Website Accessibility Audit Checklist for Business Owners

On this page

1. Before you start
2. 1. Keyboard check
3. 2. Colour, contrast and zoom
4. 3. Images and alt text
5. 4. Forms
6. 5. Headings, links and page structure
7. 6. Screen reader basics
8. Record, prioritise and fix

If you've read the website accessibility basics, you know what an accessible site looks like. This guide is the next step: a hands-on audit you can run yourself in an afternoon, without technical skills, to find where your own website falls short and what to fix first.

Before you start

• Pick five to eight key pages: the homepage, a main service or product page, the contact page, a blog post, and any page with a form, booking or checkout
• Make a simple record: a spreadsheet with columns for page, problem, who it affects and priority
• Know the benchmark: the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) at level AA are what most organisations aim for. You don't need to read them all; the checks below cover the most common problems
• Run an automated scan first with Lighthouse (in Chrome DevTools) or a browser extension such as WAVE or axe DevTools, and note what it flags. Automated tools catch only some issues, so the manual checks matter more

In India, accessibility requirements apply most clearly to government websites, while the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 covers accessibility more broadly. If you're unsure what applies to your business, check with a lawyer.

1. Keyboard check

Put the mouse aside and use only the keyboard: Tab to move forward, Shift+Tab to move back, Enter to follow links and Space to press buttons or tick boxes.

• Can you always see where you are? Each link and button should show a clear focus outline
• Does focus move in a logical order, top to bottom and left to right?
• Can you open and use the menu, including dropdowns and the mobile menu?
• Can you close pop-ups, cookie banners and chat widgets with Esc or a reachable close button, without getting trapped?
• Can you complete the contact form, booking or checkout from start to finish?
• Is there a "Skip to content" link at the first Tab stop, so keyboard users don't tab through the whole menu on every page?

2. Colour, contrast and zoom

• Check body text, buttons, links, placeholder text and text over images with a contrast checker. WCAG AA asks for a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text
• Look out for light grey text, white text on pale brand colours, and text over busy photos or sliders
• Make sure colour isn't the only signal: links in paragraphs should be underlined, and form errors should include text, not just a red border
• Zoom your browser to 200%: does text grow without being cut off or overlapping?
• Zoom to 400% on a desktop, which is roughly the width of a small phone: does content reflow into one column without sideways scrolling?
• On your phone, can you pinch to zoom? Some themes disable it, which is a real problem for people with low vision

3. Images and alt text

• Meaningful images, such as products, team photos, diagrams and before-and-after results, need alt text describing what they show
• Purely decorative images should have empty alt text so screen readers skip them
• Images containing text, like offer banners, need the same words in the alt text or, better, as real text on the page
• Icon-only buttons, such as WhatsApp, search or menu icons, need an accessible label

In WordPress you can add or fix alt text in the Media Library, and Lighthouse and WAVE both flag images that have none.

4. Forms

• Every field has a visible label that stays in place, not just placeholder text that vanishes when you start typing
• Required fields are marked in words or with a clear symbol explained on the form, not only with colour
• Submit the form with mistakes: do error messages say what went wrong and how to fix it, next to the right field?
• After a successful submission, is there a clear confirmation message or thank-you page?
• If you use a CAPTCHA, is there an option that doesn't depend only on reading distorted images?

Your contact form is often the most important part of the site; see why contact forms don't get enquiries for more fixes.

5. Headings, links and page structure

• Each page has one main heading (H1) that says what the page is about
• Sections use H2, sub-sections H3, in order, rather than headings picked for their size
• Text that looks like a heading is marked up as one, and headings aren't used just to make text big
• Link text makes sense on its own ("View AC service prices", not "click here")
• The page language is set correctly, especially on Hindi or regional-language pages

The WAVE extension shows a page's heading structure at a glance, which makes skipped or misused headings easy to spot.

6. Screen reader basics

You don't need to become an expert, but ten minutes with a screen reader is eye-opening. NVDA is a free download for Windows, VoiceOver is built into Macs and iPhones, and TalkBack comes with Android phones.

• Listen to your homepage: does it start with something meaningful, or a string of unlabelled links and icons?
• Jump between headings (screen readers have a shortcut for this): do they outline the page sensibly?
• Do buttons announce what they do, such as "Book appointment", rather than just "button"?
• Do images read out useful descriptions, while decorative ones stay silent?
• Can you fill in and submit your contact form?

Record, prioritise and fix

Priority	Examples
Fix first	Anything that blocks a task: forms you can't submit by keyboard, pop-ups that trap focus, unlabelled fields, unreadable buttons
Fix soon	Missing alt text, broken heading order, no visible focus outline, zoom disabled
Improve over time	Clearer link text, captions for older videos, simpler wording

Many fixes are content edits you can make yourself, like alt text, headings and link wording. Others, such as focus styles, menus and theme colours, usually need a developer. Re-run the audit after major changes and every six months or so. If many of your customers are older, add the checks in making your website easy for older visitors.

Need help fixing what your audit finds, or want accessibility built in from the start? See WordPress website development or website redesign.