Website Accessibility Basics Every Site Owner Should Know

Accessibility is one of those things that's invisible until it isn't — most visitors will never notice whether your site is accessible, but for the ones who rely on screen readers or keyboard navigation, small gaps can make a site unusable. Here's what actually matters for a typical small business or content site.

Alt text is the single biggest gap

Screen readers announce images by reading their alt text aloud. Without it, a screen reader user either hears nothing or hears the raw filename — neither is useful. Every image that conveys information needs a short, specific description; purely decorative images can have empty alt text so they're skipped entirely.

Heading structure isn't just about SEO

Screen reader users often navigate a page by jumping between headings rather than reading top to bottom. If your headings skip levels or aren't used consistently, that navigation breaks down — the page becomes harder to scan for everyone using assistive technology, not just harder to parse for search engines.

Color contrast matters more than you'd think

Light gray text on a white background might look clean, but it can be genuinely unreadable for visitors with low vision. A good rule of thumb: if you have to squint to read your own body text, it's probably failing basic contrast guidelines.

Start with the free wins

You don't need a full accessibility audit to make meaningful progress. Fixing alt text and heading structure alone addresses two of the most common issues, and both are changes most site owners can make themselves in an afternoon.