Accessibility as an SEO factor: what’s behind it

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) will make accessibility mandatory for many websites from 28 June 2025, with fines of up to 100,000 euros for violations in Germany. At the same time, however, it is more than just a legal necessity: improving accessibility has tangible and measurable benefits. One example: search engine optimisation.

In this article, I will show you how the two topics are connected.

What does Google say on the subject?

Firstly, it is important to understand: Accessibility is not a direct factor for ranking on Google, for example. Nevertheless, measures in this area have a positive effect on SEO in various ways.

Google spokesperson John Mueller clarified in an official “Webmaster Hangout” that they do not use accessibility for search results. The reason is simple: according to Mueller, it is difficult to measure this factor objectively and use it as an automated signal.

But as you will see in a moment, there is an indirect connection that can even be proven. This is also logical: websites with excellent accessibility make it easier for search engines to capture the content correctly, for example. This applies to crawling, for example, when the Googlebot stops by to retrieve new content. It also applies to indexing, when the retrieved content is prepared in a machine-friendly way.

At the same time, accessibility could become a direct ranking signal in the future. John Mueller drew a comparison with the “Core Web Vitals”. These metrics make the otherwise rather nebulous user experience of a website at least somewhat calculable. They have been a ranking factor since 2021.

Technical measures: Accessibility and SEO go hand in hand

Let’s take a look at some of the improvements that have an impact on both accessibility and SEO.

Semantic HTML and structure

Semantic HTML includes elements such as

Another example is correct heading hierarchies. For example, there should only be one main heading (

➡️ Good for accessibility: This helps people to find their way around your website using a screen reader, for example.

➡️ Good for SEO: Search engines understand the structure and content correctly. They can also better assess the topic and relevance.

Alt texts for images

An alternative text briefly describes the purpose and content of an image in such a way that the information it contains is clear even if you cannot see it.

➡️ Good for accessibility: People with impaired vision understand what a visual is supposed to convey. Or think of users with a choppy or slow internet connection: they don’t have to wait for the image to load.

➡️ Good for SEO: Google & Co. include these texts in order to understand the value and theme of an image. This can have a positive effect on the overall impression of a page and is used for image searches.

Meaningful link texts

The text of a link should make it clear what is on the other side of the click and to what extent it is related to the page currently being accessed. Instead, you often see links to things like “here” or “more”. Better: “Details on product XYZ” or “SEO basics”.

➡️ Good for accessibility: Blind users can have links on the page read out as a list. If they then hear: “here”, “here”, “here”, “here”, “here”, this is not very helpful … Even visitors in a hurry can find their way around much faster with spoken link texts.

➡️ Good for SEO: Search engines not only evaluate the text of a page, but also how it is linked to other content. This includes both external and internal links and both inbound and outbound links. A descriptive link text therefore has a positive effect on both sides. So remember that a clear and well thought-out internal link structure helps Google & Co. to recognise the main points and topics of your site.

Page title

The title should clearly and concisely reflect what the page in question is about. This also applies to the homepage, which should not simply be called “homepage”. Instead, it could state what the website as a whole is about. Example: “Dachdeckermeister Schulze in Hintertupfingen – Homepage”.

➡️ Good for accessibility: Anyone using a screen reader will be much better orientated with a speaking page title. All other users also benefit, for example when navigating through various open tabs.

➡️ Good for SEO: Google also understands better what the main topic is. In this way, it influences which keywords the search engine associates with it. The title can also appear in the search results: if designed well, it ideally increases the click-through rate, which in turn helps the ranking.

Transcripts for audio and video

Videos, podcasts and similar multimedia content need subtitles, descriptions and transcripts.

➡️ Good for accessibility: Deaf visitors appreciate additional information that makes the content accessible to them. What’s more, not everyone always has headphones to hand or can simply use a loudspeaker. Subtitles are now common for social media videos, for example – regardless of legal requirements.

➡️ Good for SEO: Although search engines can do more and more, they still do best with text. Transcripts therefore give them significantly more material.

Keyboard navigation

A website should be operable without a mouse. For example, you can use “Tab” to jump through links, buttons or form elements.

➡️ Good for accessibility: A site designed in this way helps users with a screen reader as well as those with motor impairments. Last but not least, there are professionals who prefer to operate everything using the keyboard.

➡️ Good for SEO: The effect here is indirect. The idea: To implement functional navigation using only the keyboard, you need to structure your layout in a sensible and well thought-out way. And that in turn makes it easier for Google & Co. to find and recognise the content.

Flexible web design

The layout of your website should be “mobile-friendly” anyway. It not only has to adapt to a smaller screen, but above all to different display sizes. In other words, the design should react flexibly and this should mean that your visitors can adjust the font size themselves, among other things.

➡️ Good for accessibility: A scalable website with sufficiently large click targets and easy-to-read text helps people with impaired vision or motor difficulties. This is just as practical for anyone who accesses your website on their smartphone under less than ideal conditions, for example on the bus on the way to work.

➡️ Good for SEO: Usability and user experience are among the criteria and metrics that search engines look at to evaluate a page. If you have access to the Google Search Console, you will even be warned if parts of your website are not usable well enough on mobile devices.

User behaviour

Of course, there are many other factors for good accessibility, as Johannes Mairhofer shows you in his Raidboxes article. Here too, the connection to SEO is often rather indirect.

One example is user behaviour: Google sees when a person returns soon after clicking on a search result. This can be interpreted as a negative signal, especially if it occurs regularly and frequently. Think of loading times that are too long, pages that are difficult to use, too many adverts, etc.

In this respect, the core web vitals mentioned above are also relevant at this point. After all, a slow website is an avoidable obstacle. Fast loading times ultimately benefit all users. Or think of surprising layout shifts during the loading process, called “Cumulative Layout Shift” by Google: This not only makes life more difficult for people with motor weaknesses, but is also annoying and irritating for all users.

Study: How accessibility affects SEO

Does it all sound reasonable, but are you still sceptical? A highly regarded study in this area comes from Semrush in collaboration with BuiltWith and AccessibilityChecker. They analysed over 800 websites after they had specifically improved their accessibility.

One key result: 73% saw an increase in their organic traffic. On average, they had 12% more visitors within a few months. For the best websites, it was significantly more: 7% saw their traffic increase by more than 50%.

It is true that such results are not conclusive evidence. For this, the study would have had to take a closer look at what measures were taken, among other things. The initial situation and therefore the scope of the improvements certainly also played a role.

Nevertheless, it seems to confirm the intuitive understanding that an accessible website reaches more people and works better for all users.

Improve accessibility: Get started with the implementation

If I’ve convinced you now, there are two more articles on Raidboxes that will help you improve the accessibility of your website.

Beau Peters shows you how to check the accessibility of a website. He helps you to implement a corresponding audit and gives recommendations for suitable tools.

And Maddy Osman, on the other hand, has looked into WordPress accessibility. She provides you with a checklist and introduces useful plugins.

Conclusion: Accessibility and SEO

Google likes well-designed, user-friendly websites. This is no secret. The official document “Google Search Principles”, for example, has clear overlaps with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) of the World Wide Web Consortium.

John Mueller, quoted at the beginning of this article, said: “Accessibility is important because it influences the user experience. Because if a website is difficult to use for certain people, they will leave it quickly, not make recommendations and interact less overall. John Mueller summarised this as follows:

“In general though, when sites are hard to use, people steer away from them anyway, so over time things like recommendations and other signals tend to drop away, resulting in the site being less visible in search too.”

In other words: “If websites are difficult to use, users turn their backs on them anyway, and over time recommendations and other signals fall away, which leads to the site becoming less visible in searches.”

This all fits in well with Google’s position of rewarding sites that offer their users a pleasant and frustration-free experience. Or as the search engine puts it right at the top of its ten principles: “Focus on the user and all else will follow”. In other words: “Focus on the user and everything else will follow.”

In this respect, accessibility is not the latest SEO trick. Rather, it is an opportunity to make your website easier to use for many people and at the same time rank better with search engines.