Tech Content
In modern digital landscapes, usability and visibility are essential components of any successful online presence. Accessible UX design aims to create inclusive digital experiences that are usable by everyone, including people with disabilities. But how do we reach a broader array of users without reinventing the wheel? While legislation, education, and advocacy address accessibility on a macro level, we can also make impactful changes on the micro level by improving visibility for those who go the extra mile in their efforts. By combining search engine optimization (SEO) with enhanced alt text, we extend the benefits of accessible UX design not only to users with disabilities but also to content creators and marketers alike while paving a new path over long-trodden ground. Below, we will explore these concepts further, discuss why a little SEO combined with well-executed alt text can go a long way, and illustrate how to make that happen.
Accessible UX Design: The New Black
Accessible UX design focuses on ensuring that digital experiences work for any user, regardless of their abilities or the context in which they engage with content. What sets accessible UX design apart from general user experience design is that it doesn't just enhance usability for some; it broadens that focus to include demographics often considered as an afterthought. Involving the input of diverse users from the inception of a project ensures that digital landscapes are usable for all– not only those with disabilities but also individuals in temporary or situational contexts, like low-light environments or noisy spaces.
Accessible UX Design isn’t just an implementation of best practices; it's a necessity for creating digital products that serve everyone effectively, across a variety of circumstances. An added benefit is that thanks to improved usability overall, accessible websites simply perform better. By following the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines’ (WCAG) success criteria from the outset, creators and businesses won’t just expand their reach; they’ll also save money in the long run. The key is to make sure to incorporate feedback from a wide range of users, including users with varied disabilities, prior to beginning production protocol. Alternatively, maximizing the known quantifiables of WCAG success criteria can serve as a robust guide for those who choose to forgo user research.
Accessible sites not only serve more users but also tend to perform better on Google’s Core Web Vitals, metrics that measure essential aspects of user experience such as loading speed, responsiveness, and visual stability. Since many accessibility improvements align closely with mobile-friendliness, addressing these issues can also boost your website’s overall performance in search engine rankings. By embodying the principles of accessible UX design, you offer an inclusive, seamless experience while positioning your content for greater visibility and long-term success.
SEO: Optimization Equals Outreach
SEO focuses on improving your website’s ranking in search engine results, driving more traffic to your content. What benefits users, including users with disabilities, also benefits creators and business owners. Could it be possible to set a new standard by filling the top spots in search engines with accessible content? Increased visibility for sites with enhanced accessibility standards means the content most easily accessed will be at the forefront of internet searches, all due to the information embedded in their metadata. These sites will be the first to reach the users who need them most, and as an addendum to this ripple effect, the bar for creating accessible user experiences will also be raised for those who have yet to follow suit.
Alt Text: Leveraging Your Metadata
Short for alternative text, alt text is a brief description of an image that helps users understand the image when it cannot be seen, whether due to visual impairments or if the browser cannot retrieve the image file. Creating a better alt text experience begins with better image choices. Aside from images used for purely decorative purposes, every image can be a hero, both behind the scenes on the accessibility frontline and to sighted users perusing the web. While this may seem like a simple idea, choosing better images offers multiple benefits. Too often, websites rely on stock photos as decorative fillers, making much of the content online not only inaccessible but also uninspired. To truly leverage the accessibility and SEO advantage, the remaining visual content should be meaningful and relevant to both your audience and your purpose. Naturally, this approach elevates the experience for both sighted users and those with low to no vision. It also improves what can be achieved behind the scenes when labeling content with the necessary metadata, ultimately increasing engagement for users of all abilities.
From Insight to Implementation
For images that exist as purely decorative, it’s important to specify them as such by using an empty alt attribute (alt=””) to make them invisible to both screen readers and search engines while enhancing the overall user experience. As an extra precaution, adding aria-hidden=”true” will ensure more consistent behavior across different assistive technologies, especially in complex web environments where multiple accessibility rules may apply. (Fun fact: The latter attribute and value can be added to any element, not only images, making it useful in situations where you want to make certain an element isn’t announced. However, take care to only apply it when content is meant to be hidden, or it could create accessibility issues that weren’t previously there.)
After thoughtfully selecting the visual content of the page, we can move on to writing effective alt text with SEO in mind. First and foremost, always prioritize accessibility over SEO when writing alt text since that is its intended purpose. Keeping that in view, it’s fine to enrich your metadata with a bit of extra consideration toward visibility. Another crucial factor with regard to effective alt text, particularly when optimizing search discoverability, is that context isn’t just important; it’s everything. Ask yourself: What is the purpose of this page, and how does this image fit into that purpose? Well-chosen visual content, coupled with the right descriptive alt text, will attract the intended audience and enhance their engagement with the products, services, or experiences the site offers. A third area of focus is keywords. It’s crucial to never, under any circumstances, keyword stuff. Not only does it harm the accessibility of the content, but it also negatively impacts SEO by lowering search rankings. Keywords should be incorporated into alt text minimally and naturally, but it’s a worthwhile pursuit to strategically include them in a way that does not disrupt an accessible user experience, instead enhancing it. As always, be descriptive, specific, and concise with your wording. For reference, here’s an example of:
- Poor alt text with keyword stuffing: "Cool Beans iced coffee, best iced coffee at Cool Beans, buy Cool Beans iced coffee, Cool Beans coffee shop, order iced coffee now, Cool Beans iced coffee sale, premium iced coffee at Cool Beans."
- Alt text without SEO in mind: "A glass of iced coffee with condensation on the side, served on a sunny patio."
- Alt text incorporating SEO: "A refreshing glass of iced coffee from Cool Beans, perfect for a hot summer day, served with a splash of cream."
For further exploration of well-written alt text, please reference Writing Alternative Text for Images.
Accessibility Is Usability
Incorporating accessible UX design into your digital strategy is not just about compliance; it’s about inclusion. By creating quality content that is both accessible and optimized for search engines, your site will serve a broader audience, improve its visibility, and rise above the competition. The future of digital success belongs to those who design with everyone in mind.
About the Author
Kristen Reed is a Teach Access Student Ambassador and Student Academy alum, currently interning with AFB’s Talent Lab. A late-diagnosed Autist and psychology student at Western Governors University with a foundation in digital design and web development best practices, Kristen aspires to embed accessibility into the early phases of design and development through inclusive user research. They’re passionate about advocacy and building digital spaces that work for everyone.
About AFB Talent Lab
The AFB Talent Lab aims to meet the accessibility needs of the tech industry – and millions of people living with disabilities – through a unique combination of hands-on training, mentorship, and consulting services, created and developed by our own digital inclusion experts. To learn more about our internship and apprenticeship programs or our client services, please visit our website at www.afb.org/talentlab.
