Web Accessibility is the Ultimate Website Optimization Strategy

This probably sounds too familiar: your website just isn’t doing much. It’s there. It exists. But you don’t get a ton of traffic, and only about 1% of that traffic is converting. Not great. So you start looking for website optimization services. You hope that someone can come in and help you start getting conversions.

The big problem with most companies that claim to optimize your website? They’re missing out on the biggest aspect that has an impact.

Sure, they might look at your website’s speed, try testing your messaging, or fix some basic SEO items. But they’ll often ignore web accessibility standards. The crazy thing? Addressing accessibility barriers makes your site easier to use for everyone, which increases overall leads and conversions.

Too often, even web experts treat accessibility as a checklist, separate from standard optimization items. In reality, it actually has more impact than almost anything else you can do to improve your website. Every WCAG standard we follow has a compounding, knock-on effect across your entire website.

In this article, we are going to explore the giant market your website may be missing, how web accessibility can optimize your site, and help you rethink website optimization services as a whole.

When I talk to people about their websites’ accessibility, they often say they don’t think they have customers with disabilities. That’s just a false assumption no matter what your organization does.

In the US alone, nearly 27% of adults have some form of disability. That 27% has $675 billion in spending power. Thinking globally, people with disabilities and their families can control up to $13 trillion. Are you really OK with excluding over a quarter of your potential market because reaching them would just take a little bit more work?

I didn’t think so. And yet, this market is actively excluded. It’s not always on purpose, but it does have a real-world impact.

What may you not understand? Avoiding web accessibility can mean that visiting your website makes someone’s day worse. It also means you’re losing out on a huge part of your potential market share.

If you’re looking to hire someone for website optimization services and they don’t discuss accessibility with you, they’re leaving a bunch of your money on the table.

Building a website correctly, following WCAG standards, is incredible for your overall metrics and performance. Let’s break down exactly what it does to optimize your overall website.

Google doesn’t “see” your website. In fact, it reads it much like a screen reader does. When you optimize your website to work well for blind and visually-impaired people, Google can understand it better, too.

Accessibility improvements that help your rankings can include:

• Proper heading structures that help Google understand content hierarchies. This is great for search engines and AI tools.
• Descriptive alt text on images provides Google context to index them in image searches.
• Better site architecture decreases bounce rates and shows strong website engagement.
• Semantic HTML helps Google better understand your content overall.

Almost every change you make for better technical SEO aligns perfectly with WCAG standards.

Listen, I’m not a huge advocate for generative AI, but AI search is the reality right now. As many companies struggle to get traffic to their websites, those that follow accessibility guidelines saw a 23% increase in traffic. While some of that is absolutely because they’ll rank better in Google and other engines overall, they’ll also appear better in AI search.

Just for example, we launched the new Captain Coder website at the beginning of the year. Google Gemini already shows our services in AI-powered search results. This content was relatively new, and yet most of what Gemini lists is actually accurate. Score!

Why does this work? Because AI and voice search are built on the same foundational structures as regular search bots. Which again, aligns perfectly with WCAG standards.

Accessible design is good design. The entire point of WCAG and web accessibility is to create websites that everyone can use. Following these guidelines makes your website easy for everyone. Complicated websites may look nice to you, but they often discourage or even confuse your customer to the point they leave rather than try to figure it all out.

A few WCAG standards that align with great UX include:

• High-contrast text helps everyone read your content, including those on phones in direct sunlight.
• Keyboard navigation allows everyone to get through your website easily, without having to grab their mouse.
• Consistent, predictable layouts keep people moving through your website, so they clearly understand what to do next.

There will always be design trends that look like a lot of fun (the ever-scrolling marquee, unfortunately, made a comeback). However, these “fun” designs really just make your website confusing and difficult to use. That means fewer people will convert.

Speaking of conversions….

Perhaps the best thing about an accessible website? It just works better for everyone. That friction is the real conversion killer. When people have to think too hard about what you want them to do next, they give up. Sadly, no one wants to give you their money that strongly. You have to make the entire process easy for them.

Accessible websites streamline forms, keep calls to action super clear, and create a smooth path to buy from you. Everything you do to make your website easier to use will lead to a direct increase in your leads and conversion rates.

The web accessibility item most marketing directors and business owners care about? It protects you from ADA lawsuits. Having an accessible website isn’t an option; it’s required under the ADA and other international laws. If your website does not meet WCAG standards, you are open to lawsuits and fines from governments.

For me, though, this isn’t even about protecting your business just from the rising number of ADA lawsuits. It’s about protecting your reputation. When you say that you care about your customers, but your digital content actively excludes 27% of them, well, that doesn’t feel very authentic.

In a world of increasing AI confusion, our human, authentic nature is what will set us apart from competitors.

Accessibility is not something you band-aid. You cannot place a widget on your website to solve it either (in fact, that often makes it much worse). The correct way to approach web accessibility is at the very beginning of a new project.

The next best step is to include it from the beginning of any optimization project.
All too often, I see agencies including web accessibility as some sort of upgrade (if they offer it at all). But the harsh truth? If you have to go back and remediate your website because you get in trouble later, you’ll spend a lot more money than if you had just done it correctly.

If you are planning to start a website optimization project in the near future and start meeting with agencies, ask this key question: What about web accessibility?

Without following WCAG standards, your website optimization project will leave a lot on the table.

I’ll be totally honest: I’ve argued with designers for years about the need to follow accessibility standards. For them, they can feel restrictive. You can’t try all the new trends, throw a bunch of moving text on the page, or use those pretty colors together.

But none of that leads to real sales. Accessibility does. That simple act of inclusion is a multi-channel performance amplifier. It helps your website be better found, indexed, and used by your customers. It also tells your customers that you care about them and their needs.

For Disability Pride Month this year, it’s time to vow you’re going to elevate your digital strategy. Stop leaving a 27% gap in your market reach and take better care of the people who want to buy from you but can’t.

If you’re not sure how to get started, you can begin with a web accessibility audit. These audits identify the gaps in your website and give you exactly what you need to fix. You’ll not only be more compliant but also optimize your entire website for your customers.