Why Screen Reader Compatibility Matters for Your Business
Around one in six Australians lives with some form of disability, and many rely on screen readers — software that reads website content aloud — to browse the internet. If your website does not work properly with screen readers, you are turning away a significant portion of your potential customers before they even read a word about your business.
Beyond the ethical case, there is also a legal dimension. Australia's Disability Discrimination Act 1992 can apply to websites, and the Digital Transformation Agency recommends that government and private sector websites align with WCAG 2.1 accessibility standards. Failing to meet these standards could expose your business to complaints or legal risk.
The good news is that most screen reader issues are fixable — often without a complete website rebuild. Here are five warning signs your site is letting screen reader users down, and what to do about each one.
1. Your Images Have No Alt Text
Alt text is a short written description attached to an image in your website's code. Screen readers rely on alt text to describe images to users who cannot see them. If your images have empty or missing alt text, a screen reader will either skip them entirely or read out the raw file name — something like 'IMG_4823.jpg' — which tells the user nothing useful.
What to fix:
- Log into your website platform and check each image for an alt text field
- Write short, descriptive alt text for every image — for example, 'A plumber fixing a leaking tap under a kitchen sink'
- For decorative images that add no meaning, leave the alt text blank intentionally so screen readers skip them cleanly
- Avoid keyword stuffing in alt text — write it for the user, not the search engine
2. Your Forms Are Unlabelled
Contact forms, quote request forms, and newsletter sign-ups are core conversion tools for most small business websites. But if the input fields in your forms lack proper labels, screen reader users will hear something like 'edit text' when they land on a field — with no idea what information they are meant to enter.
What to fix:
- Every form field needs a visible label that is programmatically linked to the input in the HTML code
- Placeholder text inside the field is not a substitute for a label — it disappears when the user starts typing
- Make sure error messages are descriptive and announce themselves to screen readers when a form submission fails
- Test your forms using a free screen reader like NVDA (Windows) or the built-in VoiceOver (Mac and iPhone)
3. Your Website Has No Logical Heading Structure
Screen reader users often navigate a page by jumping between headings, similar to how sighted users skim a page visually. If your headings are applied randomly — or if text is styled to look like a heading without actually being coded as one — screen reader users cannot navigate your content efficiently.
What to fix:
- Use heading tags (h2, h3, h4) in a logical hierarchy — do not skip levels or use them purely for visual styling
- Each page should have a clear single top-level heading that describes the page content
- Avoid using bold text as a substitute for a proper heading when the text is meant to introduce a new section
- Run a free audit using tools like WAVE (wave.webaim.org) to see your current heading structure
4. Your Links Are Not Descriptive
Screen readers can generate a list of all links on a page, which users scan to find what they need. If your links say things like 'click here', 'read more', or 'learn more' without context, this list becomes meaningless. A user hearing ten 'read more' links in a row has no way of knowing where any of them lead.
What to fix:
- Rewrite link text to describe the destination — for example, 'Read our guide to tradie website design' instead of 'read more'
- Avoid linking raw URLs as anchor text unless the URL itself is genuinely useful information
- If a link opens in a new tab, let the user know in the link text — for example, 'Download our price list (opens in new tab)'
5. Your Website Cannot Be Navigated by Keyboard Alone
Many screen reader users navigate entirely by keyboard, without using a mouse. If your website relies on hover effects, drag-and-drop menus, or interactive elements that only respond to a mouse click, keyboard-only users — including screen reader users — will get stuck or miss content entirely.
What to fix:
- Test your entire website by pressing the Tab key to move through interactive elements — buttons, links, and form fields should all receive visible focus indicators
- Make sure dropdown navigation menus can be opened and closed using keyboard controls
- Avoid removing the browser's default focus outline (the blue or dotted border that appears around a selected element) without replacing it with something equally visible
- Any content that appears on hover — such as tooltips or dropdown menus — should also be accessible via keyboard focus
How to Check Your Website Right Now
You do not need to be a developer to do a basic accessibility audit. Here are three free tools you can use today:
- WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluator — paste your URL at wave.webaim.org for an instant visual report
- Google Lighthouse — open Chrome, press F12, go to the Lighthouse tab, and run an accessibility audit on any page
- VoiceOver (Mac/iPhone) or NVDA (Windows) — enable the screen reader and try to navigate your own website as a user would
Even fixing just the five issues above will make a meaningful difference to how accessible your site is. For most small business websites, these changes can be implemented quickly and without significant cost.
Make Accessibility Part of Your Website Strategy
Screen reader compatibility is not a niche concern — it is part of building a website that works for every potential customer. An accessible website also tends to rank better in search engines, load faster, and convert more visitors into leads, because the same principles that help screen reader users also improve clarity and usability for everyone.
If you are not sure where your website stands, our team at WebDevise can review your site and identify the most important fixes. Explore our website design for small business services to find out how we build accessible, high-performing websites for Australian businesses from the ground up.