The short answer

Start with an automated scan of your key pages to catch the common code errors, then spend an hour testing by hand: keyboard only, zoom to 200%, a quick screen reader pass and a look at forms and media. Rank issues by how badly they block people and how many pages they affect, fix the top ones first, and scan again on a schedule.

Key takeaways

  • Automated tools catch many issues, but not all of them. Manual checks fill the gap.
  • Audit templates, not every page: home, a content page, a product or service page, a form, checkout.
  • Rank by impact: blockers first, then annoyances.
  • Fix shared parts (header, footer, theme) for the biggest gain.
  • Schedule re-scans so new content does not undo your work.

In the WebAIM Million 2026 report, 95.9% of the top one million home pages had detectable WCAG failures, averaging 56.1 errors each. Six error types made up about 96% of everything found. That is good news for you: a focused afternoon can fix most of what matters.

What you need

  • A list of your key pages (templates, not every page)
  • An automated scanner such as Accessible Nord
  • A keyboard, a phone and a free screen reader
  • A simple sheet to track issues: page, problem, impact, owner, status

The audit, step by step

  1. Pick your key pages

    Choose 5 to 10 pages that represent your templates and money paths: home, a blog post, a product or service page, contact form, sign up, checkout.

  2. Run an automated scan

    Scan the pages for missing alt text, low contrast, missing labels, empty links and buttons, heading order and page language. Export the list.

  3. Test with a keyboard

    Tab through each page. Check you can see focus, reach everything and escape every pop-up.

  4. Zoom and resize

    Zoom the browser to 200% and narrow the window to phone width. Nothing should be cut off or overlap, and you should not need to scroll sideways to read.

  5. Try a screen reader

    Use VoiceOver (Mac, iPhone) or NVDA (Windows, free). Listen to the headings list, a form and the main menu. Do the names make sense out loud?

  6. Check media and documents

    Videos need captions. Audio needs a transcript. Important PDFs need tags or an HTML version.

  7. Rank and assign

    Mark each issue as blocker, serious or minor, note how many pages it affects, and give each one an owner and a date.

How to rank what you find

Blockers stop someone from finishing a task: a form field with no label, a checkout button you cannot reach with a keyboard, a pop-up you cannot close. Fix these this week.

Serious issues make a task hard: low contrast, missing alt text on product images, confusing link text like “click here”. Fix these this month.

Minor issues are rough edges: a skipped heading level in a blog post, a decorative image with alt text it does not need. Fix these as you go.

Then look at reach. An issue in your header appears on every page, so one fix in the theme can clear hundreds of errors.

What automated tools can and cannot see

A scanner reliably finds missing attributes and many contrast problems. It cannot judge whether alt text is accurate, whether the reading order makes sense, or whether an error message is helpful. That is why the manual checks above matter. Read our honest take on what overlays and widgets can and cannot do.

Keep it fixed

New posts, products and plugins bring new issues. Set a scan schedule (weekly is a good default), and check the score trend each month. Accessible Nord emails you when your score drops, so you catch regressions before your visitors do. When you have made progress, publish an accessibility statement to show your work and give people a way to report problems.

Sources

  1. The WebAIM Million, 2026 report
  2. W3C WAI: Easy Checks, a first review of web accessibility
  3. W3C WAI: WCAG-EM evaluation methodology

Last reviewed .

Frequently asked questions

How often should I audit my website?

Run automated scans weekly or after every big change, and a manual review at least once or twice a year, or when you launch a redesign.

Do I need to hire an expert?

For legal certainty or a complex app, a professional audit with testers who use assistive technology is worth it. For most small sites, this process finds and fixes the bulk of issues first, which also makes a professional audit cheaper.

What standard should I audit against?

WCAG 2.2 level AA is the current best practice and is backwards compatible with 2.1 and 2.0, which many laws reference.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. For your specific obligations, check with a lawyer or your regulator.