Imagine a customer who cannot use a mouse. She moves through websites with the Tab key, one link at a time. On your competitor's website she reaches the booking form and sends her request. On yours, the menu opens only on a mouse hover, so she never finds the booking page. Nobody at your business will ever hear about her. She simply books somewhere else.
This is what accessibility is about. The W3C, the body that publishes the technical standards of the web, defines web accessibility as websites, tools and technologies "designed and developed so that people with disabilities can use them". It covers auditory, cognitive, neurological, physical, speech and visual disabilities. W3C adds that the same work helps older people, people using a phone, people with a temporary injury such as a broken arm, and people on a slow connection.
A company with a web team can give someone the job of testing the website against a written standard. A small business has no such person. Yet the standard itself is free to read, and a good part of it can be checked by the owner. Let us see how.
What is WCAG 2.2, in plain words?
WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. W3C published WCAG 2.2 on 5 October 2023, and the current text of the recommendation is dated 12 December 2024. W3C also says WCAG 2.2 is an approved international standard, ISO/IEC 40500:2025, and it encourages everyone to use the latest version.
The guidelines are organised under four principles. In plain words:
- Perceivable. People can see or hear the content in some form: a picture has a text description, a video has captions.
- Operable. People can use every part of the site, with a keyboard as well as with a mouse or a finger.
- Understandable. Text is readable, pages behave in a predictable way, forms explain what they need.
- Robust. The site works with the tools disabled people use, such as screen readers that read pages aloud.
Under those four principles sit 13 guidelines, and under the guidelines sit the testable rules, called success criteria. Each success criterion has a level: A (the lowest), AA, or AAA (the highest). WCAG 2.2 added 9 success criteria to WCAG 2.1 and removed one, 4.1.1 Parsing, which W3C describes as obsolete. W3C also states that content which conforms to WCAG 2.2 also conforms to WCAG 2.0 and WCAG 2.1, so working to the newest version covers the older ones.
Which WCAG rules matter most on a small business website?
A small business website is usually a handful of pages: home, services, about, contact, perhaps a booking form and a few articles. On pages like these, a short list of success criteria covers the parts customers use on every visit. Here they are, with the level W3C gives each one and a way to check it.
| What to check | WCAG success criterion | Level | How an owner can check it | |---|---|---|---| | Every meaningful image has a text description | 1.1.1 Non-text Content | A | Look at each image's alt text in your website editor | | Videos have captions | 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded) | A | Play each video with the sound off | | Text stands out from its background | 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum): 4.5 to 1, or 3 to 1 for large text | AA | Paste your text and background colours into a free contrast checker | | Text can be enlarged | 1.4.4 Resize Text: up to 200 percent | AA | Zoom the browser to 200 percent and read each page | | Everything works from the keyboard | 2.1.1 Keyboard | A | Press Tab through the whole page and use Enter to open menus and send forms | | Each page has a title that describes it | 2.4.2 Page Titled | A | Read the text on the browser tab for each page | | You can see where the keyboard is | 2.4.7 Focus Visible | AA | While pressing Tab, check that a visible outline follows you | | Buttons are big enough to tap | 2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum): at least 24 by 24 CSS pixels | AA | Try every button and link on a phone with one thumb | | The page states its language | 3.1.1 Language of Page | A | Ask your web person, or use a free accessibility checker | | Form fields have labels | 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions | A | Check that each field says what goes in it, even after you start typing |
For large text, WCAG's definition is at least 18 point, or 14 point bold. None of these rules asks for special technology. Most are decisions made once, in the design, and then kept.
What can an owner check without special software?
W3C publishes a page called "Easy Checks: A First Review of Web Accessibility". It is written for people without technical training, and it walks through page titles, image text alternatives, headings, colour contrast, the skip link, visible keyboard focus, page language, zoom, captions, transcripts, audio description, form labels and required fields.
An owner can do most of these with a browser and a phone. Start with the keyboard test, because it follows the path a customer takes to contact you: put the mouse away, press Tab from the top of the home page, and try to reach and send your contact form. Then zoom to 200 percent. Then read your images' descriptions aloud and ask whether a customer who cannot see the picture would understand it.
W3C is honest about the limits of this review: "A web page could seem to pass these checks, yet still have significant accessibility barriers." The Easy Checks are a first look. A proper evaluation, with the screen readers that blind customers use, is work for someone who knows WCAG well.
Is website accessibility a legal requirement?
This depends on where the business is. What follows summarises two official government pages; for legal advice, ask a lawyer.
United States. The U.S. Department of Justice guidance on web accessibility, dated March 18, 2022, says the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to businesses open to the public (Title III), such as retail stores, banks, hotels, medical offices, restaurants and theatres. It says the ADA's requirements apply to all the goods and services these businesses offer, including those offered on the web. The Department also says it has no regulation setting out detailed technical standards for these businesses, that they have flexibility in how they comply, and that they must still make their online services accessible. It names WCAG and the federal Section 508 Standards as helpful guidance.
Canada, Ontario. The Ontario government says that since January 1, 2021, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) requires designated public sector organizations, and businesses and non-profits with 50 or more employees, to make their public websites accessible. The websites must meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA, except for live captions (1.2.4) and pre-recorded audio descriptions (1.2.5), for content published after January 1, 2012.
For any other province, state or country, check the official rules there, or ask a lawyer. Whatever the law requires, the customer at the start of this article is the same.
How can a small business work to the standard without a specialist on staff?
A web team with the budget builds accessibility into the design, so that every new page starts accessible. A small business can copy that habit in three steps.
First, ask any web designer or provider the questions the Ontario government itself suggests: are you familiar with WCAG Level A and AA criteria, have you built an accessible website before, and do you test with both automated tools and assistive technology? Our guide to judging any website or SEO provider covers the other questions to ask.
Second, keep a record. The Ontario page advises keeping a record of the accessibility issues that were fixed, which shows the work done and helps if the business is ever asked to show its level of accessibility.
Third, check new content before it goes live: alt text on every new image, captions on every new video, labels on every new form field. Google's guidance also reminds site owners that alternative text for images can appear in Search results, so this care serves customers in two places. We explain how to write good image descriptions in our guide to alt text for images.
How common are accessibility problems on the sites we checked?
Licheo's retired audit tool, which read up to 20 pages per site, completed audits of 66 distinct domains. It found at least one accessibility issue on 52 of those 66. These websites are the ones visitors, and our team when testing, typed into the tool; the figure describes those sites alone, and some of them belong to companies larger than a small business. It is still a useful reminder that accessibility problems were common on the sites people brought to us.
Where should a small business start?
Start with the keyboard test on your contact page this week. Then work down the table above. If you would like to do the work yourself, our page on the SEO and website tasks an owner can do alone shows where accessibility sits among them, and our guide to small business SEO explains the search work around it. Accessibility is also one of the features we list in the website features big companies have, and it belongs in the monthly routine from website maintenance at the big-company standard.
At Licheo, a team of specialist AI agents builds and maintains the website, and nothing goes live until the owner approves it. The website, search and AI work that big companies pay whole teams for, done for your small business. You can read how this became possible in how big-company marketing reached the small business. For pricing, contact us, and to see how your website scores today, the Get Found Check is free.
Sources
- Introduction to Web Accessibility, W3C Web Accessibility Initiative, Updated 3 February 2026, accessed 27 September 2026.
- WCAG 2 Overview, W3C Web Accessibility Initiative, Updated 17 September 2026, accessed 27 September 2026.
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2, W3C, W3C Recommendation 12 December 2024, accessed 27 September 2026.
- What's New in WCAG 2.2, W3C Web Accessibility Initiative, Updated 5 October 2023, accessed 27 September 2026.
- Easy Checks: A First Review of Web Accessibility, W3C Web Accessibility Initiative, Updated 21 March 2024, accessed 27 September 2026.
- Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Published March 18, 2022, accessed 27 September 2026.
- How to make websites accessible, Government of Ontario, Ministry for Seniors and Accessibility, Published November 7, 2014, updated September 21, 2026, accessed 27 September 2026.
- Google Search's Guidance on Generative AI Content on Your Website, Google Search Central, Last updated 2025-12-10, accessed 27 September 2026.
- Licheo audit tool records, queried read-only from the Licheo production database on 27 September 2026 (102 completed audits of 66 distinct domains, 2025-12-30 to 2026-08-27 PT).