Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2025: The state of web accessibility and how we can improve it

For the report, WebAIM analysed the home pages of the top 1 million websites for automatically detectable accessibility issues. The good news? There’s been a 10.3% reduction in the average number of errors per page compared to 2024. The bad news? Most of the web is still inaccessible for people who rely on accessible sites.

Here’s what the data shows:

• 94.8% of home pages had detected WCAG 2 failures.
• Low contrast text was found on 79.1% of home pages - the most common failure.
• Missing alt text was present on over 55.5% of home pages.
• ARIA was used on 79.4% of pages, but it often caused more harm than good — Home pages with ARIA present had over twice as many errors (57 on average) than pages without ARIA (27 on average).

So, what can you actually do about it?

Let’s run through the top five errors found and how to fix them:

1. Low contrast text

Found on 79.1% of home pages

The problem:

Text that doesn’t have enough contrast against its background is hard to read.

The guideline:

WCAG AA requires a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text.

How to fix it:

• Use a contrast checker to test your text and background colours, such as https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/
• Choose sufficiently contrasting colours for the text and background
• Increase the size of text to be larger than 18pt (or 14pt bold) - this is considered large text

Read more about legal requirements in the UK and the US here.

2. Missing alternative text for images

Found on 55.5% of pages (note: images with empty alt tags were ignored)

The problem:

Screen readers rely on image alt text to describe visuals. Without it, users may miss key information.

How to fix it:

• For informative images - images that add to the context of the page - use alt text that describes the image as concisely as possible
• Don’t include ‘picture of’ or ‘image of’ - screen readers already announce that it’s an image

Bonus tip:

For decorative images - images that serve no specific purpose - use empty alt text alt=”” - this tells screen readers to ignore them.

3. Missing form input labels

Found on 48.2% of pages

The problem:

Labels help screen readers and other assistive technology understand what each field is for - without them the fields and form itself become unusable.

How to fix it:

• Use the `<label>` element with a `for` attribute that matches the input’s `id`.
• Don’t rely on placeholder text - it disappears when the user starts typing and should not be treated as a replacement for a label.

4. Empty links and buttons

Empty links found on 45.4% of pages and empty buttons on 29.6% of pages

The problem:

A link or a button without text (or with only an icon and no accessible name) is meaningless to screen readers and keyboard users.

How to fix it:

• Make sure all links contain descriptive text — not just “click here” or “read more”
• If you're using an icon-only link (like a magnifying glass for search), add an accessible label:

So what should you do next?

Accessibility isn't just about compliance - it's about real people trying to use your site. The WebAIM report is a reminder that we still have a long way to go, but also that small, practical actions can lead to big improvements.

If you're a digital team leader, product owner or content editor here are some steps to consider:

• Start with an accessibility audit: Regular accessibility reviews (manual and automated) help to catch issues early.
  
• Provide team training: Accessibility should be baked into your design and development workflows - not tacked on at the end.
  
• Use meaningful patterns: Prioritise semantic HTML, good contrast, keyboard accessibility and robust forms.
  
• Fix the small stuff: Improvements like better links, labels and alt text are low-effort but high-impact.

At Torchbox we integrate accessibility into every project, like our work with RNIB, and strive to meet conformance with WCAG 2.2 Level AA as our baseline. We also apply the same standards to our own site, which Helen explains in more detail here.

So, for Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2025, why not take a moment to check your site for one (or more!) of these top five issues? Every fix makes the web a little more inclusive for someone who counts on it.