How to check if your website is ADA compliant

There is no button that stamps a website "ADA compliant," so the useful question is narrower and more concrete: where does your site stand against the standard courts actually apply, and what needs fixing. This walks through how to check, what tools can and cannot tell you, and where the real gaps usually hide.

First, the standard you are checking against

For a private business under ADA Title III, there is no formal federal regulation that names a technical standard. In practice, courts and the Department of Justice point to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, and case law treats WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the working benchmark. So "is my website ADA compliant" really means "how close is my site to WCAG 2.1 AA." That is what you are testing.

Step 1: Run an automated scan

Start with an automated check across your main page templates, not just the homepage. A scan is fast, and it finds a real, specific set of problems: missing text alternatives, empty links and buttons, missing form labels, low-contrast text, and structural issues in your headings and landmarks.

Know the ceiling, though. Automated testing can evaluate only about a quarter of the WCAG success criteria on its own. A clean scan does not mean a compliant site; it means the machine-testable issues are handled and the rest still need a person. Treat the scan as your starting map, not the finish line. Run a scan to get that map for your site, prioritized by impact.

Step 2: Do the manual checks a scan cannot

The criteria software cannot judge are often the ones that decide whether a real person can use your site. Four you can check yourself in under an hour:

• Keyboard only. Put the mouse away. Tab through every page. Can you reach and operate every link, button, menu, and form field, in a sensible order, with a visible focus indicator? Keyboard traps and unreachable controls are among the most common and most cited failures.
• Images and media. Do meaningful images have text alternatives that describe them, not just "image" or a filename? Do videos have captions?
• Forms. Is every field labeled, and are errors described in text, not by color alone?
• Contrast and text. Is body text readable against its background, and does the page still work when you zoom to 200 percent?

Step 3: Review the usual high-impact failures

Most complaints trace back to a short list: images without text alternatives, unlabeled form fields, poor keyboard access, low contrast, and links that do not say where they go. If those five are cleared across your pages, you have closed the majority of what a plaintiff's tester would find first. Our methodology page explains how each is checked and what automated testing can and cannot determine.

Step 4: Get a full audit for what is left

For the roughly three-quarters of criteria that need human judgment, a manual audit against WCAG 2.1 AA is the real answer. Fix the issues worst-first, confirm each fix against the standard, publish an accessibility statement, and keep checking, because every new page or template change can introduce a fresh barrier. We cover the full risk-reduction sequence here.

Where to start

Scan first, so you know the accessibility issues on your pages and what to prioritize. Then work the manual checks and remediate the code. A scan will not make you compliant, and it does not claim to, but it turns "is my site okay" into a specific, ordered list you can act on, which is where every real fix begins.

FAQ

Is a free online accessibility checker enough?

It is a fine first look, but a single automated pass covers only about a quarter of the WCAG criteria and stops at the homepage. It shows you some real issues; it does not tell you that your site is compliant.

What does WCAG 2.1 AA mean?

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are the technical standard for web accessibility, organized into levels A, AA, and AAA. AA is the level courts and the DOJ reference for websites, and it is the practical target for a business site.

How often should I check?

Treat it as ongoing, not one-and-done. Re-check after any significant site change, and on a regular schedule otherwise, since new pages and third-party embeds routinely reintroduce barriers.

*This article is general information, not legal advice. Whether your site meets ADA requirements depends on your specific situation; for that, consult a qualified attorney.*