Web Accessibility and Search Engine Optimization

Web accessibility and search engine optimization (SEO) are two crucial factors that contribute to the success of a website.

Web accessibility: aims to ensure usability and equal access to online content for everyone.

Search engine optimization (SEO): aims to increase a website’s visibility and rank in search engine results.

While these two factors may seem initially seem unrelated, they actually go hand in hand! Web accessibility can have a significant impact your user experience, which can affect your website’s search engine rankings. Let’s take a look at three web accessibility practices that can actually improve your website SEO!

Headings and Subheadings

Structuring your website content with headings and subheadings (e.g., H2, H3, H4) not only aids screen reader users in understanding the content but also helps search engine crawlers interpret and index your web pages. Proper headings provide clear signals to search engines about the relevance and importance of different sections, improving your website’s SEO

Optimizing Link Text

Link text is the visible text used for linking to another page or website. Link text should accurately describe the linked content, providing users with a clear understanding of what they can expect upon clicking the link. From an SEO perspective, link text provides valuable clues to search engines about the content and context of the linked page. This helps search engines comprehend the structure of pages, identify important keywords within the link text, and improve the overall webpage’s visibility.

Which of the following hyperlink options is better?

1. To learn more, click here
2. To learn more, check out our article on how web accessibility and SEO are related

If you selected the second option, then you’re correct! It provides more descriptive information and is more beneficial for both SEO and accessibility purposes.

Descriptive Alternative Text

Alternative text, or alt text, is an essential component of web accessibility that describes the content and purpose of images. For visually impaired users who rely on screen readers, alt text provides a textual representation of images, enabling them to understand and engage with your website’s visual elements. Interestingly, alt text also plays a significant role in SEO. Search engines cannot directly interpret images, but they rely on alt text to understand the image’s context and relevance to the content. Optimizing alt text with relevant keywords can improve your website’s visibility in image search results and contribute to overall SEO efforts.

Conclusion

By implementing web accessibility practices, you not only create a more inclusive and user-friendly website but also enhance your website’s SEO. Improving content structure, content understanding, and overall user experience are all positive outcomes of web accessibility that positively impact SEO.