How to Check Website Accessibility: 5 Methods That Work
Checking your website for accessibility is not optional anymore—it is a legal and ethical necessity. But where do you start? This guide walks you through five proven methods used by accessibility professionals to evaluate websites against WCAG 2.2 standards, from quick automated scans to comprehensive manual testing.
Why Checking Accessibility Matters Now More Than Ever
The WebAIM Million report, which annually analyzes the homepages of the top one million websites, has consistently found that over 96% of these pages have detectable WCAG failures. The average homepage has approximately 56 accessibility errors. These are not edge cases—they are common, widespread issues that affect millions of users with disabilities.
At the same time, ADA website lawsuits continue to surge, with over 5,000 federal filings projected in 2026. The businesses that check and fix their accessibility issues proactively are far less likely to be targeted—and far better prepared if they are.
Beyond legal risk, accessible websites perform better in search rankings, reach a larger audience (an estimated 1.3 billion people worldwide have a disability), and provide a better user experience for everyone. Accessibility improvements like clear navigation, readable text, and logical page structure benefit all users, not just those with disabilities.
Method 1: Automated Accessibility Scanning
Best for: Getting a fast baseline, catching low-hanging fruit, and monitoring large sites continuously.
Automated accessibility scanners crawl your web pages and test them against WCAG success criteria using programmatic rules. They can evaluate hundreds of pages in minutes and identify common issues such as missing alt text, insufficient color contrast, empty form labels, missing page language, broken ARIA attributes, and empty links or buttons.
Research from the Government Digital Service (GDS) and Deque Systems suggests that automated tools can reliably detect approximately 30–40% of all WCAG violations. While this number may seem low, those 30–40% represent the most common, most easily fixable, and often the most legally significant issues. Automated scanning is the single fastest way to identify and prioritize accessibility problems.
How to Run an Automated Scan
- Navigate to an automated scanner like CompliaScan's WCAG checker or our ADA compliance checker.
- Enter your website URL.
- Review the results, which typically categorize issues by severity (critical, major, minor), WCAG success criterion, and affected element.
- Use the report to create a prioritized remediation plan, starting with critical issues that block user access.
Limitations: Automated tools cannot evaluate subjective criteria like whether alt text is actually meaningful, whether focus order is logical, or whether content is written in plain language. They also struggle with complex interactive widgets, dynamic content loaded via JavaScript, and custom ARIA implementations. Automated scanning should always be complemented by manual testing.
Method 2: Keyboard Navigation Testing
Best for: Identifying focus management issues, keyboard traps, and interaction barriers that automated tools miss.
Keyboard testing is one of the most effective manual testing methods because it simulates the experience of users who cannot use a mouse—including people with motor impairments, blind users who rely on screen readers, and power users who prefer keyboard shortcuts.
How to Perform a Keyboard Test
- Put your mouse aside. Navigate your entire website using only your keyboard.
- Press Tab to move forward through interactive elements. Shift+Tab to move backward.
- Press Enter or Space to activate buttons and links.
- Use arrow keys within composite widgets like menus, tab panels, and radio groups.
- Press Escape to close modals and dropdowns.
What to Look For
- Can you see where focus is at all times? If the focus indicator disappears, that is a WCAG 2.4.7 violation.
- Can you reach every interactive element? If some buttons or links are only accessible with a mouse, that is a WCAG 2.1.1 failure.
- Do you get trapped anywhere? If you cannot tab away from a component, that is a keyboard trap (WCAG 2.1.2).
- Is the focus order logical? Focus should move through the page in a sequence that matches the visual layout and makes semantic sense.
Method 3: Screen Reader Testing
Best for: Understanding how blind and low-vision users experience your website, and catching issues with semantic structure, ARIA, and content order.
Screen readers convert on-screen content into synthesized speech or braille output. They rely heavily on the underlying HTML structure, semantic elements, and ARIA attributes to convey information. Testing with a screen reader reveals issues that no other method can detect, such as content being read in the wrong order, interactive elements lacking accessible names, or dynamic content updates being silently ignored.
Recommended Screen Readers for Testing
NVDA (Windows) — Free
The most widely used free screen reader. Works best with Firefox. Download from nvaccess.org and pair it with Firefox for the most representative testing experience on Windows.
VoiceOver (macOS/iOS) — Built-in
Apple's built-in screen reader available on every Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Activate on Mac with Cmd+F5. Best paired with Safari. Essential for testing mobile accessibility on iOS devices.
JAWS (Windows) — Commercial
The most full-featured commercial screen reader, widely used in enterprise and government settings. Available with a free 40-minute demo mode. Works best with Chrome or Edge.
At a minimum, test with one screen reader on desktop. For thorough testing, test with NVDA + Firefox on Windows and VoiceOver + Safari on Mac. If your audience includes significant mobile traffic, add VoiceOver + Safari on iOS and TalkBack + Chrome on Android.
Method 4: Browser Developer Tools and Extensions
Best for: Developers who want to inspect and debug accessibility issues during the development process.
Modern browsers include built-in accessibility tools that can help you inspect individual elements and understand how they are exposed to assistive technology. Chrome DevTools, Firefox Accessibility Inspector, and Edge DevTools all include accessibility panels.
Chrome DevTools Accessibility Features
- Accessibility Tree: View the accessibility tree alongside the DOM tree. This shows exactly what information assistive technologies receive for each element.
- Contrast Checker: Hover over text elements to see their contrast ratio and whether it meets WCAG AA or AAA requirements.
- Lighthouse Audit: Run a Lighthouse accessibility audit directly from DevTools. This performs a subset of automated accessibility checks and provides a score.
- CSS Overview: Check all color combinations used on your page for contrast issues in a single view.
Useful Browser Extensions
- axe DevTools: Free browser extension by Deque that integrates with Chrome or Firefox DevTools and runs automated accessibility checks on the current page.
- WAVE: Browser extension by WebAIM that visually annotates accessibility issues directly on the page, making it easy to see where problems are.
- HeadingsMap: Extension that visualizes the heading structure of any page, making it easy to spot missing or out-of-order headings.
Method 5: Professional Accessibility Audit
Best for: Organizations that need a comprehensive, legally defensible assessment of their website's accessibility.
A professional accessibility audit is conducted by trained accessibility specialists who combine all of the methods described above—automated scanning, keyboard testing, screen reader testing, and code review—into a systematic evaluation of your website against the complete WCAG 2.2 standard. The result is a detailed report that documents every identified issue, its WCAG criterion, its severity, the affected page and element, and specific recommendations for remediation.
Professional audits typically cost between $3,000 and $30,000 depending on the size and complexity of the site. For a medium e-commerce site with 50–100 unique templates, expect to pay $5,000–$15,000. While this is a significant investment, it is a fraction of the cost of an ADA lawsuit settlement.
When to Invest in a Professional Audit
- Before launching a major website redesign, to ensure accessibility is built in from the start.
- After receiving a demand letter or lawsuit, to establish your current compliance status and create a remediation plan.
- When entering a regulated industry (government, healthcare, education, financial services) where formal compliance documentation is required.
- Annually, as part of an ongoing accessibility maintenance program, supplemented by continuous automated monitoring.
The Recommended Approach: Combine Methods for Full Coverage
No single testing method can catch all accessibility issues. The most effective approach layers multiple methods together:
- Start with automated scanning to catch the 30–40% of issues that can be detected programmatically. Set up continuous monitoring so regressions are caught immediately.
- Perform keyboard testing on all key user journeys—navigation, forms, checkout, search, and account management. This catches interaction barriers that automated tools miss.
- Test with a screen reader at least once per quarter or after major updates. Focus on critical paths and dynamic content.
- Use developer tools during development to catch issues before they reach production. Integrate accessibility linting into your CI/CD pipeline.
- Commission a professional audit annually or before major launches for a comprehensive, expert evaluation. Use the accessibility audit guide to structure your process.
This layered approach ensures maximum coverage while being practical for teams of any size. The automated scanning layer runs continuously, keyboard and screen reader testing happen periodically, and professional audits provide the deepest evaluation at regular intervals.
Start with Method 1: Run a Free Automated Scan
Get your accessibility baseline in under 30 seconds. Enter your URL to scan against WCAG 2.2 criteria and receive an actionable report.
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