Web Accessibility and Search Engine Optimization: Best Approach for Building Corporate Websites
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
The rapid digitization of products and services necessitates the development of safeguards to enforce equitable access to internet resources. Although legislative measures have been implemented to compel public-sector organizations to provide accessible web and mobile applications, most websites are still not fully accessible. There is an urgent need for organizations to integrate accessibility into current and future developments. The integration of solutions derived from decades of accessibility research into organizational processes and initiatives is beneficial to all users. This study provides a guide for businesses and organizations to improve their web accessibility and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This research covers the fundamentals of SEO and web accessibility, along with user requirements, and legal obligations. It also includes recommendations on significant concerns and compares the results of two test approaches for evaluating accessibility. The main section outlines user-focused accessibility criteria based on technical standards and relevant user requirements. The systematic literature review method, designed as a repeatable method to reduce bias, was used to evaluate and analyse data extracted from published studies. The research methodology also combines qualitative and quantitative research approaches along with Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM) to develop a practical solution by answering the research questions. This thorough literature review identified definitions, rules, and user requirements that were validated through 65 carefully selected studies. The consolidated results have expanded the framework for web accessibility and SEO and are included in the recommended guide. This study has numerous theoretical and practical implications, as it aims to develop a comprehensive blueprint to guide businesses and practitioners on best practices for integrating web accessibility and SEO into building inclusive corporate websites. By extension, it investigates the intersection between SEO and web accessibility in building a better online experience for people with impairments as well as other web users.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
All articles published in JIWE are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) License. Readers are allowed to
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format under the following conditions:
- Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use;
- NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes;
- NoDerivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
References
[1] M. Campoverde-Molina, S. Lujan-Mora, and L. V. Garcia, “Empirical studies on web accessibility of educational websites: A systematic literature review,” IEEE Access, vol. 8, pp. 91676–91700, 2020, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2994288.
[2] World Bank, “Individuals using the Internet (% of population),” 2022. [Online]. Available: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IT.NET.USER.ZS (Accessed on 28th August 2028).
[3] J. R. Okin, The Internet revolution: The not-for-dummies guide to the history, technology, and use of the Internet. West Orange, NJ: Ironbound Press, 2005.
[4] World Wide Web Consortium, “Introduction to web accessibility,” 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.w3.org/WAI/fundamentals/accessibility-intro/ (Accessed on 28th August 2028).
[5] H. Y. Abuaddous, M. Zalisham, and N. Basir, “Web Accessibility Challenges,” International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, vol. 7, no. 10, 2016, doi: 10.14569/ijacsa.2016.071023.
[6] F. Almukhtar, N. Mahmood, and S. Kareem, “Search engine optimization: A review,” Applied Computer Science, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 69–79, 2021, doi: 10.23743/acs-2021-07.
[7] J. B. Killoran, “How to use search engine optimization techniques to increase website visibility,” in IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, vol. 56, no. 1, 2013, doi: 10.1109/TPC.2012.2237255.
[8] N. Yalcin and U. Kose, “What is search engine optimization: SEO?” Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 9, pp. 487–493, 2010, doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.12.185.
[9] WebAIM, “The WebAIM Million: The 2024 report on the accessibility of the top 1,000,000 home pages,” 2024. [Online]. Available: https://webaim.org/projects/million/ (Accessed on 28th August 2028).
[10] A. Alsaeedi, “Comparing web accessibility evaluation tools and evaluating the accessibility of webpages: Proposed frameworks,” Information, vol. 11, no. 1, 2020, doi: 10.3390/info11010040.
[11] E. M. Velleman, I. Nahuis, and T. van der Geest, “Factors explaining adoption and implementation processes for web accessibility standards within eGovernment systems and organizations,” Universal Access in the Information Society, vol. 16, no. 1, 2017, doi: 10.1007/s10209-015-0449-5.
[12] Netcraft, “Web server survey,” 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.netcraft.com/blog/november-2024-web-server-survey (Accessed on 28th August 2028)
[13] M. A. Ayu and M. A. Elgharabawy, “Effects of web accessibility on search engines and webometrics ranking,” International Journal of Mobile Computing and Multimedia, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 69–94, 2013, doi: 10.4018/jmcmc.2013010106.
[14] B. Pan, “The power of search engine ranking for tourist destinations,” Tourism Management, vol. 47, 2015, doi: 10.1016/j.tourman.2014.08.015.
[15] Y. Lee and K. A. Kozar, “Investigating the effect of website quality on e-business success: An analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach,” Decision Support System, vol. 42, no. 3, pp. 1383–1401, 2006, doi: 10.1016/J.DSS.2005.11.005.
[16] V. McKinney, K. Yoon, and F. Zahedi, “The measurement of web-customer satisfaction: An expectation and disconfirmation approach,” Information Systems Research, vol. 13, no. 3, 2002, doi: 10.1287/isre.13.3.296.76.
[17] H. Petrie and O. Kheir, “The relationship between accessibility and usability of websites,” Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 397–406, 2007, doi: 10.1145/1240624.1240688.
[18] E. T. Loiacono and S. Djamasbi, “Corporate website accessibility: does legislation matter?,” Universal Access in the Information Society, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 115–124, 2011, doi: 10.1007/s10209-011-0269-1.
[19] M. L. Leitner, C. Strauss, and C. Stummer, “Web accessibility implementation in private sector organizations: Motivations and business impact,” Universal Access in the Information Society, vol. 15, no. 2, 2016, doi: 10.1007/s10209-014-0380-1.
[20] C. Perrenoud and K. Phan, “Emergence of web technology: An implementation of web accessibility design in organizations,” 2012 Proceedings of PICMET '12: Technology Management for Emerging Technologies, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2012, pp. 633-645.
[21] L. Moreno and P. Martinez, “Overlapping factors in search engine optimization and web accessibility,” Online Information Review, vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 564–580, 2013, doi: 10.1108/OIR-04-2012-0063.
[22] K. Peffers, T. Tuunanen, M. A. Rothenberger, and S. Chatterjee, “A design science research methodology for information systems research,” Journal of Management Information Systems, vol. 24, no. 3, 2007, doi: 10.2753/MIS0742-1222240302.
[23] A. Campbell, C. Adams, R. B. Montgomery, M. Cooper, and A. Kirkpatrick, “Web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) 2.2,” World Wide Web Consortium, Dec. 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/ (Accessed on 28th August 2028)
[24] M. Hassanzadeh and F. Navidi, “Web site accessibility evaluation methods in action: A comparative approach for ministerial web sites in Iran,” Electron. Library, vol. 28, no. 6, pp. 789–803, 2010, doi: 10.1108/02640471011093499.
[25] I. Tzimas and C. Katsanos, “Do potential issues reported by automated tools affect guideline-based web accessibility evaluation? A Case study on Greek public hospitals,” Proceedings of the 28th Pan-Hellenic Conference on Progress in Computing and Informatics, pp. 275–280, 2024, doi: 10.1145/3716554.3716596.
[26] Hambley, A., Yesilada, Y., Vigo, M. et al. A comparative analysis of single-page and site-wide tools with the OPTIMAL-EM framework. Univ Access Inf Soc 25, 97 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-026-01356-1
[27] T. Bi, X. Xia, D. Lo, J. G. Grundy, T. Zimmermann, and D. Ford, “Accessibility in software practice: A practitioner’s perspective,” ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 1–26, 2022, doi: 10.1145/3503508.
[28] T. C. P. Britto and E. B. Pizzolato, “A survey on the awareness of brazilian web development community about cognitive accessibility,” Proceedings of the 18th Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1–11, 2019, doi: 10.1145/3357155.3358448.
[29] J. Edelberg and G. Verhulsdonck, “Addressing accessibility as advocacy,” Proceedings of the 39th ACM International Conference on Design of Communication, pp. 343–346, 2021, doi: 10.1145/3472714.3473663.
[30] S. Bhagat and P. Joshi, “Evaluation of accessibility and accessibility audit methods for e-Governance portals,” Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance, pp. 220–226, 2019, doi: 10.1145/3326365.3326394.
[31] P. K. Ojha, A. Ismail, and K. Kundumani Srinivasan, “Perusal of readability with focus on web content understandability,” Journal of King Saud University - Computer and Information Sciences, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 1–10, 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.jksuci.2018.03.007.
[32] M. Alshamari, “Accessibility evaluation of Arabic E-Commerce web sites using automated tools,” Journal of Software Engineering and Applications, vol. 09, no. 09, pp. 439–451, 2016, doi: 10.4236/jsea.2016.99029.
[33] Rubio-Escuderos, L., Domínguez Vila, T. & Alén González, E. Technical and informational content accessibility as a tool to improve web traffic on destination management organization websites: evidence from an empirical analysis. Inf Technol Tourism 28, 32 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40558-026-00374-2
[34] K. S. Kuppusamy and V. Balaji, “Evaluating web accessibility of educational institutions websites using a variable magnitude approach,” Universal Access in the Information Society, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 241–250, 2021, doi: 10.1007/s10209-021-00812-4.
[35] Google, “SEO starter guide: The basics,” 2025. [Online]. Available: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/seo-starter-guide (Accessed on 28th August 2028)
[36] Microsoft, “SEO quick reference guide,” 2024. [Online]. Available: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/contribute/content/seo-reference (Accessed on 28th August 2028)
[37] Vercel, “Platforms documentation.” [Online]. Available: https://vercel.com/platforms/docs (Accessed on 28th August 2028)