Accessibility Audits 101

What is an accessibility audit? An accessibility audit is a structured evaluation of a website to determine whether it meets established accessibility standards — most commonly WCAG 2.1 Level AA.

Accessibility audits typically combine two methods: automated testing and manual testing — also known as expert testing. Automated tools can scan your site and flag common accessibility issues, such as missing alt text, low color contrast, and improper heading structure.

But automated testing alone catches only about 30 to 40 percent of accessibility issues. Manual testing — performed by a human reviewer, often using assistive technology such as a screen reader — is needed to catch the rest.

A thorough accessibility audit will document the issues found, map them to a specific WCAG criterion, assign a severity level (such as high to low), and provide clear guidance on how to fix them.

Audits can be conducted by a third-party accessibility specialist, an in-house team, or through a combination of automated platforms and expert review.

If you want to test your website for accessibility, the audit is where you start.

For more information on audits, check the resources in the description.