This post is for a recent podcast we did at the wowtechminute.com website. It’s part of a five part series on Web Accessibility. Get the audio over at the WOW Technology Minute.
Just trying to draw out the similarities between Web Accessibility and SEO so that more folks will pay attention to the Web Accessibility Guidelines.
Top Ten tips on the WAI page at the W3c
Accessibility Tip
1. Images & animations: Use the alt attribute to describe the function of each visual.
SEO Relevancy
Alt tags tell search engines what’s on your page.
Accessibility Tip
2. Image maps. Use the client-side map and text for hotspots.
SEO Relevancy
Make the the text in your image maps descriptive so you can get exposure for your releative keywords.
Accessibility Tip
3. Multimedia. Provide captioning and transcripts of audio, and descriptions of video.
SEO Relevancy
Captioning gets read by search engines.
Accessibility Tip
4. Hypertext links. Use text that makes sense when read out of context. For example, avoid “click here.”
SEO Relevancy
Screen readers read the links, so do searchbots.
Accessibility Tip
5. Page organization. Use headings, lists, and consistent structure. Use CSS for layout and style where possible.
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Semantics H1 tags for headers H2 tags for subheads and so on. The structure of your page is reflected in your search results.
Accessibility Tip
6. Graphs & charts. Summarize or use the longdesc attribute.
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Long descriptions, yum.
Accessibility Tip
7. Scripts, applets, & plug-ins. Provide alternative content in case active features are inaccessible or unsupported.
SEO Relevancy
Search bots can get confused by applets and plugins. Seaerch bots understand text. Use alternative text. See W3c recommendations for ways to add alt text properly.
Accessibility Tip
8. Frames. Use the noframes element and meaningful titles.
SEO Relevancy
This one drives me crazy. I hope we can all figure out how to stop using frames but if not, this will help search bots find their way around you frames.
Accessibility Tip
9. Tables. Make line-by-line reading sensible. Summarize.
SEO Relevancy
Let’s try to stop using tables too but if you have to or already have a bunch, you can retrofit fit them for accessibility and search bots with the right text in the right place.
Accessibility Tip
10. Check your work. Validate. Use tools, checklist, and guidelines at http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG
SEO Relevancy
Also find the search engine and webmaster guidelines for all the major search engines and memorize them. Okay, maybe just read them. But do read them.
Google recently changed one of their quality guidelines from “Make pages for users, not for search engines.” to “Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines.”
The takeaway…
Anyone can order these tips from the website on a slick vinyl reference sheet. They’ve managed to fit them all on a business card. really handy for design, development and for selling your services.
Additional Resources
(The link above hs just about everything you need.)
