Quick answer: a website is accessible when people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate and use it, including people who use screen readers, keyboards instead of a mouse, zoom or captions. The common standard is WCAG 2.2 level AA. For most small business sites the biggest wins are text alternatives for images, enough color contrast, full keyboard access with visible focus, labeled form fields, clear headings, captions for video, and touch targets large enough to tap.
Why accessibility is worth doing
- More customers. Many people live with a disability, and many more have temporary or situational limits: a broken arm, bright sunlight on a phone, an older parent with weaker eyesight.
- Better conversion. Clear labels, readable contrast and simple navigation help everyone finish forms and checkouts.
- Better SEO and AI understanding. Headings, alt text, descriptive links and clean HTML are exactly what search engines and AI systems read.
- Lower legal risk. Accessibility laws increasingly cover private businesses, especially those selling online.
There is a lot to fix across the web. WebAIM's annual analysis of the top one million home pages has found automatically detectable WCAG failures on around 95% of them, most of them simple: low contrast, missing alt text, empty links and unlabeled form fields.
What the rules say (briefly, and not legal advice)
| Region | What applies |
|---|---|
| European Union | The European Accessibility Act has applied since 28 June 2025 to many consumer products and services, including e-commerce. Microenterprises providing services (fewer than 10 staff and no more than €2 million turnover or balance sheet) are exempt. Harmonized standards reference WCAG. |
| United States | The ADA does not spell out a web standard for private businesses, but lawsuits over inaccessible websites are common. A 2024 Department of Justice rule requires WCAG 2.1 AA for state and local government sites. |
| United Kingdom | The Equality Act 2010 requires reasonable adjustments, and public sector sites must meet WCAG 2.2 AA. |
| Australia | The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 applies to websites, with WCAG commonly used as the benchmark. |
If you sell to customers in these regions, treat WCAG 2.2 AA as your target and check your specific obligations with a legal adviser.
What changed in WCAG 2.2
WCAG 2.2 became a W3C Recommendation in October 2023. It keeps everything from 2.1 (except one obsolete parsing rule) and adds new criteria. The ones that matter most for typical business sites:
- Focus not obscured: sticky headers, cookie banners and chat widgets must not hide the element someone is tabbing to.
- Target size (minimum): clickable targets should be at least 24 by 24 CSS pixels, or have enough space around them.
- Dragging movements: anything that needs dragging, like a slider, must also work with simple clicks.
- Consistent help: if you offer help such as a phone number or chat, keep it in the same place across pages.
- Redundant entry: do not make people type the same information twice in one process.
- Accessible authentication: logins should not depend on memorizing or transcribing codes or solving puzzles without an alternative.
The checklist
Content
- Every meaningful image has alt text that says what it shows or does. Decorative images have empty alt text.
- Videos have captions, and audio-only content has a transcript.
- Headings follow a logical order (one H1, then H2, H3) and describe the section.
- Link text makes sense on its own: "Download the price guide", not "click here".
- Language is plain, with short sentences and explained jargon.
Visual design
- Text contrast is at least 4.5:1 (3:1 for large text). Buttons, icons and form borders reach 3:1.
- Color is never the only way information is shown, such as red-only error messages.
- Pages work when zoomed to 200% and on narrow screens without sideways scrolling.
- Tap targets are at least 24 by 24 pixels, and comfortably larger on mobile.
Keyboard and focus
- Everything works with the Tab, Enter, Space and arrow keys alone.
- A clearly visible focus outline shows where you are.
- Menus, pop-ups and modals can be opened, used and closed by keyboard, and focus returns sensibly.
- Nothing sticky covers the focused element.
Forms
- Every field has a visible label linked to it in code.
- Errors are described in text, next to the field, with how to fix them.
- Required fields are marked in text, not color alone.
- The browser can autofill names, emails and addresses. Our contact form guide covers the details.
Test it yourself in 20 minutes
- Unplug your mouse and try to use your main pages and form with the keyboard.
- Run a free checker such as WAVE, axe DevTools or Lighthouse's accessibility audit in Chrome.
- Zoom to 200% and check nothing overlaps or disappears.
- Try a screen reader: NVDA on Windows or VoiceOver on Mac and iPhone. Listen to your home page.
- Check contrast of your brand colors with a contrast checker.
Automated tools find only part of the issues, so the manual checks matter.
What about accessibility overlays?
Overlay widgets promise one-line compliance. They do not fix underlying code, can interfere with the screen readers people already use, and do not protect you legally. In 2025 the US Federal Trade Commission ordered overlay vendor accessiBe to pay $1 million over claims that its tool could make any website compliant. Fix the site itself instead.
Frequently asked questions
Is WCAG 2.2 AA required by law?
It depends on where you operate and who your customers are. It is the most widely referenced technical standard, so it is the safest target.
How much work is it to make a site accessible?
For a typical small business site, most issues are in templates (navigation, forms, colors, components), so fixing them once fixes them everywhere. New builds should be accessible from day one, which costs far less than retrofitting.
Does accessibility help SEO?
Many accessibility practices, such as descriptive headings, alt text, clear link text and fast, clean HTML, also help search engines and AI tools understand your pages.
How often should I check accessibility?
Whenever you add new templates or features, and as part of regular maintenance. A quick keyboard and contrast check after every redesign catches most regressions.
Want your site checked against WCAG 2.2 AA and fixed properly? Our web design and development service builds accessibility in, and our website care plans keep it that way.
