Accessibility and searchability go hand in hand.
Google cannot see your visual content, it can only scan words on the page. When you add image descriptions and relevant keywords to a page, Google - and people using screen readers - can better access your content.
Ensuring your site visitors have equal access to your content is critical. By following accessibility guidelines, you are on your way to helping your site rank higher in search results.
Google is blind, and so are many of your site visitors.
Google and other search engines cannot use visual cues, colors, charts, graphs, or images., nor can it watch videos in the same way that over 40 million people worldwide cannot see colors, images, or read data in a chart. These individuals often use screen readers to listen to webpage be read aloud. Those screen readers scan the page in the same way Google scans a page for searchable content.
When you make your site easier to access for screen readers, you make it easier to get found on Google.
I help make sites both accessible and search-engine-friendly.
Download my presentation, Google is Blind: Search and Accessibility, or read my white paper to explore this topic in detail.
Want to know more about search engine optimization (SEO)?
Check out another recent presentation by downloading this Tech Tuesday Extension presentation.
“The most important blind visitor to your website is Google! In the same way that creating accessible web pages helps disabled person access your content, it also helps Google index your pages so that the right people can find your service or product.”