Web accessibility refers to your site’s accommodation and availability to users — regardless of their abilities or challenges. The goal of accessible design and development practices is to eliminate barriers that prevent people from navigating, interacting with, and accessing your site’s content.

By ensuring your in-house design and development teams prioritize web accessibility and integrate accessibility into their design process, you can build a better website for your business while contributing to a more inclusive digital environment.

The benefits of web accessibility

For the end user, an accessible site means a more seamless and equitable online experience. This positive user experience (UX) empowers your target audience to access information, products, and services without extensive aid.

But accessibility isn’t only for your users. On the business side, web accessibility fulfills compliance requirements and extends your digital presence’s reach and engagement. A website that’s inclusive by design is available to more users, which enforces a positive brand reputation and fosters lasting relationships with customers.

Accessible website designs offer a bounty of benefits — here are some of the most advantageous ones.

Reach new audiences

Web accessibility makes your content available to people with varying abilities, so you can reach a wider audience. Newly accessible content might reach a fresh market segment you’d unintentionally neglected because you hadn’t catered to their abilities.

For instance, by optimizing your site for screen readers, you create a positive UX for people with visual impairments. This accessibility encourages these customers to engage with your site and increases the conversion potential as you meet your audience’s diverse needs.

By creating an inclusive UX, you broaden your demographic appeal, and this will likely cause a bump in your conversion rates. Inclusivity in web design is both a social responsibility and a strategic move to capture untapped markets and enhance your business performance.

Produce cleaner code

Accessible webpages possess more intentional designs and use a simpler code structure. This means they have cleaner code that loads faster with fewer errors. By improving your code hygiene, you enhance your site’s ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs).

For example, when designing an accessible website, you must use semantic HTML and proper document structure. This makes your site accessible and also simplifies your code structure. And by using descriptive and meaningful HTML tags, you help other developers on your team navigate and update the codebase. As a result, accessibility makes your code cleaner, better for the end user, and easier to maintain due to its straightforward language structure.

Improve UX

Web accessibility initiatives tend to bring your site design closer to industry-standard web design best practices. This, in turn, creates a better experience for your site users.

Consider color contrast. Proper color contrast most immediately benefits users with visual impairments, but it also makes content on your site easier to read for users who aren’t visually impaired. Similarly, accessible design impacts navigation and information comprehension. By providing clear and concise headings, you help all users navigate your site — whether they’re browsing your page directly or interacting through a screen reader.

Prioritizing accessibility this way lets you create a better browsing experience for all users and encourages positive interactions, resulting in higher conversions and reduced bounce rates.

Boost SEO rankings

Search engine optimization (SEO) and accessibility go hand in hand because search engine algorithms tend to reward highly accessible websites. So, accessibility’s principles often closely overlap with SEO’s.

These principles include:

• Alt text for images
• Closed-captioning for videos
• Descriptive link text
• A clear site structure

For instance, providing descriptive alt text not only makes images accessible to screen readers but also helps search engines understand content. By helping search engine crawlers scroll your site architecture, you boost your search result visibility.

Accessibility also contributes to stronger UX. Enhanced engagement signals to search engines that your website has relevant, quality content, making them more likely to include your site in SERPs. Improved SEO rankings increase your online visibility and subsequently drive more organic traffic to your site.

Ensure compliance with legal and ethical obligations

Accessibility matters for reasons beyond boosting your site performance. Many countries and regions have established laws and regulations that mandate accessibility requirements for websites.

As an example, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the United States, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) in Canada, and the European Accessibility Act (EAA) in the European Union are pivotal legislations that enforce the importance of making digital spaces accessible to all. ADA compliance helps your business avoid penalties and also reflects your commitment to promoting ethical business practices.

Build a positive brand reputation

Adopting accessible design practices helps build trust with your consumer base because it demonstrates your commitment to providing an accessible and welcoming digital space. This trust enhances your brand reputation and fosters positive relationships with your users — a factor that contributes to long-term success.

Consider showcasing accessibility initiatives in marketing materials and on your website to demonstrate how you’ve integrated web accessibility into your brand identity. As satisfied users share your positive brand reputation through word-of-mouth, you’ll see an influx of new visitors and an increase in your site’s organic reach. As such, building a positive brand reputation through accessibility initiatives is a strategic investment that pays dividends in customer trust, loyalty, and brand success.

How to improve web accessibility with the 7 Principles of Universal Design

The 7 Principles of Universal Design, developed by Ronald Mace at North Carolina State University in 1997, can be used to ensure that digital spaces are inclusive and user-friendly. When building or redesigning a website, consider integrating these principles into your process to create an inclusive online experience for all users.

Other standards you might consider include W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

1. Equitable use

Strive for designs that provide the same means of use for all users. This means your design should avoid stigmatization or separate accommodations. For example, when you design online forms, ensure that the same version is accessible for assistive technologies like screen readers as well as regular web browsers. This way, all your users can access the same form.

2. Flexible use

Offer varied ways for users to interact with your website to accommodate diverse preferences and abilities. This principle encourages web designers to consider a range of user needs. So you might provide both keyboard shortcuts and mouse-based navigation options to build in more interaction flexibility.

3. Simple and intuitive use

Design an interface that’s easy to understand, regardless of the user’s knowledge, language skills, or current concentration level. This principle aligns with the goal of creating user-friendly interfaces. You might consider using clear and concise language in navigation menus to accommodate users with varying language skills and cognitive abilities.

4. Perceptible information

Ensure you present information and interface components in a straightforward manner so users can perceive it regardless of abilities. You can incorporate alternative text for images that let users with visual challenges understand the graphics’ content. This way, visitors can still perceive your site, even if they can’t view visual elements.

5. Tolerance for error

Build your website to recognize inevitable user errors. This means you should provide clear error messages and suggestions to correct user actions and support visitors through their navigation. These directions minimize hazards and reduce user frustration. For instance, if users need to create a password, provide hints as to what the password requires, like a capital letter and a special symbol. Instructive information helps users self-correct and continue on their user journey.

6. Low physical effort

Aim for designs that reduce user fatigue. As an example, you could implement a clear and concise checkout process with the minimal number of steps and clicks required. This makes the user journey more efficient and less demanding — and keeps visitors from dropping out.

7. Size and space for approach and use

This final principle focuses on your site’s physical accessibility. Design a website with responsive layouts to ensure users with varying device sizes and motor abilities can interact comfortably. This promotes an inclusive approach to size and space considerations.

Outstanding website accessibility and experiences with Webflow

Accessibility is crucial not only for your end users but also for your business — and Webflow’s here to help you achieve it. Our visual web development platform empowers teams to adhere to accessible design standards so concerns like color contrast, text size, and alt text are at the forefront of design.

Learn more about how Webflow helped Greenhouse create their accessible website. Or see our resources on how content can improve your accessibility, tips for visual design, and design accessibility guidelines.