What does a website accessibility audit include? The 4 checks and where automation fits
A plain-English look at what a website accessibility audit covers: keyboard, screen reader, colour and zoom checks, what automated scans find, and what you still need to test by hand.
If you're comparing quotes for an "accessibility audit", it helps to know what the work actually is. Most auditors group their testing into four kinds of checks, plus an automated scan to catch the repeatable problems quickly.
1. Keyboard check
Can someone who doesn't use a mouse reach and use every link, button, menu and form field with Tab, Shift+Tab, Enter, Space and Escape? Is the focused item always visible? You can do this one yourself in ten minutes with our keyboard navigation test.
2. Screen reader check
Does the page make sense when read aloud? That means meaningful alt text, headings in order, labelled form fields and buttons with names. Automated tools catch missing labels and alt text, but only a person can judge whether the alt text is actually useful. See alt text examples.
3. Colour check
Is text dark enough against its background (4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text), and is colour never the only signal? Contrast is very well suited to automated checking. Try our free colour contrast checker.
4. Zoom and reflow check
Does the site still work at 200% zoom and on a 320px-wide phone screen, without text overlapping or content being cut off? This is mostly a manual check on a real browser.
Where automated scans fit
Tools like axe-core, Lighthouse and WAVE quickly find repeatable code problems such as missing alt attributes, low contrast, unlabelled fields and missing page language. They can't judge everything, so a clean automated result is a strong start but not proof that every visitor can use your site.
What Altwise covers, honestly
Our Fix-Pack is the automated part done well: we scan your key pages with axe-core, rank the issues by impact on visitors, and our AI agent writes copy-paste fixes for your platform, checked against axe-core and WCAG. It does not replace a full manual audit with screen-reader testing. Many small businesses start with the automated fixes plus the keyboard and zoom checks above, then decide whether they need more.
Questions to ask any auditor
- Which of the four checks do you do by hand, and on which pages?
- Which automated tool do you use?
- Do I get specific fixes, or only a list of failures?
- Is a re-test included after fixes?
- Can I see a sample report first?
Be wary of anyone who promises "guaranteed ADA compliance" or "lawsuit protection". Nobody can honestly promise that.
Want the fixes written for you?
Start with a free homepage snapshot. The $149 Fix-Pack scans up to 10 pages and gives copy-paste fixes for your platform within 48 hours, with a 14-day refund promise. See a sample report first.
This is general technical guidance, not legal advice, and it does not certify compliance with the ADA or any law.
Related guides
- Does my small business website need to be accessible? What the DOJ guidance says
- 10 accessibility questions to ask your web designer (before or after you hire)
- WCAG 2.2 explained for small-business websites
- Squarespace accessibility fixes: alt text, contrast, forms and more
This guide is general technical information, not legal advice. Following it does not certify ADA or any legal compliance. Automated checks find only part of accessibility barriers.
Check your own site
Run a free homepage snapshot to see your top 3 issues in about a minute, or order the $149 Fix-Pack for up to 10 pages with copy-paste fixes for your platform.