We love talking about websites here at Heavy Element. But have you ever thought about who is accessing your site? Not everyone uses a screen.

One out of every six Americans suffer from a serious visual impairment while nearly 1 in 40 are considered legally blind. Here in Maine, we're around the national average, but in other places you'll find numbers as low as 1 in 30!

Tools like Screen Readers and other assistive technologies help make websites easier to use for people with disabilities. But did you know that making your website more accessible can also improve your SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?

Let’s explore how this works and, more importantly, why it matters.

What is Accessibility Technology?

Accessibility technology includes tools and features that help people with disabilities use websites. Here are some examples:

• Screen Readers: These read the text on a screen out loud for people with visual impairments.
• Voice Recognition: This lets folks control their devices and type using their voice.
• Keyboard Navigation: Some people can’t use a mouse, so they need to be able to navigate websites using only a keyboard.
• Alt Text: These are descriptions that screen readers can use to describe images.
• Captioning and Transcripts: These provide text versions of audio content for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Do Search Engines Care?

The short answer is yes, but the long answer is "it's complicated."

Search engines don't directly rank your site based on some accessibility score, but what they do look at is the structure of your code and the overall user experience.

So let's dive into exactly how adding accessibility can help rank-up your page in search results:

1. Better User Experience

When your website is easy to use for everyone, more people will stay on your pages for longer. Search engines like Google notice this and rank your site higher.

2. Improved Website Structure

Accessibility guidelines often suggest having a clear and organized website structure. This makes it easier for search engines to crawl and index your site, improving your SEO.

3. Quality Content

Using alt text for images and providing captions for videos not only help people with disabilities but also provide more information for search engines. This can help your site appear in more search results.

It's not enough to simply have alt text, though. You need to have helpful, descriptive alt text. Consider this:

4. Mobile Friendliness

Accessibility features often make websites easier to use on mobile devices, which is another factor that search engines consider for rankings.

5. Lower Bounce Rates

If visitors find your site hard to use, they will leave quickly. This increases your bounce rate, which can hurt your SEO. Accessible websites tend to have lower bounce rates because they are easier to navigate.

Legal and Ethical Benefits

Besides improving your SEO, making your website accessible is also the right thing to do. It ensures that everyone, regardless of their abilities, can use your site.

It can't be overstated how important accessibility is. By embracing assistive technologies like ARIA attributes and other best practices, you can serve more customers and help Search Engines better understand your website!