A website accessibility audit checklist catches the quiet failures that cost you attention, leads, and trust: a form label that disappears, a keyboard path that dead-ends, a button nobody can read.
Most teams look at the homepage and call it done. We test the moments that decide whether someone can actually navigate, understand, and convert.
Find the friction before your customers do.
1. Non-text Content
This is near the top of any website accessibility audit checklist for a reason. If a user can’t access the meaning of an image, icon, button, or embedded frame, part of the page is simply gone.
Start with the obvious items, then check the ones teams miss:
- product images
- team photos
- logos used as home links
- icon-only buttons
- linked banners
- charts, diagrams, and infographics
- embedded iframes and third-party widgets
A plain image doesn’t always need much. A checkout icon that submits a form does. That’s the difference. The text alternative has to carry the same job as the visual.
A common mistake is writing alt text that describes appearance instead of purpose. “Blue button with arrow” is weak if the image takes users to pricing. “View pricing” is the useful version. Decorative visuals should be ignored by assistive tech, not announced like they matter.
Complex visuals need another layer of care. If you’ve got a comparison chart or process graphic on a service page, the key information needs to exist in nearby text too. Otherwise the page looks polished and still withholds the point.
If the image is doing work, the text has to do that work too.
2. Captions (Prerecorded)
Video often carries your pitch, your process, and your proof. If captions are missing or sloppy, you lose clarity fast.
Check every prerecorded video with audio, including:
- homepage explainers
- service page demos
- testimonial videos
- product walkthroughs
- videos hosted in third-party players
Automatic captions aren’t enough on their own. They’re better than nothing, but “better than nothing” is a low bar for a business site trying to earn trust. Names get mangled. Service terms get misread. Pricing language gets distorted. We’ve seen one wrong caption change the meaning of an entire offer.
Captions also help users who aren’t disabled. Quiet office. Loud airport. Phone on mute. Second screen attention. This is basic usability.
If your brand leans on video to explain what you do, this checkpoint affects conversion quality, not just compliance. In accessibility testing for websites, caption review is one of the fastest wins because the fix is usually clear and the user impact is immediate.
3. Info and Relationships
A page can look neat on screen and still fall apart when read by a screen reader. That’s usually a structure problem.
This part of the audit checks whether your visual organization also exists in the code. Headings should be real headings. Lists should be lists. Tables should be used for data, not layout. Form fields need labels that are tied to the inputs. Landmarks like header, main, nav, and footer should help define the page.
Here’s where issues tend to repeat sitewide:
Template areas to inspect first
- global header and navigation
- footer columns
- pricing sections
- accordion FAQs
- sidebar layouts
- reusable form blocks
When these are built wrong once, they stay wrong everywhere. That’s why a good ada website audit doesn’t start with random pages. It starts with the pieces your CMS or design system repeats.
A page isn’t truly accessible because the words are readable. Users also need to understand the hierarchy. If every heading is just bold text in a styled box, the page may look organized and sound like chaos.
4. Meaningful Sequence
Order matters more than most teams think. Especially on branded sites with layered layouts, side-by-side blocks, and visual rearrangement for desktop.
Test the page in a linear way. If styling disappeared, would the content still make sense in the order it’s read? Would the instructions arrive before the form field? Would a comparison table still tell the same story?
This gets messy on:
- long service pages
- multi-column sections
- card grids
- comparison blocks
- mobile layouts that reorder content visually
We’ve seen pages where the call to action appears visually after the explanation, but in the underlying order it comes first, then the footer promo, then a testimonial, then the explanation. It feels small until you tab through it. Then it feels broken.
Good design and meaningful sequence are not separate ideas. A strong layout still has to hold together when the user isn’t consuming it the way the designer did.
5. Use of Color
Color can support meaning. It can’t carry meaning by itself.
This is a frequent issue on custom branded interfaces because teams care, rightly, about visual consistency. Then an error state becomes “the red field,” a required step becomes “the green option,” or a chart legend depends on subtle color differences nobody explained in text.
Check these areas closely:
- validation messages
- required field indicators
- sale or status badges
- charts and graphs
- active navigation states
- links inside body copy
If a user can’t tell red from green, low blue from gray, or a muted brand accent from the background, the page still needs to speak clearly. An error should say it’s an error. A required field should be marked in text or another visible cue. A selected state should not depend on color alone.
This check usually improves clarity for everyone. When users have to guess what a color shift means, the interface is asking them to do extra work. That’s not premium. That’s lazy.
6. Contrast (Minimum)
Low contrast is one of the easiest ways to make a good-looking site harder to use. It also shows up constantly in audits.
For a practical wcag audit checklist, verify:
- normal text reaches at least 4.5:1
- large text reaches at least 3:1
- buttons, links, and navigation hold contrast across states
- text over images is still readable
- footer text isn’t fading into the background
Automated tools are useful here, and you should use them. Still, don’t stop there. Brand-heavy layouts often pass a quick scan in one state and fail in hover, focus, visited, or disabled states. Thin fonts can also look fine in a design file and feel weak on an actual screen.
A premium design should never make users squint. Readability isn’t a concession. It’s part of the finish quality.
Stylish text that no one can comfortably read is a design bug.
7. Resize Text
A lot of websites look controlled at default size and then start breaking the moment text gets bigger. Menus wrap badly. Cards clip content. Buttons collapse. Form labels drift out of place.
This checkpoint is simple: can users increase text up to 200% without losing content or functionality?
Test real pages, not just a sample paragraph. We usually tell teams to inspect the pages that carry business value first:
- homepage
- lead forms
- service pages
- pricing or plan pages
- checkout or booking steps
Typography systems reveal their weaknesses here. So do tightly packed layouts. That’s why this is such a useful quality check on custom websites. If the page only works at one exact text size, it isn’t ready.
The tricky part is that resize failures often don’t look dramatic at first. By the second or third section, though, the friction piles up. A clipped headline is annoying. A hidden form instruction costs leads.
8. Keyboard
Every important action on the site should work with a keyboard alone. No mouse. No trackpad. No finger tap. Just keyboard input.
Use Tab, Shift+Tab, Enter, Space, Escape, and arrow keys. That covers a lot of real behavior without turning the audit into a science project.
Test:
- navigation menus
- links and buttons
- modal windows
- forms and dropdowns
- tabs and accordions
- sliders, carousels, and custom controls
Keyboard issues often reveal design decisions that were never fully finished in development. A menu opens on hover but not by keyboard. A modal appears and focus doesn’t move into it. A custom dropdown looks clean and refuses to cooperate.
This is a core checkpoint in any ada website audit because some users can’t rely on a mouse at all. It also helps power users and anyone moving quickly through a task. When keyboard support is good, the site usually feels sharper across the board.
9. No Keyboard Trap
A site can be partly keyboard accessible and still fail badly if users get stuck.
This checkpoint is narrower than the last one, but it matters a lot. Once focus enters a menu, popup, embedded player, or custom widget, users need a predictable way out with standard keys.
Look for trouble spots like:
- chat widgets
- video players
- modal dialogs
- custom calendars
- embedded maps
- third-party booking tools
A keyboard trap destroys trust quickly. Users don’t experience it as a technical miss. They experience it as “this site doesn’t work.”
Include this early in your website accessibility audit checklist. If someone gets trapped before reaching the main content or form, the rest of the page may as well not exist.
10. Bypass Blocks
Repeated navigation is normal on business sites. For some users, repeating it on every page is exhausting.
Check whether users can skip repeated content through a skip link, landmarks, or both. Then test whether that mechanism is actually useful. We’ve seen skip links that technically exist but stay invisible, miss the main content target, or land in a strange place halfway down the page.
A good bypass setup should:
- be reachable by keyboard
- appear when focused
- move users to the main content area
- work consistently across templates
This part of a website compliance review says a lot about how the site respects user time. Small feature. Big signal.
11. Page Titled
Page titles are a small technical detail with outsized value. They help users make sense of tabs, bookmarks, search results, browser history, and screen reader page changes.
Each page should have a unique, descriptive title tied to its purpose. Not just your brand name repeated across fifty tabs.
Bad titles usually fall into one of three buckets:
- vague titles like “Home” or “Services”
- duplicate titles across multiple pages
- titles stuffed with branding and no clear topic
If you’ve got service pages, resources, forms, and account areas, this matters even more. Users often have several tabs open at once. A clear page title reduces friction in a way most teams never notice until it’s missing.
12. Focus Order
Keyboard access alone isn’t enough. The path also has to make sense.
As users tab through a page, focus should move in a logical order that matches the visual flow and the task flow. If the tab path jumps from the hero button to the footer, then back to the navigation, you’ve got a problem even if every element is technically reachable.
This issue often appears when:
- layouts are visually rearranged with CSS
- hidden elements remain focusable
- popups insert controls in odd places
- reusable components are dropped into pages without sequence planning
Clean focus order reduces hesitation. That’s not just accessibility language. That’s conversion language too. When users always know what comes next, forms feel easier and decisions feel less risky.
13. Link Purpose
Link text should tell users where they’re going or what will happen. Vague phrases like “click here” and “read more” often fail when taken out of visual context.
Review links in body copy, cards, buttons, navigation, and image-based calls to action. Then ask a blunt question: if someone heard this link on its own, would it still make sense?
Weak patterns to replace include:
- click here
- learn more
- read more
- this page
- more
Sometimes a repeated button label is fine if the surrounding context is clear. Sometimes it isn’t. A row of “learn more” links on a screen reader menu is useless.
Clear link purpose usually improves page performance too. Better links help scanning, reduce hesitation, and keep users moving with more confidence.
14. Labels or Instructions
This is where accessibility, usability, and lead generation meet head-on. If a form field is unclear, people guess. Then they make mistakes, hesitate, or leave.
Every input should have a clear label. Instructions should appear when extra guidance is actually needed, not as a wall of fine print nobody reads.
Audit these carefully:
- contact forms
- quote request forms
- checkout flows
- subscriptions
- account creation
- booking or intake forms
Labels identify the field. Instructions explain the expectation. Those are related, but not interchangeable. Placeholder text alone is not enough. It disappears when users type, and it often fails to answer the real question anyway.
We’ve seen expensive redesigns trip over something as basic as “Phone” with no format guidance, or “Message” with no clue what details the team needs to give a useful reply. Friction starts small. Then it costs you leads.
What This Website Accessibility Audit Checklist Covers and What It Misses
This 14-point list is a strong screening tool. It is not a full claim of conformance.
For most businesses, the clearest benchmark for an ada website audit is WCAG 2.2 Level AA. That’s the standard teams can actually test against. It includes 55 Level A and AA success criteria, so this article covers the front-line checks that surface problems quickly, not every requirement in the full set.
If your site already meets WCAG 2.1 AA, the move to 2.2 is narrower. The gap centers on six added criteria and the removal of the old parsing requirement. Mature teams should know that before planning a broader website compliance review.
This checklist is especially useful:
- before a redesign
- before launch
- after a CMS migration
- when traffic grows and hidden UX debt gets expensive
When the audit uncovers repeated issues in templates, navigation, forms, or reusable components, patching a single page won’t solve much. That’s usually the moment custom remediation matters. In those cases, our Web Development Services or WordPress Development Services can help fix the system underneath the issue instead of chasing the same problem page by page.
How to Test and Document Findings Without Getting Overwhelmed
Most teams freeze because they think they need to audit everything at once. You don’t.
Start with your highest-value templates and journeys: homepage, top service pages, lead forms, checkout paths, and any page type repeated across the site. Then use a hybrid process for accessibility testing for websites.
A practical testing stack
- keyboard-only testing
- browser developer tools
- zoom and text resizing checks
- automated scans with tools like WAVE and Axe DevTools
- manual review of structure, captions, labels, and reading order
Automation helps, but it catches only part of the problem set, roughly 57% by volume. Manual review is still required. That’s not bad news. It’s just reality.
Also, don’t treat the audit as a sign your team failed. Detectable WCAG failures still show up on 95.9% of top home pages. This is normal quality work.
Document each issue with:
- affected page or template
- user impact
- relevant checkpoint
- steps to reproduce
- fix type: content, design, or development
Prioritize repeated components first. One fixed navigation pattern can remove the same issue from dozens of pages. After remediation, retest the same paths and fold accessibility into your normal QA process. If you need steady upkeep after launch, our Monthly Website Maintenance Packages can support that review rhythm without turning it into a fire drill every few months.
Conclusion
A useful website accessibility audit checklist should make the work clearer, not heavier. These 14 checks help you find accessibility issues where they most often damage comprehension, navigation, form completion, and trust.
The goal isn’t perfection on day one. It’s a site that works better for more people and meets a higher standard of care. That’s what quality looks like online now.
Start with your highest-traffic pages. Sort findings into content, design, and code issues. Fix the ones you can fix now, then plan the deeper remediation where the underlying system needs attention.
Accessibility is not extra polish. It’s part of building a website that deserves to convert.
