23rd September 2018 the Web Accessibility Directive came into force in Sweden and other countries included in the European Union (EU). This law covers all state, municipal and public sectors. With this law websites, intranets, documents, extranets and applications must be developed according to EN301549 requirements.

What is Accessibility about and why is it important? To be frank accessibility, aka A11Y, is actually about creating a totally friendly environment that includes a wide range of people who are customers, users, individuals with disabilities and many others. Thinking accessibility in our modern digital world increases sales, makes a product or service properly noticed and adds value. Another way of thinking A11Y is thinking Inclusive Design. One of the most popular misconception is that investing in example an accessible website requires too much effort and is expensive – NOT TRUE. Of course, this will require some effort, but not as much as one may think. There are companies today who have faced law suits because they ignored accessibility. Not considering accessibility is considered rude, especially now when the law covers public sectors.

 

ACCESSIBILITY + SEO = BETTER BUSINESS

So how does accessibility help SEO (search engine optimization)? We all know that quality content allows your website to rank top on google and the higher your text quality, the better. When creating content that is inclusive, alt-text is normally used on images and videos include capture text. To make sure the alt-text is done properly it is important to follow Web Content Accessibility Guidelines also known as WCAG. 

 

What does SEO and Accessibility have in common?

According to research studies accessible websites show better search results by being both accessible and SEO friendly, reaching a larger audience. Thinking accessibility also hepls developers do better coding.

 What does SEO and Accessibility have in common:

–      Clear Headlines;

–      Clear meaning, when writing by being concise;

–      Clear language when describing links;

–      Page title keywords to describe a content;

–      Easy reading on any screen size.

Another way to boost your search traffic and have better accessibility at the same time is by adding closed captions and transcripts to both videos and audios. By doing this you create a more accessible content. According to 3PlayMedia pages with transcripts earned on average 16% more revenue than they did before transcripts were added. Another interesting fact is that people tend to read closed captions on videos more than watching with sound. How many times on Facebook, LinkedIn or on the internet have you watched a video without sound, but with captions or perhaps with both? Exactly! Discovery Digital Networks (DDN) performed a research experiment where Youtube videos with captions had 7.32% more views on average than videos without captions.

 

CONCLUSION

Accessibility in combination with SEO are a perfect match. It is beneficial for both business and everyone. Thinking accessibility and inclusivity adds great value to any product or environment.

Sources: 3playmedia, W3C