Of course, every company with an online presence wants to improve their Google rankings .
And do you know how accessibility interferes with this positioning of your site?
The improvement of several accessibility factors is taken into account by the search platform when displaying search results to users.
In addition, by making content accessible, the brand reaches an even larger and more diverse audience.
We are talking about about 17 million people with some type of disability , in Brazil alone.
Understand in this post what are the points of improvement that you can put into practice to reach this level.
What is Google Ranking?
Search platforms, such as Google, use algorithms that analyze the content available on the internet and provide the user with the options that best meet the search performed.
Google ranking , therefore, concerns the order in which the results appear to the user.
If your site appears in the top positions of a search, it is ranking well.
How does Google ranking work?
As we mentioned, the results presented to users follow an analysis through algorithms, which take into account several evaluation criteria.
The more suitable the content is to these factors, the better its positioning.
Ranking on Google is related to a strategy you may have heard about: SEO or Search Engine Optimization .
It is focused on optimizing the content of websites, blogs and pages.
It is this type of strategy that seeks to provide a good positioning in the searches performed, leading to what is called organic traffic to the site.
Google does not openly disclose what these criteria are, but it always presents the trends it follows and other studies help us understand what is relevant to the search engine.
What does accessibility have to do with ranking?
To improve the ranking of a website's pages on Google, a set of techniques can be applied, both in relation to the structure and contents of the pages.
In addition, techniques can also be applied to improve the user experience when coming into contact with published content.
And accessibility is related to the elimination of existing barriers on the internet, including making all published materials (whether texts, videos, images or other formats) flexible and accessible to anyone, such as those who have some type of disability or difficulty. Special.
Thus, the accessibility of a website is also evaluated within the set of criteria determined by Google, since an accessible website facilitates navigation in a democratic way and allows the robots that read the website to understand all the content, improving the analysis and its positioning.
8 best practices to make your website accessible
So, if you want to make your website accessible to favor a greater number of users and earn some points in Google ranking, check out the tips we've separated.
Visual impairment and blindness
1) Make the alternative description of the images
Alternative text is text used to describe the content of the image.
It is inserted in the alt attribute and is useful for people with visual impairments, as well as being displayed to all users in case of image loading error.
Most website platforms, such as WordPress, for example, already offer the possibility to include a title, alt text and description for all images included on the website.
2) Pay attention to color contrast
The contrast between colors is already important for users without visual impairments, as text, for example, can only be read with it.
For example, light text on a dark background or vice versa makes reading much more complicated.
In addition, for people with partial visual impairment, the color contrast facilitates the understanding of images, sessions and texts.
To always get this right, the ideal is to have a professional specialized designer, but you can also explore tools that calculate the contrast between colors .
3) Remember colorblind users
Colorblind users are those who have difficulty identifying or differentiating colors.
To optimize your site for this audience, you need to pay attention to the colors you choose and always use more than one highlighting element, other than just color.
Work with different shapes and text features such as underline and bold.
Intellectual disabilities and dyslexia
4) Organize content properly
Users with intellectual disabilities or dyslexia have an easier experience with organizing information in a text.
So when writing longer content, pay attention to the hierarchy of information and break up the text with features like titles, subtitles, lists, etc.
Notice how in this blog post you are reading the content is divided in this way.
To facilitate the reading of search platforms, use tags H1, H2, H3 and so on.
5) Simplify your text
A simplified text pleases any user, since when we do an online search we look for objective, quick and useful information.
For this, produce quality content, with shorter sentences, without using very complex words and in direct order.
Explain technical terms or in English and use links to complement what the user may not know yet.
Hearing impairment and deafness
6) Have translation in Libras
To serve this audience, it is always interesting to provide subtitles for videos and other audio content, in addition to providing the translation in Libras.
It may seem that only one of these solutions meets the aforementioned public, but people with hearing impairment can be literate in Portuguese, while those with deafness are literate in Libras.
Motor disabilities
7) Avoid functions accessible only by mouse
Have you ever stopped to think that not all people use a mouse for navigation?
This is the case for users with motor disabilities, who often use keyboard shortcuts or assistive technologies (such as voice commands or head movements) to perform actions.
Therefore, analyze if your site offers these possibilities and implement facilities to also serve this audience.
8) Create larger click areas
Another point that can be easily corrected is to increase the click area.
With larger button click areas and icons, you ensure that people with motor difficulties who are not as accurate in clicking will be able to access links with ease.
General tips for all audiences
Shortcuts in the top menu
Do you want to facilitate access to all the contents and tools implemented for all users?
Remember that our reading is done from top to bottom, from left to right.
So offering shortcuts in the top menu is the most intuitive way.
Assess the accessibility of your website
Still not sure which of these improvements need to be applied to your website?
Evaluate it with consultants and companies specializing in accessibility or look for tools that will help you.
We quote some throughout the text and also leave here the indication of Access Monitor , which evaluates urls according to the report on web accessibility practices.
The tool also lists all improvements that can be made.
Worth the visit!
Conclusion
To conquer positions in Google ranking, it is not enough to just create relevant content and according to keyword research.
Implement accessibility tips to make your website even more attractive and with an experience designed for all users.
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