Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

To audit a WordPress site for accessibility issues, define the pages and tasks you will assess, choose a WCAG target, inspect representative templates, and combine automated scans with manual checks. A scanner can reveal likely problems, but it cannot establish that a site is accessible or fully conforms to a standard.

What a useful WordPress accessibility audit covers

An audit is an evaluation of a defined set of pages and functions—not simply a score from a homepage scan. A useful result states what was checked, how it was checked, what was found, and what remains outside the assessment.

Before starting, decide whether this is a quick first review, an internal assessment, or a formal conformance evaluation. Set the intended WCAG version and conformance level, evaluation date, and boundaries. WCAG-EM, W3C’s evaluation methodology, begins by defining the scope and target conformance level: WCAG-EM Overview.

Do not turn a limited scan or sample into a legal-compliance promise. If you have excluded parts of the site or have not tested a complete task flow, state that clearly.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

How to scope and sample the site

Inventory templates, content, and features

Explore the site before choosing pages. List its distinct views and interactions, such as posts, landing pages, navigation menus, search, forms, commerce or booking steps, modal dialogs, embedded media, and interactive blocks. Include only features the site actually uses, but account for different templates and components: a single theme can produce different markup and behavior across them.

Choose representative pages and tasks

If a full review is not feasible, select pages that represent the site’s different templates and important functions. Include the steps a visitor needs to complete key tasks, not just the starting page. Record why each page or flow was selected. WCAG-EM describes representative and random sampling approaches when evaluating every view is impractical.

A homepage-only scan can tell you about potential issues on that homepage; it cannot stand in for an audit of the whole site. Describe the sample and its limits in the eventual report.

How to do a first-pass accessibility check

Use W3C’s Easy Checks – A First Review of Web Accessibility as a starting checklist. For each selected page, inspect the following:

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.
  • Page title: Does it identify the page clearly?
  • Images: Do text alternatives suit each image’s purpose? Decorative images generally should not add distracting redundant text.
  • Headings: Do they communicate a useful structure for the page?
  • Contrast and resizing: Is text distinguishable from its background, and can text be resized?
  • Keyboard and focus: Can you reach interactive elements with a keyboard, and can you see which element has focus?
  • Forms: Are fields labeled, and do errors explain what needs attention?
  • Moving content: Is there moving, flashing, or blinking content that could create barriers?
  • Audio and video: Are appropriate alternatives available?
  • Page structure: Is the content organized so its relationships and regions are understandable?

These checks are deliberately preliminary. A favorable result does not establish comprehensive conformance; deeper issues may remain in content, interactions, or assistive-technology use.

How to combine automated scans and manual testing

Run an accessibility checker on the pages in scope to surface potential issues efficiently. Then inspect each flagged item in context: automated tools may miss barriers, and some flags may be false or misleading. W3C’s guidance is explicit: “There are evaluation tools that help with evaluation. However, no tool alone can determine if a site meets accessibility standards. Knowledgeable human evaluation is required to determine if a site is accessible.” See Evaluating Web Accessibility Overview.

Manual checks should cover behavior that requires judgment. For example, navigate with a keyboard to see whether links, controls, and form fields are reachable in a sensible order and whether focus remains visible. Try the actual tasks in scope, examine the content, and verify tool findings rather than treating a score or pass count as a verdict.

Choose tools to fit the evaluation: a component, a single page, a page sample, or a larger site may call for different capabilities. Consider the site’s complexity, whether you need spot checks or recurring monitoring, the evaluator’s skills, and whether the output provides actionable evidence or only a score. W3C maintains a Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools List and guidance on Selecting Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools; tool capabilities change, so check current vendor information before choosing.

Free tools Windows power users keep installed

One-click scans. No signup required.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Support on Ko-Fi

When to involve accessibility experts and disabled users

WCAG-EM identifies familiarity with WCAG, accessible design, assistive technologies, and the ways people with disabilities use digital products as important to successful evaluation. For a higher-stakes or formal assessment, use appropriately skilled evaluators rather than presenting an automated scan as a substitute.

W3C also recommends involving disabled users to understand real-world experience: “WCAG-EM also recommends involving real users with disabilities during evaluation, to help you address the real-life experience of your website users.” User involvement complements standards-based evaluation; it does not replace a clear scope or documented test method. See WCAG-EM Overview.

What to put in the audit report

Make findings reproducible and useful to whoever will fix them. For each issue, record the page or task, the element or location, what happened, the user impact, and a practical next action. Add the relevant WCAG criterion when it has been established; distinguish confirmed issues from unverified tool flags.

The report should also state the scope, target level, sample and selection rationale, evaluation date, methods, outcomes, and limitations. When comparing audit providers or reports, look at evaluator expertise, sampling rationale, user involvement, evidence quality, and clarity about exclusions—not just the number of findings.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

W3C’s WCAG-EM Overview links to a report tool that structures and downloads information you supply. It helps organize a report; it does not inspect or evaluate the site for you.

How to handle WordPress themes, plugins, and updates

WordPress.org says the project aims for the WordPress Admin and bundled themes to meet WCAG 2.2 AA where possible, and expects new or updated code to follow its accessibility standards. It also says it cannot guarantee that every theme is compliant. That distinction matters: project goals and coding standards do not certify your deployed site. Review the actual theme, plugins, content, and configuration in the pages and flows you have scoped. See WordPress Accessibility.

After changes, repeat relevant scans and manual checks on the affected templates and task flows, and update the findings. Accessibility checks are most useful throughout design and development, rather than only at the end of a project.

Quick Recap

Bestseller No. 1
Bestseller No. 2

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.