Accessibility on the web and SEO: Remember that blind guy you scrutinized? He’s got an internet connection now!

Not only do we regularly discriminate these people in the real world, which would probably be the reason that they cuddle themselves in their homes. But we go one step further and deny them access to the information in the virtual world from the same homes we have driven them into. Don’t believe me?

While you’re reading this post, please do me a favor and cover your eyes for a second. And what do you see? Exactly as much as on of the 37 million blind people worldwide will.
For the capitalists amongst us: you’re missing out on 37 million potential customers!

And while you’re spending 1000nds of dollars for cool looking website you’re not only neglecting and discriminating these people but search engines may be giving you a hard time obtaining appropriate raking also.

So what do we do about that?

I must admit that I’m preaching water and drinking wine to a certain extent. But I’m aware of the issue which is the first and initial step to take. And I’ve got people spilling their guts finding a solution. And what are you doing?

1. Raising awareness?
   Hardly one company has heard about this issue. Get the word out – share this post, syndicate it or whatever!
2. Read about it?
   The W3C offers comprehensive documentation on the web accessibility initiative WAI
3. Checking your website?
   Maybe it even complies to the initiative’s guidelines already? Do this by going through this checklist (click)
4. Asking consultants who know what they’re doing?
   There are several consultants out there who can help you out. I am one of them. So please feel free to contact me.

What effect does it have? Why the effort?

1. corporate social responsibility
   if you don’t explicitly proclaim what you’ve done hardly anyone will recognize the difference. Yet you’ve done a good thing which is generally perceived in a positive way – not only by the disabled themselves who will praise you – but also by the general public
2. better search engine ranking
   makes sense, right? Sort of like modern conditioning… Do something good and Google and co. will reward you. If your website complies to the guidelines mentioned above you will most likely see your site being rewarded a better raking.

The effort is – most of the times – pretty small.

Bottom line: Accessibility issues are not to be neglected. First of all you’re making the virtual world a better place for a hell lot of people and above that raise your image to the general public.

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8 Comments

• 
  Thomas April 16, 2008 at 1:17 am

  I find it VERY ironic that you post a blog about accessibility and seo, and use such a low contrast font. Light gray on white, It’s grayte!
• 
  Lars Hilse April 16, 2008 at 2:06 am

  Hi Thomas,

  thanks for the scoop there! And as I mentioned above (read line 15!) we’re fixing that. So hold your horses a bit

  Thanks again

  L
• access how to April 27, 2008 at 6:04 am

  [...] of the W3C can perform a shift in your PageRank and the general SEO score of your website.http://lars-hilse.de/the-web-tactician/2008/04/11/accessibility-on-the-web-and-seo-remember-that-bli…Open access – Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaOA means that any user, anywhere, who has access to [...]
• Lars Hilse March 9, 2009 at 7:28 pm

  Howto: accessibility on your website and how it affects your SEO score http://bit.ly/18e0o
• Lars Hilse March 13, 2009 at 3:50 am

  How accessibility can improve your SEO score http://bit.ly/18e0o
• Gianluigi Cuccureddu May 31, 2009 at 11:11 am

  RT @lars_hilse: How Google rewards accessibility on your websites increases SEO score! http://adjix.com/nfx2
• Lars Hilse June 23, 2009 at 4:07 am

  How Google rewards accessibility on your websites increases SEO score! http://adjix.com/nfx2
• Lars Hilse June 23, 2009 at 5:07 am

  How Google rewards accessibility on your websites increases SEO score! http://adjix.com/nfx2

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