How accessibility improves searchability Google is blind How accessibility improves searchability

First, let’s learn about search engines.

How do search engines work? The major functions of a search engine are crawling and indexing web content including text, images, video, etc. to serve relevant results to their users. HTML content is the easiest to index. Source: https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo

Source: https://www.computerical.ml/internet/how-google-works

Content writers use SEO (search engine optimization) tactics to get their pages found. The content owner has to tell Google – using meta data – what the page is about. It is this meta data that Google can easily index. It is best to keep a page to a single topic if possible for clarity.

Google is powerful! Google searches 30 trillion webpages 100 BILLION times per month! The Google index is now at 100 million gigabytes! Source: https://venturebeat.com/2013/03/01/how-google-searches-30-trillion-web-pages-100-billion-times-a-month

How is Google limited?

Google is blind. Search engines cannot “see” images or “watch” videos. They can only read HTML written content and alt tags (headings, image descriptions, video transcripts). Google shares this disability with roughly 36 million people worldwide. Source: https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo

How can we help Google index our content?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) The process by which content owners add search engine-friendly content is called SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Source: https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo

Keyword-rich page titles and descriptions help get your content indexed by Google.

You can add meta data in OmniUpdate.

Now, let’s learn about accessibility.

What is web accessibility? Web accessibility means that websites are designed and developed so that people with disabilities can use them. More specifically, people can: perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web Source: https://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/accessibility.php

How do visually impaired people access web content? The most common way is through a text- to-speech software or screen reader. Screen readers comb through a website a lot like a search engine combs through HTML and SEO content. Source: https://gizmodo.com/5620079/giz-explains-how-blind-people-see-the-internet

So what does accessibility have to do with how Google indexes content?

“There is much evidence that suggests that accessibility not only supports high search engine rankings, but that Google may actually favor pages that have strong implementations of accessibility.” ~ Jared Smith, Blogger for WebAim.org Source: .https://webaim.org/blog/web-accessibility-and-seo/

Here are three ways accessibility compliance improves SEO: Proper use of heading tags and page structure Inclusion of clear image descriptions Providing video transcriptions Source: https://webaim.org/blog/web-accessibility-and-seo/

1. Use Heading tags properly. Both screen readers and Google read the HTML code on a webpage in sequential order starting from the top left and moving down the page to the bottom right.

Heading tags create clear page structure for the visually impaired and Google alike. What’s most important is the h1 heading. All pages should have an H1 tag! There are six levels of heading tags. Visually impaired users can navigate heading tags via their screen readers by skipping content to get to deeper levels.

Proper use of heading tags creates clear page structure. Page title often repeats the h1 What’s MOST important (h1 tag) h2 is a subheading

Keep Heading Tags in Order! Never put tags out of order. This confuses both Google and visually impaired visitors. Source: https://www.w3schools.com/html/html_headings.asp

Don’t skip heading tags! “Skipping heading ranks can be confusing and should be avoided where possible. Make sure that a <h2> is not followed directly by an <h4>, for example. It is ok to skip ranks when closing subsections, for instance, a <h2> beginning a new section, can follow an <h4> as it closes the previous section.” ~ W3Schools Source: https://www.w3schools.com/html/html_headings.asp

Styled Heading tags should not be used for design purposes for non-heading content. It is fine for a developer to add styling elements such as bold or larger fonts for an h1 tag. However, you should not use an h1 tag to style a word in the middle of a paragraph for emphasis as it confuses screen readers and Google on what the page focus should be. Source: Katie Cunningham, Accessibility Handbook: Making 508 Websites for Everyone

Heading tags can be styled but use them sparingly.

2. Write image descriptions to relay relevant content.

Properly described – and named – images help with accessibility and make it easier for Google to find you. Google can’t see your photo. YOU have to tell Google - and screen readers – what is happening in the image. Source: https://webaim.org/techniques/alttext/

Without an image description, visually impaired users – and Google – have no idea what is happening in this image.

Tips for writing effective image descriptions include: Explain the purpose of the image. Avoid adding “clip art” or decorative images. Add location - some people search for local images that are relevant to them. Is the gender/race/ethnicity something you want to include? When talking about images with more than one person, describe the group, not the individuals unless it’s important.

Let’s describe this image together! Arkansas outdoor school summer camp Little Rock

Charts and graphs also need relevant descriptions. How would you describe this image?

Charts and graphs also need relevant descriptions. “Remember that complex images can be difficult to understand by many people – in particular people with learning disabilities and people with low vision. Long descriptions benefit many people, and it is good practice to make them available to everyone, for example, as part of the main content.” ~ W3schools Source: https://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/images/complex/

3. Video content should have transcriptions or descriptions.

What are the options for transcribing video? Written transcriptions Audio Descriptions Captions Open Closed Source: https://webaim.org/techniques/captions/

How do video captions help with search? Google cannot watch your video. A written description, or caption adds valuable written content to your webpage that is then indexed by the web crawler. Source: https://webaim.org/techniques/captions/

Transcripts help with both SEO and content comprehension. A transcript is the same word-for- word content as captions, but presented in a separate document, whether it is a text file, word processing document, PDF, or web page. This content can be read by screen readers and indexed by Google. Source: https://webaim.org/techniques/captions/

Video transcripts boost engagement for all users. One study compared 37 web pages before and after adding transcripts. Pages with transcripts earned on average 16% more revenue than they did before transcripts were added. Source: https://www.3playmedia.com/2016/06/14/7-ways-video-transcripts-captions-improve-seo/

Three tips for making effective transcriptions. Imagine your video was being aired on the radio and see if it would make sense and be fully understandable. Identify the speaker. Pause frequently in the video to make time for audio description. Source: https://www.3playmedia.com/2017/05/12/best-practices-for-creating-accesible-video-for-blind-and-low-vision-viewers/

Captions: There are differences between closed captions and open captions. Open captions are encoded into the video, are always on, and not able to be indexed by web crawlers. Closed captions are text and audio descriptions which can be turned on or off by the user. They are independent of the video. Source: https://webaim.org/techniques/captions/

Open captions are not SEO friendly. There is no SEO benefit to adding open captions (captions INSIDE video player). Source: https://www.3playmedia.com/2016/06/14/7-ways-video-transcripts-captions-improve-seo/

Closed captions can be indexed by Google. The viewer has to turn on or off the closed captions. They are part of a separate stream from the video instead of embedded into the video. Source: https://www.3playmedia.com/2016/06/14/7-ways-video-transcripts-captions-improve-seo/

Closed captions increase engagement. Closed captions increase viewership because they keep the viewer engaged regardless of their access to audio. Source: https://www.3playmedia.com/2016/06/14/7-ways-video-transcripts-captions-improve-seo/

ALL audiences benefit from closed captions. “According to a recent digiday.com study, 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound, which indicates audiences rely more on the visuals in a video than the sound.” Source: https://blogs.perficient.com/perficientdigital/2018/01/12/website-accessibility-benefit-seo/

Ensure full accessibility compliance: “In order for a video to be fully accessible, however, both closed captions and a transcript should be provided to allow access to the widest possible audience.” ~ Webaim.org Source: https://webaim.org/techniques/captions/

Audio descriptions work similarly to image descriptions. Audio descriptions are helpful on the web if visual content in web video provides important content not available through the audio alone. If web video is produced with accessibility in mind, then audio descriptions are often unnecessary, as long as visual elements within the video are described in the audio. Source: https://webaim.org/techniques/captions/

Describe your relevant video content either on the page or in meta data. Source: https://webaim.org/techniques/captions/

Recap time! Add heading tags to give meaning and structure to your content Add image descriptions to describe visuals for screen readers. Add video transcripts to describe videos for visually and hearing impaired visitors.

Google wants you to optimize search for PEOPLE, not for bots!

Questions?

Thank you! Amy Cole Digital Media Program Director University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service accole@uaex.edu @AmyCole501 (Twitter and Instagram)