How to Perform an Accessibility Audit (Step-by-Step Guide)
Updated on January 1, 2026
Accessibility-related lawsuits under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) have increased sharply in recent years, turning website accessibility into a real risk for organizations of all sizes.
But accessibility is not only about legal exposure. It is about making sure real people can use your website without barriers.
Many teams assume they are covered after running a quick automated scan or adding a surface-level fix. In practice, those steps often miss critical issues and create a false sense of compliance.
This guide explains how accessibility audits actually work in real-world conditions.
It is built on internal studies analyzing 100,000+ scanned pages, combined with hands-on auditing experience across real production websites in different industries.
Taking a data-driven approach matters. When you understand which accessibility issues appear most often, you can prioritize the highest-impact fixes, catch barriers earlier, and make your website usable for a wider audience while reducing long-term risk.
The chart below highlights the accessibility issues we encounter most frequently during audits and shows why effective accessibility testing goes beyond automation alone.
Further down in this guide, we break these findings down in more detail and explain the practical steps you can take today to check whether your website passes or fails these accessibility checks.
What is an accessibility audit?
An accessibility audit evaluates how accessible a website is for people with disabilities.
It checks whether users can navigate, understand, and interact with content using assistive technologies and alternative inputs.
The goal is to identify barriers, understand compliance gaps, and provide clear guidance on what needs to be fixed.
Why Accessibility Audits Matter in the United States
In the United States, website accessibility is enforced under the Americans with Disabilities Act. While the ADA does not define technical website rules, courts consistently rely on WCAG when evaluating whether a website is accessible.
This has made accessibility audits a critical risk-management tool. Without an audit, organizations are often unaware of barriers that expose them to complaints, demand letters, or lawsuits.
Audits help organizations move from assumptions to evidence. They reveal where real users are blocked, how WCAG expectations apply in practice, and which issues create the highest legal and usability risk.
What to Look For in an Accessibility Audit (10 Common Issues)
Once you understand why accessibility audits matter, the next question is what auditors actually look for in practice.
Based on internal studies analyzing over 100,000 accessibility scan results, the issues below consistently appear as the most common barriers and are among the first checks we perform during accessibility audits.
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Keyboard Navigation
Users should be able to move through the site, open menus, and submit forms using only a keyboard. Audits check that nothing is unreachable or traps the user.
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Focus Visibility
When navigating by keyboard, users must be able to clearly see which element is currently selected. Audits check that focus indicators are always visible.
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Page Structure and Headings
Headings help users understand and navigate content. Audits verify that headings are used correctly so assistive technologies can follow the page structure.
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Form Labels and Instructions
Form fields need clear labels that are properly connected. Audits check that users know what information is required in each field, even when using a screen reader or voice input.
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Screen Reader Clarity
Buttons, links, and interactive elements must clearly describe their purpose. Audits check that screen readers announce meaningful and accurate information.
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Images and Alternative Text
Images that convey information must include text alternatives. Audits check that users who cannot see images still receive the same information.
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Icons and Visual Symbols
Icons often replace text. Audits check that icons are either described for assistive technologies or correctly hidden when they are decorative.
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Text Readability and Contrast
Text must remain readable for users with low vision. Audits check color contrast and whether content stays usable when zoomed.
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Popups and Dialogs
When popups or modals appear, users should not lose their place. Audits verify that keyboard users can interact with dialogs and close them easily.
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Links and Navigation Clarity
Links should make sense on their own. Audits check that users understand where a link leads and when it opens a new window or tab.
While these are some of the most common findings, they represent only part of a full accessibility audit and should not be treated as a complete checklist.
Free Web Accessibility Checker
Enter your website URL to get a free, instant accessibility scan with tabnav's checker.
When You Should Run an Accessibility Audit
The earlier you audit, the easier accessibility is to manage.
Many organizations choose to run an accessibility audit before a redesign or migration, when changes are already planned. Others begin after receiving a demand letter or when entering regulated markets.
Audits are also important when new features are released or content is updated frequently. Even small changes can introduce accessibility issues if they are not reviewed.
How Accessibility Guidelines Fit Into an Accessibility Audit
Accessibility audits are based on established guidelines, not personal opinions. The most widely used standard is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, published by the World Wide Web Consortium.
WCAG is designed to support people with different types of disabilities and recognizes that accessibility is not a simple pass-or-fail checklist.
To make accessibility measurable, WCAG groups its requirements into different levels of conformance, helping organizations understand what needs to be fixed and what is expected for compliance.
Understanding WCAG Conformance Levels
WCAG includes three conformance levels: Level A, Level AA, and Level AAA. Each level represents a different depth of accessibility support.
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Level A: Essential Accessibility
Level A covers the most basic accessibility requirements. Issues at this level often prevent users from accessing a website at all, such as being unable to navigate with a keyboard or use a screen reader.
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Level AA: The Expected Standard
Level AA builds on Level A and addresses more common barriers, including color contrast, readable text, clear navigation, and usable forms.
For most commercial websites, including e-commerce, Level A and Level AA together are the expected compliance target and the level most often referenced in legal and regulatory contexts.
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Level AAA: Advanced and Limited Use
Level AAA represents the highest level of accessibility and is usually relevant only in specific public-sector or government scenarios. It is not typically expected across an entire commercial website.
Some Level AAA requirements are designed to support very specific disability needs and are not realistic for all content. For example, Success Criterion 1.2.6 - Sign Language (Prerecorded) is a Level AAA requirement that calls for sign language interpretation for prerecorded video content. While important for some users, applying this across all video content would be impractical for most e-commerce websites.
Which WCAG Level Does Your Website Need to Meet?
If you are unsure which WCAG level applies to your website, it's best to consult an accessibility expert. Requirements can vary depending on your organization, industry, audience, and location.
In most cases, if your organization has not been explicitly told to meet Level AAA, compliance with Level A and Level AA is sufficient. These levels address the most common accessibility barriers and align with typical legal expectations.
Manual vs Automated Accessibility Audits
When people hear "accessibility audit," one of the first questions is whether automated testing is enough or if manual testing is also required. The difference matters, because each approach uncovers a different type of accessibility issue.
Automated Accessibility Audits
Pros
- Fast and scalable across large websites
- Effective at catching repeatable technical issues
- Useful for ongoing monitoring and regression detection
Cons
- Cannot understand real user interaction or context
- Miss issues related to keyboard flow and screen reader behavior
- May flag false positives or overlook meaningful barriers
Manual Accessibility Audits
Pros
- Reveals issues automated tools cannot detect
- Tests real user journeys and interaction logic
- Provides clearer insight into usability and impact
Cons
- More time-intensive
- Requires accessibility expertise
- Harder to scale across very large sites
Bringing Both Approaches Together
The tabnav Accessibility Checker was developed with both methods in mind. It combines automated scanning with simulated user interaction to uncover hidden accessibility issues, helping teams identify problems at scale while highlighting where deeper manual review is needed.
Keeping Your Website Accessible Over Time
Let's say you made your website accessible last year. You ran automated and manual tests, fixed the issues, and everything looked compliant at the time.
Since then, the site changed. New pages were added. Forms were updated. Pop-ups went live. Large parts of the layout were redesigned.
Even though accessibility was handled before, those changes can easily reintroduce barriers. If the site is inaccessible today, it doesn't matter that it was compliant in the past.
That's why accessibility audits only matter if they lead to ongoing action.
Accessibility needs to be considered every time the site changes, whether content is updated, features are added, or designs are adjusted.
We know this firsthand. As we manage our own website internally, the site evolves constantly. Pages are restructured, new components are added, and layouts change as the company grows.
Each of those changes has the potential to introduce new accessibility barriers, even when the site was accessible before.
That's where regular accessibility audits come into place. By reviewing accessibility with every meaningful change, issues can be caught early and compliance can be maintained as the site evolves, instead of fixing problems only after they surface.
To support this in practice, the tabnav accessibility platform provides always-on auditing through scheduled scans. As changes are made to the site, these scans help detect new accessibility issues early and support ongoing ADA compliance over time.
Accessibility Audits and SEO
Accessibility improvements often support search visibility.
Google's crawler relies on clear structure, proper headings, descriptive links, and well-labeled content to understand and index pages correctly. The same signals are used by assistive technologies.
When accessibility is improved, crawlability and content interpretation usually improve as well. Pages become easier for search engines to process, classify, and include in the index.
Clear structure and predictable content flow help Google associate pages with the right topics and queries. They also reduce ambiguity for AI systems that analyze page meaning.
Over time, this leads to stronger indexing signals, better discoverability, and increased trust, often beyond accessibility-related searches.
Final Thoughts
An accessibility audit is not about passing a test or generating a report.
It is about understanding how people actually experience your website and where real barriers exist. When done properly, it reduces legal risk, improves usability, and creates a foundation for sustainable accessibility.
Treat accessibility audits as ongoing quality control, not a one-off task, and they become a long-term asset rather than a last-minute fix.
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