WHY IS WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY IMPORTANT
Making web pages accessible ensures that your site is easier to read and navigate by users online, including a wide range of people with disabilities. For example, many visually impaired people use screen readers to read information aloud from screens, such as text or a description of an image provided through alt text (alt-text). Therefore, one must design a website that lets people with disabilities navigate the forum without hassle. Here are some significant factors why Web Accessibility is necessary.
Improving SEO: An accessible website not only makes your site easier to use but also increases the likelihood that your site will rank well. The goal of SEO is to drive more traffic to your content by improving your site’s ranking on search engines like Google. While the exact details of how pages rank on Google are never fully disclosed, there are some SEO practices that almost all digital marketers can agree with. In many cases, the goals of web accessibility and SEO are the same. Making websites with a cleaner interface and easy-to-find navigation helps people with disabilities to access the website better. Additionally, such an interface improves the bounce rate (the percentage of visitors leaving a site after the one-page visit) of the particular website. For example, providing captions and transcripts for your content is a standard SEO and web accessibility goal.
- Providing people with disabilities access to video content by presenting written equivalents of video and audio files is a requirement of web accessibility standards such as WCAG.
- Google and other search engines are primarily text-based, which means they cannot search through your voice in your video and audio content. Subtitles and transcripts help Google and other search engines navigate a website by providing discoverable text, letting users find relevant information on your site.
Build Positive Public Relations: In this digital age, most consumers want to support companies that share their beliefs, morals, and values. According to a recent Accenture Strategy survey, 62% of consumers prefer to buy from a brand with a voice on important issues. At the same time, 47% are ready to leave if they are disappointed with the words or actions of the company, and 17% will not return. By promoting Internet accessibility, you are laying the foundation for a positive brand image for your organization. People with disabilities are most likely to recommend a website to their family, friends, acquaintances, and social media connections if they have a pleasant experience browsing the website. Website accessibility services help detect and fix usability issues that affect all of your visitors.
Legal Problems: As the Internet and other digital technologies have grown more ubiquitous, it is becoming difficult to argue that Internet access is a civil right for people with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires people with disabilities to have equal access to public services and public sectors such as restaurants, cinemas, and schools. The Justice Department concluded that the inaccessibility of the websites could be a violation of the ADA.
