Optimising Your Website for SEO and Accessibility

Why Accessibility and SEO Go Hand in Hand

Although accessibility and SEO have different goals, they often rely on the same best practices. Search engines need to understand your content in much the same way that assistive technologies do. Features like descriptive headings, alternative text, and logical page structures all make content easier to interpret for both users and search engines.

So what are the benefits of optimising your website for accessibility and SEO? By embedding accessibility into your website and content creation process, you're not only creating a more inclusive experience but also improving crawlability, usability, and the overall quality signals that contribute to SEO performance.

Best Practices for Accessibility and SEO

Here are several things you can do to optimise your website for both accessibility and SEO at the same time.

Alt Text

Alt text is essential for informative images, as it provides a text alternative for people using screen readers. However, if the image is purely decorative and doesn’t add any meaningful information, then you don’t actually need alt text.

When writing alt text, you should think about the context of the image and why you are using it. Keep it concise but descriptive, providing enough context for someone who can’t see the image to understand its purpose within the page. As well as improving accessibility, alt text also helps search engines understand the content and context of an image, increasing its chances of appearing in image search results.

Avoid Images of Text

Where possible, avoid using images of text. While they may look visually appealing, they create several accessibility and SEO challenges.

People using screen readers generally can't access text embedded within an image unless it's described with appropriate alt text. Even then, alt text should describe the purpose of an image rather than replicate large amounts of written content. From an SEO perspective, search engines are far better at understanding and indexing HTML text than text contained within images, making real text much more valuable for search visibility.

Instead, write your content directly within your CMS or design platform and use styling (such as fonts, colours, and formatting) to achieve the desired look. This keeps your content accessible, easier to maintain, and more understandable for both users and search engines.

Use Clear Heading Structures

Always use proper heading tags to structure your content, rather than relying on font size or styling alone, and use a clear hierarchical structure. This will help screen reader users navigate a page more efficiently, while also making it easier for search engines to understand your content and its structure.

Headings should follow a logical order (H1, H2, H3, etc.), with only one H1 used to represent the main topic of the page. Avoid skipping heading levels or using headings purely for visual styling.

Headings should be meaningful and concise.

Keep headings meaningful, concise, and descriptive so readers can quickly scan the page and understand what each section covers. Where appropriate, front-load the most important information or keywords. For example, ‘Renew your license’ would be more concise than ‘How to renew your license’.

Planning your heading structure before you begin creating content in your CMS can also save time, improve consistency, and make it easier to produce well-organised, accessible content.

Use Proper Lists

Use proper list formatting rather than manually styling text to look like a list. This ensures assistive technologies can correctly interpret the content and makes it easier for readers to scan and digest information.

There are 2 main types of lists: 

• Ordered (numbered) lists should be used when the sequence matters, such as step-by-step instructions or processes.
• Unordered (bulleted) lists should be used when the order of the items isn't important.

Using the correct list structure improves readability, helps screen readers communicate information more effectively, and provides clearer semantic structure for search engines. Well-organised content is also easier for AI-powered search experiences and LLMs to interpret and surface in relevant responses.

Behavioural insight: Breaking information into bulleted or numbered lists uses the principle of chunking - grouping information into smaller, manageable pieces. This makes content easier to scan, remember, and act upon.

Write Descriptive Titles and Links

Always write clear, unique, and descriptive titles and link text. Both play an important role in helping users and search engines understand your content.

Here are some key principles to follow:

• Titles should tell someone the overall meaning of the document or page 
• It should begin with the unique information at the front, then with any repetitive information at the end. IE, company name at the end of the title
• Links should avoid wording like ‘Click here’ or ‘Read more’ 
• Good link text matches the page title of the page it links to

Using descriptive page titles and meaningful link text strengthens your site’s information architecture, helps search engines better understand the relationship between your pages, and improves accessibility by allowing screen reader users to navigate links with confidence.

Learn more about optimising site headings in this blog.

Make Video and Audio Accessible

Videos should include accurate captions and also a transcript where appropriate. This doesn’t just help make your video more accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing but can also improve engagement and support SEO. A study by Verizon Media and Publicis Media found that viewers are 80% more likely to watch a video to the end if it has subtitles. Providing a transcript also gives search engines additional text to crawl, helping them better understand the context of your video and the page it appears on.

While many platforms generate captions automatically, they shouldn't be relied upon without review. Auto-generated captions can contain errors, particularly with technical terminology, names, or accents, so it's important to check and edit them for accuracy.

Audio descriptions are necessary and required when important visual information isn’t already conveyed through dialogue. However, if all of the important information in the video track is already conveyed in the audio track, no additional audio description is necessary.

A simple best practice is to encourage presenters to verbally communicate key information, such as any visual content they are showing or to introduce their name and role. This creates a more inclusive experience while reducing the need for separate audio descriptions.

Additional Accessibility Best Practices

The techniques above can improve both accessibility and SEO, making them valuable optimisations for users and search engines alike. However, accessibility extends beyond search performance. The following best practices may not directly influence rankings, but they help create a more inclusive, user-friendly experience for everyone visiting your website.

Colour Contrast

Ensure there is sufficient colour contrast between text/elements and backgrounds to make content easy to read. Colour needs a contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for most elements (as outlined in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)), and this should be applied to everything - buttons, images, charts, and every colour that it touches. 

Avoid using colour to convey meaning. For example, indicating errors in red text should be paired with an icon or descriptive message so the information is accessible to everyone, including people who are colour-blind.

Format Text for Readability

Formatting your content effectively makes it easier for everyone to read and navigate, particularly people with cognitive impairments, dyslexia, or low vision. It also encourages users to stay engaged with your content for longer.

Here are a few steps to help make text easier to read:

• Choose an easy-to-read font. Avoid cursive or decorative fonts. 
• Use left justification. Avoid full or centred justification.
• Have good spacing between lines and paragraphs. 
  • Lines should be spaced at least 1.5 times the font size 
  • Paragraphs should be spaced at least 2 times the font size
• ‘Chunk’ content into easy-to-read sections with clear headings
• Check that the content is accessible if someone zooms in at 200% 

Write in Plain Language

When writing content, always consider your target audience. While some topics might naturally require more technical language than others, striving for plain language will usually benefit a wider audience. 

Plain language makes content easier to understand, improves readability, and helps people quickly find the information they’re looking for. It also supports accessibility by reducing cognitive load and can improve SEO by making your content clearer for both users and search engines.

Behavioural insight: Plain language reduces cognitive effort and makes content feel less overwhelming, encouraging people to continue reading.

Here are some tips to write more clearly:

• Organise your thoughts into bulleted outlines first
• See if your main points are cohesive and make sense
• Summarise your main points and front-load the most important information
• Write short sentences and paragraphs
• Minimise jargon and acronyms and use plain everyday language
• Avoid passive sentences and use strong subjects and verbs

Accessibility Best Practice Example: Patagonia

Patagonia is widely recognised for its accessible e-commerce website experience. Its website combines well-structured and categorised pages, clear headings, alt text, and logical navigation to create a user experience that's easy to navigate for everyone. Users can also use the website relying solely on keyboard navigation, with menus, filters and CTAs all accessible without using a mouse.

From an SEO perspective, the site also handles faceted navigation effectively, helping search engines crawl and index product pages more efficiently. Patagonia is a great example of a website well-optimised for accessibility.

Quick Accessibility Checks 

Here are several easy checks to do on a webpage to ensure it’s accessible:

• Keyboard navigation
• Heading hierarchy
• Link text
• Alt text
• Colour contrast
• Zoom to 200%
• Screen reader test
• Mobile test

Accessibility Resources

Here are some online tools to help you incorporate accessibility best practices into your workflow:

• Colour contrast checker: WebAim Contrast Checker
• Designing for accessibility: UK Home Office Accessibility Posters
• Digital writing and editing tool: Hemingway Editor
• Readability test: WebFX Readability Test
• Web extension to identify accessibility issues: WAVE PlugIn
• Elevate your customer relationship with website accessibility

Key Takeaways

• Accessibility and SEO work together: many accessibility improvements also help search engines better understand and rank your content.
• Structure matters: use logical heading hierarchies, meaningful page titles, and descriptive links to improve navigation for both users and search engines.
• Make media accessible: write helpful alt text, avoid images of text where possible, and provide captions or transcripts for video and audio content.
• Prioritise readability: use plain language, sufficient colour contrast, clear formatting, and consistent layouts to create a better experience for everyone.
• Build accessibility into your workflow: testing for keyboard navigation, colour contrast, mobile usability, and screen reader compatibility should become part of every content publishing process.

Accessibility isn't just about meeting guidelines; it's about creating websites that everyone can use with confidence. By making your content easier to read, navigate, and understand, you're improving the experience for users with disabilities while also helping search engines crawl and interpret your website more effectively. Implementing these optimisations will improve usability, strengthen your SEO performance, and help you reach a wider audience.

Learn more about our SEO services at Reflect Digital.