Website owners, this could affect you. Did you know there’s a law that makes sure people with limited vision, hearing, cognitive or physical ability can access, navigate and understand your site? It’s part of the Americans with Disabilities Act and basically says that every owner, lessor, or operator of a “place of public accommodation” provide equal access to users who meet ADA standards for disability.
Various courts have ruled that commercial websites are places of public accommodation, so they are definitely subject to ADA Accessibility compliance rules. However, some of the specifics in the Act are not defined. So, how do you even know if compliance is mandatory for your website?
The answer is that it’s not always clear, and in some instances, it’s the courts that have decided when businesses should be held accountable. For several reasons, your best choice is to make your site accessible to this group of users to help them more easily engage with businesses and information online. There are three established levels of compliance within the law, and it’s a good practice to aim for the second level - WCAG 2.0 Level AA. Not only is it just the right thing to do for humankind - as well as potentially increases your sales if you’re currently missing this demographic of users - there’s a major SEO bonus to be had here!
Google loves and gives high priority to sites that offer a healthy user experience (we’ll break the meaning of that down in another article). And websites that prioritize accessibility also tend to hit more of the markers that Google’s algorithms use to quantify a site’s overall user experience. That’s a core pillar for Google and impacts how they rank sites in search results.
There are free accessibility checkers that evaluate your website, but you may see requirements you’re missing and don’t know how to adjust elements of your site structure to meet them. Let us check it for you, as well as see how you’re ranking with Google overall. We’re experienced in many web builder platforms, especially in Wix, WordPress, Squarespace and Showit.
Our first consultation is always free. Fill out a quick contact form, and we’ll be right in touch.
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