Website accessibility and SEO: one checklist for both

Why combine them

PageSpeed scores both, and the fixes overlap

PageSpeed Insights reports Accessibility and SEO as separate categories, but many fixes help both: clear headings, described images, readable text and honest markup (all laid out in the code teardown). Here is one checklist that covers the two.

Readable

Contrast and links

1. Text contrast of 4.5:1 or better. Compute it rather than eyeballing it. In our own system we never put white text on our bright orange, and we use a darkened orange for text on light backgrounds (see the code teardown).
2. Underline links. Color alone should never be the only signal that something is a link.
3. Descriptive link text. “Read the pricing guide” helps; “click here” does not.

Structured

Headings and layout

4. One H1 per page, stating what the page is about.
5. Headings in order, without skipping levels for styling.
6. No horizontal scrolling at any screen width, with tables that stack on small screens (see the code teardown).

Described

Images and meaning

7. Alt text on meaningful images, and empty alt text only for purely decorative ones. Some SEO tools still flag empty alt text, so a short description is often the safer choice.
8. Width and height on every image, so layout does not jump while it loads.

Findable

Metadata and structure

9. A title and meta description that lead with the main point. Our rule of thumb is 60 characters or fewer for the title and 140 to 160 for the description.
10. A canonical link, a viewport tag and a sitemap entry for every page you want found.
11. Structured data only for content that is also visible on the page.

Honest

ARIA only when it is real

12. Use ARIA attributes only where they match real behavior. A menu role without real menu keyboard behavior scores worse than no role at all (see the code teardown).

When you are done, run the page through pagespeed.web.dev on Mobile and compare the Accessibility and SEO scores. The PageSpeed Insights FAQ answers common questions about reading the report.

If you want a head start

Start from code that already passes

Every template here is the complete, hand-coded file behind a live sample site with a public report. Open a sample such as the pet grooming site, run the test yourself, then decide. Templates are $29 each or $99 for all of them (see the catalog), and the $19 book walks through the method. Downloads work on an honor system (how it works), and building for clients needs a different license (licensing).