Top 5 Website Accessibility Issues (and How to Fix Them)

After scanning thousands of websites with AccessGuard, we've noticed the same accessibility issues appearing again and again. The good news? None of them are difficult to fix once you know what to look for. Here are the five most common problems we flag - and practical steps to resolve each one.

1. Missing or Unhelpful Alt Text

This is the single most common accessibility issue we encounter. Images without alt attributes - or with generic placeholders like "image1.jpg" - leave screen reader users completely in the dark about what's being shown on the page.

How to fix it: Every meaningful image needs a concise, descriptive alt attribute that conveys the image's purpose. Decorative images that don't add information should use an empty alt attribute (alt="") so screen readers skip them entirely. If you have hundreds of images to address, AccessGuard's AltWizard feature can help you prioritize and write effective alt text at scale.

2. Links Without Clear Purpose

Vague link text like "click here" or "read more" is a serious barrier for people who navigate by tabbing through links or who use a screen reader to pull up a list of all links on a page. Without context, these links are meaningless.

How to fix it: Write link text that describes the destination or action. Instead of "Click here to view our pricing," simply use "View our pricing" as the link text. If design constraints require short text, use an aria-label attribute to provide the full context for assistive technology users.

3. Insufficient Target Sizes

Buttons, links, and form controls that are too small create real problems for users with motor impairments, older adults, and anyone using a touchscreen device. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 introduced a specific success criterion requiring interactive targets to be at least 24x24 CSS pixels.

How to fix it: Audit your clickable and tappable elements to ensure they meet the minimum size requirement. Pay special attention to icon buttons, navigation links, and form elements. Adding padding is often the simplest way to increase the target area without changing your visual design.

4. Keyboard Navigation Gaps

Many websites are built with mouse users in mind and completely break down when someone tries to navigate using only a keyboard. Custom dropdown menus, modals, and interactive widgets are the most frequent offenders - they either can't receive focus or trap it so users can't move on.

How to fix it: Test your entire site using only the Tab, Enter, Escape, and arrow keys. Every interactive element should be reachable, operable, and have a visible focus indicator. Use semantic HTML elements like <button> and <a> instead of styled <div> elements, and implement proper focus management for custom components.

5. Improper Use of ARIA Attributes

ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) attributes are meant to enhance accessibility, but when used incorrectly they actually make things worse. We frequently see invalid roles, missing required child roles, and ARIA attributes that conflict with the native semantics of HTML elements.

How to fix it: Follow the first rule of ARIA: if you can use a native HTML element that already has the semantics you need, do that instead. When ARIA is necessary, consult the WAI-ARIA Authoring Practices to ensure you're implementing patterns correctly. Run regular scans with a tool like AccessGuard to catch ARIA misuse early in your development cycle.

Start Fixing Today

The pattern across all five issues is the same - they're easy to introduce and surprisingly easy to fix. The hardest part is knowing they exist in the first place. That's exactly what AccessGuard is built for: scanning your site, surfacing these problems, and giving your team clear, actionable guidance to resolve them.

Run a free scan of your website today and see where you stand. A more accessible web starts with the next fix you ship.