How a web accessibility audit works
A Straightforward Process with Clear Deliverables
An accessibility audit isn't a mystery. It's a systematic review of your website against established standards, using a combination of professional testing tools and manual evaluation. Here's exactly what the process looks like when we work together.
Step 1: Scoping Your Audit
Every website is different. Before the audit begins, we identify a representative sample of pages to review that reflect the range of content and functionality on your site. On smaller websites, we’ll audit all pages; on larger websites, we’ll look at a representative sample, generally 25%.
Rather than auditing every page (which would be redundant on template-based sites where the same issues repeat across similar pages), we focus on the pages that tell the most complete story about your site's accessibility. A typical sample includes at a minimum:
Homepage — your primary entry point and brand impression
Contact or inquiry page — where form accessibility is tested
A content or about page — representing standard text and image layouts
A service or program page — where calls to action and navigation patterns appear
An e-commerce page to examine the flow from the product to the shopping cart
Any page with unique functionality — such as a calendar, map, video, or document library
Step 2: Automated Testing
We use four professional tools to conduct a thorough automated scan of each selected page:
WAVE (Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool)
Developed by WebAIM, WAVE provides a visual overlay of accessibility errors, alerts, and structural elements directly on your page. It's particularly useful for seeing issues in context and for evaluating color contrast and heading structure.
Google Lighthouse
Built into Chrome's developer tools, Lighthouse evaluates accessibility alongside performance and best practices. It provides a scored assessment and flags issues with specific references to the WCAG success criteria they affect.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider
While primarily known as an SEO tool, Screaming Frog is highly effective for crawling your site's structure and identifying accessibility-related technical issues at scale — including missing alt text, broken links, and problematic page titles across your entire site.
Axe DevTools Pro
Developed by Deque Systems, Axe is one of the most respected accessibility testing engines in the industry. The Pro version provides deeper analysis, issue prioritization by severity, and references to specific WCAG success criteria. It's the tool used by many enterprise accessibility programs. This is the tool that Google Lighthouse is built upon.
No single automated tool catches everything. Using these four together gives us a comprehensive picture and reduces the chance of missing significant issues.
Step 3: Manual Evaluation
Our manual evaluation begins with axe DevTools Pro's Intelligent Guided Tests (IGT) — a structured process that prompts the auditor through checks that automated rules alone can't evaluate, ensuring consistent and thorough coverage. Beyond IGT, our hands-on evaluation includes:
Keyboard navigation testing — navigating your site entirely without a mouse to verify all interactive elements are reachable and operable
Focus indicator review — confirming the current keyboard focus position is always clearly visible
Screen reader testing — using NVDA to evaluate how content is announced to users who rely on assistive technology
Heading structure review — verifying headings convey meaning and document structure, not just visual style
Reading order and logical flow — confirming the page makes sense when navigated linearly, as screen reader users experience it
Link and button text review — ensuring descriptive text that makes sense out of context
Form label evaluation — confirming every form field has a properly associated label that assistive technology can read
Image and media review — evaluating alternative text quality and checking for video captions
Color contrast in context — reviewing contrast in real-world conditions, including text over images or gradient backgrounds
Step 4: The Audit Report
When testing is complete, you receive a written report that includes:
An executive summary written in plain language — no technical jargon
A list of issues organized by severity (critical, serious, moderate, minor)
The specific WCAG success criterion each issue relates to
A description of who is affected and how
Recommended remediation steps for each issue
Notes on platform-specific considerations for your CMS (Content Management System), to include Squarespace, Duda, and others.
Step 5: Remediation (Optional)
Once you have the audit report, the path to remediation depends on your platform and your team. We take the same approach as many professional accessibility firms — our role is to identify every issue with precision and provide clear, actionable guidance on how to fix it. Implementation is most effective when handled by someone with direct expertise in your platform, whether that's your existing web developer, your internal team, or us.
For clients whose sites are built on platforms we specialize in — Squarespace 7.0, Squarespace 7.1, and Duda — we're well-positioned to assist with implementation directly. We maintain a library of tested code solutions for common accessibility requirements on these platforms and can work efficiently alongside your existing site without introducing unintended issues.
For sites built on other platforms — WordPress, Wix, Webflow, Squarespace 7.1 custom builds, and others — we'll provide your developer with everything they need: issue descriptions, WCAG references, and specific remediation guidance written clearly enough that any competent developer can act on it without ambiguity.
Either way, we're available to answer questions and review fixes as they're implemented.
Step 6: The Accessibility Statement
An accessibility statement is more than a formality. It's a public declaration of your organization's commitment to digital inclusion — and in the event of a complaint or legal challenge, it can serve as meaningful evidence of good-faith effort toward compliance.
A well-crafted accessibility statement accomplishes several things simultaneously.
It communicates to users with disabilities that their experience matters to your organization and that you are actively working to remove barriers.
It identifies the specific standard you're working toward — WCAG 2.1 Level AA — so users and regulators understand the benchmark you've adopted.
It documents the steps you've taken, including the date of your most recent audit and the process used to evaluate your site.
And it provides a clear mechanism for users to report barriers they encounter, which is both a legal best practice and a practical way to catch issues that may have been missed.
That last point carries particular weight. Courts and regulators have consistently looked more favorably on organizations that demonstrate a genuine, ongoing commitment to accessibility — including a documented process for receiving and responding to user feedback — than on those who treat compliance as a one-time checkbox. An accessibility statement with a functioning feedback channel signals that your organization takes the issue seriously and has a process in place to address problems as they arise.
For government entities subject to the DOJ's 2024 Title II final rule, a publicly posted accessibility statement is increasingly a specific requirement rather than simply a best practice. For businesses and nonprofits, it represents a low-cost, high-value step that strengthens your legal posture and builds trust with the users you serve.
As part of any audit engagement — not just full remediation — we help you draft an accessibility statement tailored to your organization. It will include your conformance status, the evaluated standard and version, known limitations, the evaluation date, and contact information for accessibility feedback. We recommend reviewing and updating it annually alongside your accessibility review.