Performing a Web Accessibility Audit

Understanding What Accessibility Audit Involves

An accessibility audit evaluates how well a digital product meets accessibility standards like WCAG. It combines automated scans, manual testing, and assistive technology checks to identify barriers for users with visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive impairments.

Audits typically review navigation, keyboard access, screen reader support, color contrast, and form usability. Most focus on high-traffic pages, key user flows, and interactive elements that impact the overall experience.

Why Accessibility Audits Are Critical for Compliance and UX

Accessibility audits are essential for more than just legal compliance. They directly impact how real users engage with digital products across devices and assistive technologies.

Here’s why accessibility audits matter:

• Ensure legal compliance with regulations such as WCAG, ADA, and Section 508
• Improve usability for everyone by addressing issues like unclear navigation or small tap targets
• Support inclusive design by uncovering barriers that automated tests alone may miss
• Reduce business risk by avoiding lawsuits, penalties, and customer churn due to inaccessibility
• Build trust with users by showing a commitment to accessibility and equal access

When done regularly and thoroughly, accessibility audits contribute to better product quality and a broader, more engaged audience

Types of Accessibility Audits: Manual, Automated, Hybrid

Accessibility audits can be conducted using different approaches, each with its own strengths. 

Choosing the right method depends on the product, team resources, and compliance goals.

1. Manual audits involve hands-on testing by accessibility specialists using assistive technologies like screen readers and keyboard navigation. This method helps uncover complex usability issues that automated tools may miss, such as incorrect focus order or misleading labels.
2. Automated audits use tools to quickly scan code and detect common issues like missing alt text, low contrast, or improper heading structure. They are efficient for initial checks but cannot evaluate context, user flow, or interactive behavior.
3. Hybrid audits combine both approaches to maximize coverage. Automated tools identify broad issues, while manual testing validates user experience and identifies gaps not detectable by code analysis.

A hybrid approach is recommended for most teams, as it balances speed with accuracy and delivers a complete picture of accessibility.

How to Decide When You Need an Accessibility Audit

Knowing when to run an accessibility audit helps teams catch issues before they affect users or lead to compliance risks. 

Audits are most effective when timed with key phases in the product lifecycle.

Common scenarios that call for an audit include:

• Before a product launch or redesign to ensure new content meets accessibility standards
• After major feature updates that introduce new navigation, forms, or components
• During routine QA cycles to include accessibility alongside functional testing
• In response to user feedback or legal concerns that raise accessibility red flags
• As part of annual compliance checks to monitor long-term accessibility health

Running audits proactively helps teams fix problems early, avoid costly retrofits, and deliver inclusive digital experiences consistently.

Setting the Scope of Your Accessibility Audit

A defined audit scope helps focus on the most important areas of your product. Identify key platforms, content types, and user flows to include, based on both technical coverage and business impact.

Selecting Pages, Templates, and User Journeys

To get meaningful results, select pages and templates that reflect real usage. Prioritize high-traffic pages, conversion paths, and core layouts that affect multiple areas of the site or application.

Include:

• Homepage and main navigation
• Product or service pages
• Forms, modals, and login flows
• Reusable components and templates (e.g., headers, footers, cards)

Review user journeys such as signup, checkout, search, and profile updates to ensure end-to-end accessibility.

Identifying High-Impact User Scenarios

Focusing on high-impact user scenarios ensures the audit captures real accessibility risks. These are situations where accessibility failures can block essential tasks or prevent users from completing key actions.

Examples include:

• Submitting a form without a mouse
• Accessing content with screen readers or voice input
• Navigating with only a keyboard or switch device
• Using a mobile device with text scaling or contrast settings enabled

Identifying these scenarios allows you to simulate how users with disabilities experience your product and uncover critical gaps.

Accessibility Guidelines to Reference During an Audit

Accessibility audits must be conducted against recognized guidelines to ensure consistency, accuracy, and legal defensibility. These guidelines define how interfaces should be structured and tested for accessibility.

The three most relevant guideline categories are:

• WCAG success criteria
• Regional accessibility laws and policies
• Platform-specific accessibility requirements

Referencing these ensures your audit is thorough and aligned with global expectations.

Accessibility Audit Reference Table

An effective accessibility audit should align with recognized standards, legal requirements, and platform-specific needs. The table below summarizes key success criteria, laws, and platform considerations to guide a thorough audit process.

Step-by-Step Accessibility Audit Process

An effective accessibility audit follows a structured process that combines automated checks, manual testing, and validation with assistive technologies. The steps below outline how to plan, execute, and document a successful audit.

Step 1: Plan the audit workflow

Define the scope, goals, and timeline of the audit. Identify the specific pages, templates, or user flows to evaluate. Assign responsibilities to team members across development, QA, and design.

Step 2: Perform automated and manual checks

Use automated tools to detect common accessibility issues such as contrast errors, missing labels, or semantic markup problems. Follow up with manual testing to catch interaction and usability barriers that tools cannot detect.

Step 3: Verify compatibility with assistive technologies

Test using screen readers like VoiceOver and TalkBack, as well as keyboard-only and switch device navigation. This ensures users with disabilities can access core features and complete critical tasks.

Step 4: Test forms, navigation, and dynamic content

Evaluate interactive components such as forms, dropdowns, modals, and menus. Check that input fields are labeled, error messages are accessible, and dynamic content is properly announced to assistive technologies.

Step 5: Capture evidence and assign severity ratings

Document each issue with a screenshot or description, and map it to the appropriate WCAG criterion. Assign a severity level based on how the issue impacts accessibility and user flow.

Step 6: Create the accessibility audit report

Compile findings into a clear, structured report. Include a summary, issue list, severity ratings, WCAG references, and recommended fixes. Make the report easy to understand for both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Embedding Accessibility in Development and QA Cycles

Making accessibility part of everyday workflows is the best way to maintain compliance and usability over time. It should be built into every stage of product development—from planning to release.

Best practices for integration:

• Include accessibility requirements in user stories and acceptance criteria
• Run automated scans during development and as part of CI pipelines
• Perform manual checks during QA, especially on forms, modals, and dynamic content
• Assign accessibility responsibilities across dev, design, and QA roles
• Track accessibility bugs alongside other defects using your standard issue tracker
• Conduct regression audits after major changes or releases
• Provide ongoing training to keep teams up to date with evolving standards

Top Tools and Extensions for Conducting Accessibility Audits

Accessibility audits are more effective when supported by the right tools. These platforms help teams detect issues early, test across environments, and validate compliance efficiently.

1. BrowserStack Accessibility Testing

BrowserStack Accessibility Testing allows teams to audit websites on real devices and browsers, making it easy to simulate real-world user conditions.

Key features:

• Runs audits based on WCAG 2.0, 2.1, and 2.2 success criteria
• Identifies issues like missing alt text, low contrast, and focus traps
• Supports screen reader and keyboard testing on actual devices

You can run free accessibility scans on BrowserStack for up to five unique pages per test.

2. WAVE Evaluation Tool

WAVE is a browser extension that visually displays accessibility issues on a web page. It’s especially useful for quick, page-level insights.

Key features:

• Highlights structure and ARIA roles directly on the interface
• Detects missing alt text, contrast errors, and heading structure problems
• Offers color-coded overlays for fast issue identification

3. Google Lighthouse

Lighthouse is built into Chrome DevTools and provides accessibility scores as part of broader site audits.

Key features:

• Flags missing labels, role misuse, and semantic structure issues
• Provides an overall accessibility score with improvement tips
• Quick to use during development and browser-based testing

4. tota11y

tota11y is a visual toolkit developed by Khan Academy that helps developers understand how assistive technologies interpret content.

Key features:

• Displays live overlays for headings, landmarks, and alt text
• Visualizes screen reader behavior and tab order
• Easy to integrate for in-browser, real-time feedback

5. Siteimprove Accessibility Checker

Siteimprove offers an enterprise-grade browser extension for accessibility reviews, often used in editorial and QA workflows.

Key features:

• Scans for WCAG violations in real-time within the CMS or browser
• Offers actionable recommendations and impact explanations
• Supports role-based dashboards for collaboration

6. Tenon

Tenon is an API-driven accessibility testing tool that integrates into CI/CD workflows and supports custom rule sets.

Key features:

• Provides WCAG-based issue detection with JSON reporting
• Works with web applications, single-page apps, and dynamic content
• Offers developer-friendly output for quick triage

Using a combination of automated tools, browser extensions, and real device testing platforms ensures your audit covers both code-level and user-level accessibility challenges.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid During Accessibility Audits

Avoiding common mistakes helps improve audit accuracy and efficiency. Incomplete or misfocused audits can leave critical gaps unresolved.

Key pitfalls to avoid:

• Relying only on automated tools without manual testing
• Ignoring mobile-specific accessibility issues
• Overlooking dynamic content and interactive components
• Skipping assistive technology validation
• Failing to document severity, context, or recommended fixes

A thorough audit requires both technical checks and real-world usability validation.

Final Accessibility Audit Checklist for Teams

Use this quick checklist to ensure your audit process is complete and actionable.

Checklist:

• Define audit scope, pages, and user flows
• Use automated tools for baseline issue detection
• Conduct manual testing with assistive technologies
• Validate navigation, forms, media, and dynamic elements
• Document issues with WCAG references and severity ratings
• Share a clear, structured audit report with stakeholders
• Plan for fixes, retesting, and long-term accessibility monitoring

Conclusion

A well-executed accessibility audit helps identify barriers that affect users with disabilities and ensures your digital product meets global compliance standards. 

By combining automated tools, manual testing, and assistive technology validation, teams can deliver inclusive, user-friendly experiences across platforms.

Regular audits lead to stronger usability, broader reach, and lasting compliance.