A website accessibility checklist for a small business should cover seven things first: alt text on images, text contrast of at least 4.5:1, full keyboard use, a visible focus indicator, labelled forms with clear error messages, a logical heading structure and captions on video. Those items map to Level AA of WCAG 2.2, the current W3C standard. Fix them on your highest-traffic pages first, then work outward.
Web accessibility means people with disabilities can perceive, understand, operate and interact with a website, whether they use a screen reader, a keyboard or zoom. This is education, not legal advice; for legal exposure, talk to a lawyer.
Why does website accessibility matter for a small business?
It matters because a large share of your visitors depend on it, and most sites still fail basic tests. The CDC reports that more than 1 in 4 U.S. adults have some type of disability, including 13.9% with a cognition disability, 12.2% with mobility, 6.2% with hearing and 5.5% with vision disabilities.
The WebAIM Million 2026 report, which tests the top 1,000,000 home pages, found detected WCAG 2 failures on 95.9% of them, with an average of 56.1 errors per page.
If you invest in local SEO for small business, every visitor you win lands on pages that must work for them. The same structure accessibility asks for, real headings and descriptive links, is what I recommend for content that aims to show up in AI Overviews.
What is WCAG 2.2 Level AA?
WCAG 2.2 is the current version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, and Level AA is the middle of its three conformance levels. W3C published WCAG 2.2 as a Recommendation on 5 October 2023, adding 9 success criteria to WCAG 2.1 and removing the obsolete 4.1.1 Parsing criterion.
Criteria sit at three levels: A (the minimum), AA and AAA (the strictest). Meeting AA means meeting every A and AA criterion in the WCAG 2.2 specification, last updated on 12 December 2024.
What should a website accessibility checklist include?
This is the website accessibility checklist I work through on every site, with each WCAG 2.2 criterion and level in brackets. The contrast thresholds come from W3C’s Understanding 1.4.3 page.
- Alt text on every meaningful image (1.1.1, A). Decorative images get an empty alt attribute so screen readers skip them.
- Text contrast of at least 4.5:1 (1.4.3, AA). Large text, meaning at least 18 point or 14 point bold, needs 3:1.
- Contrast of at least 3:1 on buttons, icons and form borders (1.4.11, AA).
- Everything works with a keyboard (2.1.1, A), including menus, pop-ups, booking widgets and cookie banners.
- A visible focus indicator (2.4.7, AA) that sticky headers and chat widgets never fully hide (2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured, AA, new in 2.2).
- Click targets of at least 24 by 24 CSS pixels (2.5.8, AA, new in 2.2), with listed exceptions such as links inside a sentence.
- Headings that describe the content and follow a logical order (1.3.1, A and 2.4.6, AA).
- A visible label on every form field, with errors described in text (3.3.2 and 3.3.1, A).
- Login steps that do not rely on memory puzzles (3.3.8 Accessible Authentication, AA, new in 2.2). Let people paste passwords.
- No asking twice for the same information in one process (3.3.7 Redundant Entry, A, new in 2.2).
- Captions on prerecorded video (1.2.2, A). Correct auto-generated captions before you publish.
- Link text that makes sense (2.4.4, A) and a page language set in the code (3.1.1, A).
Which accessibility errors are most common?
Low contrast text is the most common failure by a wide margin: the WebAIM Million 2026 found it on 83.9% of home pages. The table matches the report’s six most common failure types to the checklist item that fixes each one.
| Failure type | Share of home pages (WebAIM 2026) | WCAG 2.2 criterion | Typical fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low contrast text | 83.9% | 1.4.3 | Darken the text or lighten the background until it reaches 4.5:1 |
| Missing alternative text | 53.1% | 1.1.1 | Add descriptive alt text, or an empty alt for decoration |
| Missing form input labels | 51% | 1.3.1, 3.3.2 | Add a visible label tied to each field |
| Empty links | 46.3% | 2.4.4 | Give icon links a text name |
| Empty buttons | 30.6% | 4.1.2 | Give icon buttons an accessible name |
| Missing document language | 13.5% | 3.1.1 | Set the lang attribute on the html element |
How do you test your site against the checklist?
Start with a short manual pass, because no tool can judge whether alt text actually describes an image. W3C’s Easy Checks give a good structure, from page title and headings to keyboard access, forms and multimedia. W3C is clear that these checks “cover just a few accessibility issues” and that a page can pass them yet still have significant barriers.
Here is a 30-minute version for one page:
- Put the mouse away and press Tab through the whole page. You should always see where focus is and never get stuck.
- Zoom the browser to 200% and check that text reflows without overlapping.
- Run a free automated tool such as WAVE or Lighthouse to catch contrast problems, missing labels and empty links.
- Read your key alt text out loud. If it would not help someone on a phone call picture the image, rewrite it.
- Submit your contact form empty and check that each error is described in words, not only with colour.
Does the ADA require a business website to be accessible?
The U.S. Department of Justice says the ADA’s requirements reach the web. Its Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA, published on March 18, 2022, explains that Title III covers businesses open to the public and that inaccessible website features can limit what people with disabilities can use. It names WCAG as a helpful standard and lists the barriers this checklist targets, from poor contrast to mouse-only navigation.
Kristen Clarke, then Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, put the principle plainly, as quoted by CivicPlus:
“People with disabilities deserve to have an equal opportunity to access the services, goods and programs provided by government and business, including when offered or communicated through websites.”
What the law requires of your business depends on facts a checklist cannot judge. If you are worried about legal exposure or have received a demand letter, talk to a lawyer who handles ADA matters.
How I build and maintain accessible sites
I treat accessibility as part of the build. My web design and development service includes an accessible, responsive, SEO-ready front end as standard, with QA at every gate and 90+ Lighthouse scores at launch. I build on Next.js, Supabase and Vercel with a custom CMS, also work on WordPress sites, and have delivered 350+ projects. Nearby businesses can start with web design in St. Augustine or any other area I serve from Jacksonville, FL.
Every new page, image and form can bring a failure back. A web care plan keeps updates, monitoring and minor changes on a schedule; the budget side is in what drives maintenance costs. A CMS that asks for alt text on every upload helps too, as I cover in building a CMS your team will actually use. Planning a redesign? Add these items to your website redesign checklist. On WordPress, pair them with the WordPress security checklist.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between WCAG 2.1 and WCAG 2.2?
WCAG 2.2 builds on 2.1 rather than replacing it. W3C added 9 success criteria, including Focus Not Obscured, Target Size (Minimum), Dragging Movements, Consistent Help, Redundant Entry and Accessible Authentication, and removed the obsolete 4.1.1 Parsing criterion. Because the changes are mostly additions, targeting 2.2 Level AA covers the 2.1 AA criteria as well, apart from the removed Parsing check. For a small business, the most visible changes are larger click targets, focus that stays visible behind sticky headers, and login forms that let people paste a password or use a password manager.
Can an automated scanner tell me if my site is accessible?
A scanner is a useful first pass, but it cannot give you the full answer. Tools are good at spotting missing alt attributes, low contrast, empty links and missing form labels, which are among the most common failures in the WebAIM Million. They cannot judge whether alt text actually describes the image, whether captions match the audio, or whether a keyboard user can finish your booking flow. W3C says even its own Easy Checks cover just a few issues, and a page can pass them while still having serious barriers. Pair any scan with a manual keyboard and zoom test.
What should I fix first if I cannot fix everything at once?
Start with the failures that are both common and cheap to fix. In the WebAIM Million 2026, low contrast text appeared on 83.9% of home pages, missing alt text on 53.1% and missing form labels on 51%. Fixing those three on your home page, top service pages and contact form removes the barriers most likely to stop a visitor from reading your offer or reaching you. Next, run the keyboard test, because a menu or form that traps keyboard users blocks the whole visit. Captions and the newer WCAG 2.2 items can follow in your next maintenance cycle.
Where should you start?
Pick your three most important pages and run the 30-minute test this week. Treat this website accessibility checklist as a recurring part of site maintenance, not a one-off project. If you would like help auditing or fixing your site, contact me and tell me which pages matter most to your business.