Why most websites fail accessibility audits - and what to do about it

Over the last year, we’ve audited hundreds of websites across industries, platforms, and company sizes. Whether it was a startup landing page or a well-funded e-commerce store, the story was remarkably consistent: nearly every page we analyzed had accessibility issues — often more than 20 critical problems and over 60 additional gaps.

And the majority of those issues? Completely invisible to the website owner.

Why do these issues happen so consistently?

There’s no single villain behind poor accessibility. Most teams don’t neglect it on purpose. Instead, the problems tend to stem from three systemic realities:

1. Accessibility isn’t built into the tools
   Many modern site builders, frameworks, and themes prioritize aesthetics, responsiveness, or speed — not accessibility. And while platforms often claim to be "compliant," they rarely cover all the requirements set out by standards like WCAG 2.1 AA or the upcoming European Accessibility Act.
2. The Web changes constantly
   Even if a site is compliant at launch, it won’t stay that way for long. Every image you upload, every new feature you release, and every content update introduces the risk of fresh accessibility barriers — whether it's contrast issues, unlabeled elements, or missing focus states.
3. You can’t fix hat you can’t see
   The harsh reality is: many accessibility violations don’t break the site visually. Your team might test a form or a button and think it’s working just fine — but for a screen reader user, that same element may be unreadable or unreachable.

Why website owners rarely catch these issues

Most accessibility problems fall into a strange blind spot:
They don’t trigger errors, don’t affect SEO rankings immediately, and don’t show up in your analytics dashboard.

This means unless someone with an assistive technology flags the issue — or unless your organization is actively testing with real accessibility tools — you’ll never know they’re there. And even if a few team members spot a problem, fixing it often involves understanding semantic HTML, ARIA roles, and compliance guidelines that are notoriously difficult to interpret.

Fixing issues internally: is it sustainable?

Technically, yes — you can fix accessibility issues manually. But doing so effectively means:

• Training your developers and content teams
• Auditing the site regularly, including on updates
• Keeping up with changing compliance regulations
• Testing against real user experiences, not just automated checkers

For most companies, that becomes an ongoing burden, not a one-time project. And every time your team pushes a new page or feature, the cycle starts again.

What actually works

The websites that succeed in maintaining accessibility — and avoiding compliance headaches — don’t necessarily have bigger budgets.
They just adopt a more sustainable process.
They shift from reactive fixing to proactive monitoring.
They integrate accessibility as a continuous part of their digital operations, not a fire drill every few months.
Sometimes that means better internal processes.
Often, it means choosing outside help that’s built to do the thing.

Accessibility is a spectrum, not a checkbox. It’s not something you get “right” once — it’s something that evolves with your content, your users, and your tools.
The good news? Once you understand why these issues happen — and how common they are — you’re already ahead of the curve.
And if you’re seeing accessibility as a burden, chances are it’s because you’re trying to do it alone.