WCAG Audit: What It is and How to Do It

You’ve read about the importance of digital accessibility and are ready to embrace the best practices for inclusive web design. To know where to start, you’ll need to perform a WCAG audit, which tests your content against the requirements of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines(opens in a new tab) (WCAG). 

Below, we’ll explain exactly what a WCAG audit (also called a digital accessibility audit) is and what it covers. We’ll also discuss the importance of conducting regular accessibility audits and best practices for testing your content.

What is a WCAG Audit?

A WCAG audit tests your website against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to ensure the content provides a good experience for users with disabilities. WCAG is considered to be the international standard for digital accessibility and are a set of standards used to determine how accessible web content is. You should regularly audit your content using the latest version of WCAG (WCAG 2.2 as of August 2023). 

A WCAG audit aims to find issues that might impact the user experience for people with disabilities, such as poor color contrast, missing alternative text, and lack of audio captions. Accurate accessibility testing will compare each of your web pages against WCAG requirements and highlight accessibility issues that need to be fixed. Remedying these issues improves the user experience and helps you comply with accessibility laws.

Types of WCAG Audits

The World Wide Web Consortium(opens in a new tab) (W3C), which publishes WCAG, identifies two primary types of WCAG audits(opens in a new tab): automated and manual.

Manual WCAG Audits

Manual WCAG audits are performed by humans — ideally, people with significant experience applying WCAG standards and using assistive technologies. Expert testers can identify accessibility issues that impact users with disabilities — including more complex, contexutal errors like keyboard traps or inaccurate alt text.

A manual audit typically includes:

• Using a screen reader to test content’s compatibility with assistive technologies.

• Accessing a web page with a keyboard alone (no mouse) to test keyboard accessibility.

• Magnifying a web page (zooming in) to 200% to make sure everything still works and no content is hidden.

• Turning off images to see whether the website remains understandable. 

Manual testing is typically more in-depth than automated testing. Professional accessibility consultants might review ARIA markup or access the page with a screen reader to determine compatibility. All this is done to ensure users with disabilities have the most accessible experience possible.

For example, AudioEye’s Expert Audits are performed by certified accessibility professionals and people with disabilities who have years of experience with a wide range of assistive technologies. Our testers dive deep into your content to find and fix more complex accessibility issues so you can create a more accessible, inclusive experience.

Because manual testing requires human judgment, it is more time-consuming than automated testing. However, some level of manual testing is essential for meeting WCAG conformance standards.

Automated Accessibility Audits

As the name suggests, an automated audit uses software to scan web content for accessibility errors. Most automated tools can identify common issues that impact users with disabilities, including:

• Missing image alt text

• Improper use of semantic HTML

• Low-contrast text

• Duplicate, broken, or empty hyperlinks

However, automated tests can only identify some accessibility issues. For example, automated software can tell you whether a website’s images or non-text content includes alt text, but it can’t tell you how accurate or descriptive it is. 

Most accessibility experts recommend a hybrid approach to WCAG testing that balances automated and manual testing. Automated testing can help you understand how accessible your existing content is and even fix common accessibility issues. Manual testing further enhances accessibility by looking deeper into your content and identifying additional barriers. Taking a hybrid approach allows you to find the majority of accessibility issues and create accessible, usable digital content.

How to Conduct an Effective WCAG Audit

A successful WCAG audit involves several key steps to ensure the audit is thorough and accurate. If you’re doing a WCAG audit, here are a few steps to follow:

• Understand WCAG guidelines: Familiarize yourself with the latest WCAG guidelines so you know what you are testing your content against.

• Select accessibility testing tools: Choose accessibility tools you can use to conduct initial automated assessments and manual testing methods to verify your findings.

• Scope definition: Next, define the scope of your audit. Determine which digital content you’ll run accessibility tests on. Consider testing a variety of content, including text, images, multimedia, PDFs, and forms, to better understand how accessible your content is. 

• Conduct both manual and automated testing: Test your content for accessibility using both automated and manual tools.

• Document your findings: After the audit, document all identified accessibility issues. Include details like where the issue(s) occur, which WCAG guideline it violates, and recommendations for improvement.

• Prioritize issues: Prioritize identified issues for remediation based on their severity and impact on accessibility. For example, some issues that need to be resolved quickly might have a critical effect on users (e.g., preventing screen readers from accessing content). Others (e.g., minor color contrast errors) are less severe and can be fixed once higher-priority issues have been resolved. 

• Monitor and maintain: Remember, accessibility is an ongoing process. You’ll need to regularly audit your content for accessibility and resolve any new issues. Continuous monitoring will also help you maintain compliance as accessibility standards evolve.

What Does a WCAG Audit Look For?

Both manual and automated accessibility tests evaluate whether a website meets WCAG's success criteria. Each requirement is written as a simple pass-or-fail statement. We’ve mentioned a few of the WCAG recommendations audits look for above, but here are a few more:

• No keyboard trap(opens in a new tab): Many people browse the internet with a keyboard only. Some web elements may cause these users to get “trapped” on a form entry field or another website component.

• Non-text content(opens in a new tab): Images, graphs, and other non-text content must include alternative text (alt text) that describes a written description of the image. Using alt text ensures people with visual disabilities can still interact with non-text elements and those who choose to browse with images disabled.

• Minimum contrast for text(opens in a new tab): WCAG recommends a minimum color contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for standard text, ensuring individuals with color vision disabilities can distinguish between text and other web elements.

• Timing adjustable(opens in a new tab): Some users with disabilities need more time to log into websites, complete forms, and perform other interactions. WCAG requires that websites provide users with a way to turn off, adjust, or extend time limits so they have adequate time to complete tasks.

• Captions(opens in a new tab): Captions allow individuals with hearing disabilities or impairments to understand video content. WCAG requires websites to include captions for all pre-recorded audio content to ensure these users can interact with videos.

  Please note this is not an exhaustive list of WCAG success criteria. In total, WCAG 2.2 includes more success criteria organized around the four web accessibility principles.

Most automated accessibility audits test for a portion of the WCAG success criteria, with manual testers covering the rest. Additionally, WCAG audits typically reference the conformance level of each accessibility issue. WCAG is divided into three levels of conformance:

• WCAG Level A: The minimum level of conformance, Level A contains basic success criteria for removing serious accessibility barriers that affect a wide range of users.

• WCAG Level AA: Level AA removes additional accessibility barriers and establishes a level of accessibility that works for most users with disabilities and assistive technologies, such as screen readers.

• WCAG Level AAA: The most strict level of conformance, Level AAA contains additional success criteria to establish the highest possible level of accessibility.

  
  For most websites, WCAG Level AA conformance is a reasonable (and achievable) goal. Most accessibility laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act(opens in a new tab) (ADA), the European Accessibility Act(opens in a new tab) (EAA), and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act(opens in a new tab) (AODA), cite Level AA as the acceptable level for compliance.

A list of key considerations when choosing a WCAG audit tool, including scope, timeframe, and remediation capabilities

How to Choose a Web Accessibility Audit Tool

While dozens of resources are available for testing WCAG conformance, they vary in features and capabilities. As you’re evaluating differing audit tools, keep the following in mind:

• Scope: All of your digital content — including web pages, mobile apps, and online documents — needs to conform with WCAG. Your accessibility audit should include a broad sample of your various content types so you can create a more accessible website.

• Timeframe: To maintain compliance, you need to test your website whenever content changes. Some types of content change frequently, meaning manual one-time audits may not accurately analyze them.

• Remediation capabilities: Most audit tools will identify WCAG conformance issues but won’t fix them. For many websites, solutions that provide automated remediations can save time that would otherwise be spent manually fixing issues.

What is the Goal of a WCAG Audit?

The basic components of a WCAG audit report include:

• An overview of the audited digital content detailing the number and severity of accessibility issues.

• A list of the accessibility issues found on each individual web page.

• A clear explanation of each issue and how it might impact users with disabilities.

• Guidance for remediating (fixing) each issue.

With an accurate audit report, you can improve compliance with various accessibility laws — including the ADA, EAA, and AODA. You’ll also learn how to create better content going forward, helping you reach a wider audience and provide users with a more consistent experience.

A stylized web page that shows a list of accessibility errors

When Should You Conduct a WCAG Audit?

You don’t need to wait until you’ve published your digital assets to start thinking about WCAG. Most accessibility issues are much easier to fix when developing content — before they affect real users. Implementing accessibility solutions into your development process can help with this. 

For example, AudioEye’s Developer Tools provides web developers with a pre-production environment where they can test code and other digital components for accessibility issues. Because our tools are purpose-built, accessibility testing is made more accessible and effective, allowing developers to fix issues before they impact your customers.

However, there’s no wrong time to get started with accessibility — especially if it can help you avoid getting hit with non-compliance lawsuits or demand letters. Conducting a WCAG audit now can help you get started in identifying existing accessibility issues and creating a plan to remedy them.

Why are WCAG Audits Important?

Put simply, every organization has a responsibility to provide accessible content for the estimated 1.3 billion people worldwide who live with a disability(opens in a new tab). 

It’s not just good business to make your website accessible for all users. Having inaccessible content can also pose legal risks. In the United States, the ADA prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in public spaces, including online spaces. Other non-discrimination laws, including the EAA and AODA, apply similar laws to websites, mobile apps, and other online content.

Accessibility compliance is much easier when your content is compared against clear technical guidelines. That’s why WCAG is so important—as an objective framework, it establishes clear rules for evaluating your content.

WCAG 2.0, 2.1, and 2.2 Conformance and Digital Accessibility Laws

When digital content fulfills WCAG’s requirements (called success criteria), it’s better for all users. For example, WCAG-compliant content works better with assistive technologies like screen readers (software that outputs text as audio or braille). This gives individuals with sensory limitations easy access to your content, and your site works better in a variety of situations (e.g., the right color contrast can make your website more readable in bright light). 

As you’re testing your digital content for accessibility, ensure it meets as many WCAG success criteria as possible. You may want to consider testing your content against previous versions of WCAG (e.g., 2.0 and 2.1). Doing so can help you identify additional accessibility barriers that might prevent users from accessing your content. 

Additionally, the more accessible your site is, the more likely you are to avoid non-compliance penalties that can result in hefty fines, lawsuits, damage to your reputation, and more.

Maintain WCAG Conformance with AudioEye

Whether building a new website or developing an accessibility strategy for your existing content, AudioEye can help. Our platform pairs powerful automation with expert guidance, providing the best path to WCAG conformance. 

AudioEye’s WCAG Audit tests content against WCAG 2.2 Level AA success criteria and fixes many issues automatically. Through our Active Monitoring software, you get a real-time assessment of your website’s accessibility. Our Expert Audits furthers accessibility and usability by identifying and addressing accessibility issues that require a human touch.