'Poor accessibility means bad SEO'
Tuesday, 29, Jul 2008 10:59
A website which is not accessible to disabled internet users is also less likely to be appealing to search engine spiders, according to an internet strategy company.
Graham Charlton, researcher for e-consultancy, said the same things which make sites clear for disabled users are also those things which appeal to spiders and mean a site appears higher in search engine rankings.
He explained: "If your website's not accessible for disabled users, the chances are that your search engine optimisation is not that great either."
In addition, having a website which is not clear for disabled people to use can mean that a company is missing out on a "vast potential market", Mr Charlton added.
This is because there are around eight and a half million disabled people in the UK, three and a half million of whom are unable to use a normal keyboard.
Under the Disability Discrimination Act, websites should always be accessible to disabled people anyway, as they are described as service users.
AccuraCast recommends making text easy to enlarge, attaching text labels to images, using html text rather than images of text and avoiding things which will distract users such as flash movies - things which will also help with search engine optimisation.
