Research

The most common website accessibility issues, from 2,086 business websites

In November 2026 we scanned the home pages of 2,086 business websites that sell something online. 89.7% had at least one accessibility failure a machine can detect. A typical failing site broke three WCAG success criteria, across 17 elements on its home page. Below are the most common issues and how to fix each one.

These numbers count only what an automated check can decide, which is roughly a third of WCAG, and only on the home page. A site with no failure here can still have barriers a person would find.

The ten most common issues

Each line gives the WCAG criterion, the share of the 2,086 sites with the issue, and how many elements a typical failing site had.

Low contrast text (WCAG 1.4.3) was on 68.5% of sites, with 10 elements on a typical one.
Links with no text a screen reader can read (2.4.4) were on 52.0% of sites, with 5 each.
Images with no alt text (1.1.1) were on 26.7% of sites, with 4 each.
ARIA attributes used the wrong way (mostly 4.1.2) were on 19.3% of sites, with 2 each.
Buttons with no name (4.1.2) were on 17.4% of sites, with 2 each.
Zoom blocked on phones (1.4.4) was on 15.2% of sites.
Lists built from the wrong elements (1.3.1) were on 14.9% of sites, with 3 each.
Form fields with no label (4.1.2) were on 11.8% of sites, usually just one field.
A link or button inside another one (4.1.2) was on 8.7% of sites, with 3 each.
Hidden elements that still take keyboard focus (4.1.2) were on 8.2% of sites, with 3 each.

Just below the top ten come links inside text that stand out only by colour (8.0%), embedded frames with no title (7.5%), scrolling areas a keyboard can't reach (5.6%) and pages that don't state their language (4.7%). 215 sites, about one in ten, had no failure that a machine could find.

What each issue means, and the fix

1. Low contrast text

Text that is too light against its background is hard to read for people with low vision. WCAG asks for a contrast ratio of at least 4.5 to 1 for normal text and 3 to 1 for large text. The usual culprits are light grey body text, white text on a pale photo, and buttons in the brand colours. The fix is in the theme, so one change often clears every page.

2. Links with no text

A link that is only an icon, such as a social media logo, a cart symbol or an arrow, tells a screen reader user nothing. They hear "link" and have to guess. Give each one a name with alt text on the image inside it, or an aria-label on the link. More in our image alt text guide.

3. Images with no alt text

Without an alt attribute, a screen reader skips the image or reads out its file name. On a shop that often means product photos, and banners with the offer written into the picture. Write what the image shows or does, and give decorative images an empty alt.

4. ARIA attributes used the wrong way

ARIA attributes tell assistive technology what an element is and what state it's in. Used wrongly, they tell it something false, such as a menu with no items in it. That example breaks 1.3.1, and most of the others break 4.1.2. This usually comes from a theme or a plugin, so report it to whoever made it. Often the fix is a plain HTML element instead.

5. Buttons with no name

The same problem as empty links, on buttons: a search button that is only a magnifying glass, a close button that is only an X. Each needs a name a screen reader can say, such as "Search" or "Close".

6. Zoom blocked on phones

One setting in the page header, the viewport meta tag, can turn off pinch to zoom. People with low vision depend on zooming in. Remove that part of the setting from the theme.

7. Lists built from the wrong elements

Menus and product grids are often lists. When the markup is wrong, a screen reader can't say how many items there are or where the list ends. The fix is in the theme's templates.

8. Form fields with no label

A newsletter box whose only label is the grey placeholder text inside it leaves a screen reader user with an unnamed field. Give every field a visible label tied to it. Our ADA compliance checklist shows how to check forms by hand.

9. A link or button inside another one

The common case is a product card that is one big link with an "add to cart" button inside it. Keyboard and screen reader users can't reach the inner button on its own. Keep the link and the button side by side.

10. Hidden elements that still take keyboard focus

A closed menu or a slide that is hidden from screen readers can still catch the Tab key, so the focus lands on something nobody can see or hear. Hidden content should also be out of the tab order.

Shopify, WordPress and the rest

We also noted which platform each site runs on. The share of sites with at least one failure barely changes between them.

Shopify, 568 sites: 90.7% had a failure. Low contrast text was on 64.8%, links with no text on 56.7%, missing alt text on 29.6%.
WordPress, with or without WooCommerce, 317 sites: 89.3% had a failure. Low contrast text was on 76.7%, links with no text on 60.6%, missing alt text on 25.6%.
Everything else, 1,157 sites, mostly custom builds: 89.4% had a failure. Low contrast text was on 68.2%, links with no text on 47.2%, missing alt text on 26.0%.

The other 44 ran on BigCommerce, Squarespace or Wix, too few to report on their own. The theme, the apps and the content you add matter more than the platform. Our guides for Shopify stores and WooCommerce stores cover where each tends to break.

How this compares with the WebAIM Million

In February 2026, WebAIM's yearly test of the top million home pages found detectable failures on 95.9% of them, with low contrast text first (83.9%), then missing alt text (53.1%), missing form labels (51%) and empty links (46.3%). Our numbers are lower. Part of that is the tool: WebAIM uses WAVE, and we use axe-core, which reports only the failures it's sure of. Part of it is the sites, since ours all sell something and none are in the top 50,000. The order is much the same, with contrast first in both.

How we counted

The sites. We drew 3,000 at random from about 16,000 business websites that an earlier scan of ours had found selling something. Nearly all came from the Tranco list of popular websites, ranked between 50,000 and 250,000: established sites with real traffic, well below the big brands.
What dropped out. 452 sites didn't load. 462 no longer showed anything for sale, or showed a page meant to stop automated visitors. That left 2,086: 1,404 with signs of a shop, such as a cart or an add to cart button, and 682 that showed prices along with words like buy now, book now or get a quote.
The test. On November 2, 2026, each home page was loaded once in Chromium at 1366 by 900 pixels, given 2.5 seconds to settle, and checked with axe-core 4.10.2 against the WCAG 2.0 and 2.1 level A and AA rules.
What it misses. Only the home page was tested, and a menu that loads late can be missed, so these counts are a floor. Criteria that need judgment, such as whether alt text makes sense, aren't counted at all.
Names. We don't publish which sites we tested.

Common questions

What is the most common accessibility issue on websites?

Low contrast text. It turned up on 68.5% of the sites we tested, and it's first in WebAIM's yearly study too.

Can a scanner find every accessibility issue?

No. A scanner covers the part of WCAG that can be decided from the code, roughly a third. Whether the alt text is useful, whether the focus order makes sense and whether a form works with a keyboard all need a person. Our WCAG compliance check guide explains the difference.

Are these the issues that get websites sued?

This data can't tell you that. What it does show is that anyone can find each of these issues in seconds with a free tool. If you have received a demand letter, read our 72-hour guide.

See which of these issues your home page has: run the free one-page check, which uses the same axe-core rules as this study. For every page and the parts a machine can't decide, the automated audit is $149 and the signed audit is $490.