which making a blog post accessible can improve your SEO is by providing additional information about your images and videos. Adding alternative text to your images and videos can help search engines understand what the content is about and make it more likely to appear in image search results. This can also make your blog post more accessible to individuals with disabilities who use screen readers to browse the web.
How Many Internet Users Use Website Accessibility Tools:
According to a 2020 survey by WebAIM, over 60% of respondents reported using screen readers to access websites. This means that if your website or blog post is not accessible, you could be missing out on a significant portion of potential viewers. Furthermore, the World Health Organization reports that there are over 1 billion people in the world who have some form of disability. By making your blog post accessible, you are opening up your content to a wider audience and making it easier for individuals with disabilities to engage with your content.
WCAG Tools to Achieve WCAG 2 AA Compliance:
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provide a set of best practices for creating accessible web content. WCAG 2.0 has three levels of conformance: A, AA, and AAA. Level AA is considered the minimum standard for web accessibility. To achieve WCAG 2 AA compliance for your blog post, there are several WCAG tools that you can utilize.
One such tool is HeadingsMap, a browser extension that allows you to visualize the structure of your blog post. With this tool, you can easily identify any missing headings or headings that are not used in a logical order. This can help improve the structure of your blog post, making it easier for users and search engines to understand.
Wave is a web accessibility evaluation tool that can help you identify any accessibility issues with your blog post. It provides detailed reports on errors, alerts, and features that require manual inspection. This tool can help to identify any accessibility issues that may be preventing users from accessing your blog post.
The Color Contrast Checker is a tool that allows you to check the contrast ratio between two colors and ensure that it meets WCAG 2 AA requirements. This is important for individuals with color blindness or low vision who may have difficulty reading content with poor color contrast.
Final Thoughts on Website Accessibility
Making a blog post accessible is essential for reaching a wider audience and improving search engine optimization. By utilizing WCAG tools and following accessibility guidelines, you can ensure your blog post is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. This can help to improve user experience, enhance SEO, and make your content more accessible to a broader audience. As more and more people rely on the internet for information and services, it is important to design websites and blog posts to be accessible to all users. By
