ADA Website Audit: How to Test Your Site for Accessibility Issues

By Dr. John Liddy, D.C. · March 30, 2026

You do not need to be a developer or an accessibility expert to audit your website for ADA compliance issues. With the right tools and a basic understanding of what to look for, you can identify the most critical problems on your site in under an hour — and many of them are straightforward to fix.

This guide walks you through the process step by step: which free tools to use, what to test, how to interpret what you find, and when it makes sense to bring in professional help. Whether you are a small business owner doing this yourself or a developer taking your first pass at accessibility, this is your starting point.

Free Tools for ADA Website Auditing

Several excellent free tools exist for testing website accessibility. Each works differently and catches different things, so using more than one gives you better coverage.

What to Test: A Step-by-Step Checklist

A thorough ADA website audit covers more than just running an automated scan. Here is a structured approach that combines automated testing with essential manual checks.

1. Run an automated scan on your key pages. Start with your homepage, a product or service page, your contact page, and any page with forms or interactive elements. Use axe DevTools or ADA Audit Report's free scan to get an initial violation count. This immediately identifies missing alt text, contrast failures, unlabeled form fields, and structural issues.
2. Test keyboard navigation. Put your mouse aside and navigate your entire site using only the Tab key (forward), Shift+Tab (backward), Enter (activate), and Escape (close). Can you reach every link, button, and form field? Can you see a visible focus indicator showing where you are? Can you open and close dropdown menus and modal dialogs? If you get stuck anywhere — a "keyboard trap" — that is a critical WCAG 2.1.2 violation.
3. Check heading structure. Right-click your page and view the source, or use the WAVE extension to see heading levels. Headings should follow a logical hierarchy: one <h1> per page, followed by <h2> sections, with <h3> subsections beneath them. Skipping levels (jumping from <h1> to <h3>) or using headings purely for visual styling breaks the document outline that screen reader users rely on to navigate (WCAG SC 1.3.1).
4. Verify all images have alt text. Inspect each image on your key pages. Every meaningful image needs a descriptive alt attribute. Product photos should describe the product. Team headshots should include the person's name. Decorative images — like background patterns or visual dividers — should use an empty alt attribute (alt="") so screen readers skip them entirely. This is WCAG SC 1.1.1, and it is the single most commonly cited violation in ADA lawsuits.
5. Inspect form labels and error handling. Every input field — text fields, dropdowns, checkboxes, radio buttons — needs a programmatically associated <label> element. Placeholder text alone is not sufficient (it disappears when the user types, and many screen readers ignore it). Also check that form validation errors are clearly identified: do they name the specific field with the error, and are they announced to screen readers? (WCAG SC 3.3.1 and 3.3.2).
6. Test color contrast. Use the WebAIM Contrast Checker to test your primary text/background combinations. Pay special attention to light gray text on white backgrounds, text over images, placeholder text in form fields, and button text. Every text element needs at least a 4.5:1 contrast ratio against its background (WCAG SC 1.4.3).
7. Try a screen reader. If you are on a Mac, activate VoiceOver (Command+F5). On Windows, download NVDA (free). Navigate your homepage and one other key page. Listen to how the page is announced. Are images described? Are buttons and links clearly labeled? Does the reading order match the visual order? This is the most revealing test you can perform — and the one most businesses skip.

Common Issues Found in ADA Website Audits

The WebAIM Million study audits the homepages of the top one million websites annually. In their most recent report, 96% of pages had detectable WCAG failures. Here are the most common issues, ranked by frequency:

Other frequently found issues include missing document language (<html lang="en">), empty buttons (icon buttons without accessible names), broken skip navigation links, missing page titles, and auto-playing media without controls. The good news is that most of these are straightforward to fix once you know they exist.

How to Interpret Audit Results

When you run an automated scan, you will typically see results categorized by severity. Understanding these categories helps you prioritize what to fix first:

• Critical: Issues that completely block access to content or functionality for some users. Examples: keyboard traps (users cannot escape a component), missing form labels on required fields, auto-playing audio with no way to stop it. Fix these immediately.
• Serious: Issues that significantly degrade the experience for assistive technology users but do not completely block access. Examples: images without alt text, links or buttons without accessible names, insufficient color contrast on primary content. Fix these as soon as possible — they are the most commonly cited in ADA lawsuits.
• Moderate: Issues that cause inconvenience or confusion but do not prevent access. Examples: heading levels that skip (h1 to h3), redundant link text ("click here" repeated), unclear focus order. Plan to fix these in your next development cycle.
• Minor: Issues that affect best practices but have limited impact on usability. Examples: redundant ARIA roles, minor semantic HTML issues. Address these when convenient.

Prioritizing Fixes by Impact

You do not need to fix everything at once. Here is a practical prioritization framework that balances legal risk, user impact, and implementation effort:

1. Fix critical and serious automated findings first. These are the violations most likely to trigger legal action and most likely to block real users. Missing alt text, insufficient contrast, unlabeled forms, and empty links should be addressed within days, not weeks.
2. Resolve keyboard navigation issues. If any part of your site traps keyboard users or is unreachable without a mouse, that is a critical barrier. Test and fix your main navigation, forms, modals, and interactive widgets.
3. Address heading structure and semantic HTML. These issues are less likely to trigger lawsuits on their own but significantly affect how screen reader users experience your site. Proper heading hierarchy and semantic elements (<nav>, <main>, <button>) cost little to implement correctly.
4. Add captions to video content. If you have videos on your site, they need captions (WCAG SC 1.2.2). Auto-generated captions from YouTube or Vimeo are a reasonable starting point, but they should be reviewed for accuracy — especially for technical or domain-specific terminology.
5. Document your efforts. Keep a record of every scan you run, every issue you find, and every fix you implement. If you ever receive a demand letter, this documentation demonstrates good-faith effort and is your strongest defense.

When to Get Professional Help vs. DIY

For many small business websites — brochure sites, simple service pages, basic WordPress or Squarespace sites — a DIY audit using the tools and steps above will catch the majority of actionable issues. But there are situations where professional help is worth the investment:

• E-commerce sites with checkout flows. Payment forms, cart functionality, and multi-step checkout processes involve complex interactions that automated tools often miss. A manual audit ensures these critical paths work with keyboards and screen readers.
• Custom web applications. If your site includes custom-built interactive components — date pickers, drag-and-drop interfaces, data tables, dynamic content loading — these need manual testing with real assistive technologies.
• Healthcare and financial services. These industries face heightened legal scrutiny and often have additional regulatory requirements beyond the ADA. A professional audit provides documentation that can satisfy both legal and regulatory needs.
• After receiving a demand letter. If you have already been contacted by a plaintiff's attorney, get a professional ADA compliance audit done immediately. The audit report becomes part of your legal response and demonstrates that you are taking concrete steps toward compliance.
• When you need a VPAT. A Voluntary Product Accessibility Template is a standardized document that describes how your product conforms to accessibility standards. Government agencies and enterprise clients often require VPATs, and creating one requires expert evaluation.

Related Resources

Continue learning about ADA website accessibility with these guides:

• ADA Website Compliance: What Every Small Business Owner Needs to Know in 2026 — The big picture: what the law requires, who is at risk, and how to protect your business.
• ADA Compliance Audit: What It Covers, What It Costs, and How to Get One — A deep dive into the audit process, cost ranges, and how to choose a trustworthy provider.
• What's in an Accessibility Audit Report? A Complete Breakdown — Learn what a professional audit report should contain and how to use it to drive remediation.