Can screen reader users use your website?

Screen readers read out content on a web page. They can be paired with a refreshable braille display to provide simultaneous speech and braille. This technology supports people who are blind or have low vision and can’t see what’s on the page, and people with cognitive disabilities, who may more easily understand content when it’s read aloud to them.

Screen readers help people to navigate web pages, find the content they need, and complete tasks. How you structure and format your content can either be really helpful or very frustrating.

In addition to body text and paragraphs, screen readers will read out:

• Alt text for images and icons
• Structural elements like headings
• Links, buttons, form fields, checkboxes and other interactive controls
• Lists
• Data tables

When elements are properly coded, screen readers can provide additional information to help users, such as:

• The heading level, e.g. level 1, 2, 3, etc.
• The label and element type of interactive controls, e.g. “Submit button” or “Login link”
• A list of all the links on a page, by their text label
• The number of items in a list

22% of those surveyed by WebAIM in the 2026 report think website content has become less accessible compared to the previous year.

Here are some tips to improve accessibility on your web pages for screen reader users.

Write alt text for images

According to the WebAIM Millions report 2026, about 55% of website images lack alt text, leaving screen reader users unable to understand visual content. Screen readers will read out alt text to give equal access to your content for all your users.

The aim of alt text is to provide a concise description of the essential aspects of the image. You may find the following framework helpful when you are writing alt text:

• Object (the main focus of the image)
• Action (what’s happening)
• Context (both the surrounding environment in the image and how the image is being used)

There’s more help on writing alt text in our guide to accessible content.

Structure your text with headings

According to WebAIM:

• 67.8% of respondents use headings first when trying to find information on a long web page.
• 88.3% find heading levels (H1, H2, H3, etc.) very or somewhat useful.

Because screen readers do not recognise visual styles like text size and font weight, headings must be properly formatted in order to be useful. A proper heading hierarchy creates a navigable map of your page:

• H1: Main page title (one per page)
• H2: Major sections
• H3: Subsections within H2 and so on.

Logical heading structure lets users jump between sections rather than listening to every word.

Remember to front-load your headings with the important information, so screen reader users can know more quickly if that section is important to them.

Clearly label interactive controls

Write descriptive links

Vague links like “click here” or “read more” make no sense when read out of context. Instead, describe the purpose of the link, for example, “Sign up to our newsletter”.

Provide text for icons

Sometimes a link or button contains just an icon, such as a social media logo. If it’s not possible to include visible text with the icon, then it will need a text alternative for screen reader users, so they understand what will happen when they interact with it.

Ensure form labels are coded in

Donation forms, contact forms, and email newsletter sign-ups are among the most important parts of any website.

A common problem with forms is that they either have visual placeholder text, which disappears when the user starts typing and may not be announced by a screen reader, or a label that is not correctly associated with its corresponding form field in the HTML code – which means people will not know what information they need to enter.

If you use a form builder, like Gravity Forms, you may be able to add in the form labels yourself. But you may need help to make sure the label is properly implemented in the code, in which case you should talk to a web developer.

It’s also important to make it clear which fields are required. We recommend adding the word “required” to the end of the label text rather than using an asterisk, for example. People with cognitive disabilities may not understand what an asterisk represents, and screen readers may announce it as “asterisk” or miss it out entirely depending on their settings.

If you can, it’s a good idea to ask people with disabilities how easy or difficult it is to complete a form on your website.

Format lists correctly

When somebody using a screen reader reaches a properly formatted list, they’ll know how many items it contains, which item they’re on, and when they reach the end of the list. This will not be the case if you have manually created a list by adding dashes or asterisks to the start of each new line.

Ensure all your visitors can use your website

An article in The Grocer earlier this year talked about how online grocery shopping was locking out disabled shoppers, including screen reader users, with basic accessibility fails.

And the Click-Away Pound report 2019 showed that almost 70% of people with access needs will click away from an inaccessible website, at a cost of £17.1 billion to businesses.

Understanding how different people use the web is key to understanding accessibility. For screen readers to be able to do their job, the HTML on your website needs to be coded correctly. And then, how you structure and format your content supports screen reader users to explore web pages as they wish, rather than laboriously reading the page content from top to bottom.

Understand accessibility on your website

Next steps could be:

1. Use our guide to accessible content to improve the accessibility of your text content.
2. Our simple accessibility review checks 10 high-frequency accessibility issues, including heading hierarchies, skipped headings, and missing alt text. It gives you a good understanding of the sort of accessibility issues present across your website and provides a foundation for making improvements.
3. An accessibility audit will include testing your website with assistive technologies like screen readers. This is a specialist service we offer with our partner Zoonou.

Ensuring people can engage with your website content means you are providing an equitable experience for all your audiences.