ADA Compliance Checklist for Business Websites in 2025

A useful website helps a visitor understand the offer and complete the next step without unnecessary friction. Evaluate structure, content, accessibility and maintenance alongside appearance. The best scope is the one that supports the real customer task and can be tested, owned and updated by the business.

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In 2025, digital accessibility isn’t optional—it’s the standard. An ADA-compliant website not only opens your business to a broader audience but also helps you avoid costly lawsuits, improves SEO, and creates a better overall user experience.

This updated ADA compliance checklist ensures your business website meets current legal and usability standards.

Why ADA Compliance Matters in 2025

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandates that businesses provide equal access to all users—including digital platforms like websites. With lawsuits on the rise and user expectations evolving, non-compliance can damage your brand and your bottom line.

Beyond legal protection, accessible websites:

• Improve SEO rankings
• Increase conversion rates
• Reduce bounce rates
• Build brand trust and reputation

At Steele Solutions, accessibility is built into every web design project—not tacked on as an afterthought.

ADA Compliance Checklist for Your Website

Use this checklist to evaluate whether your website aligns with WCAG 2.2 Level AA guidelines—the standard used for ADA compliance:

1. Text Alternatives (Alt Text)

• All images, icons, and media elements include clear, descriptive alt attributes.

2. Keyboard Accessibility

• Users can navigate your website fully using only a keyboard—no mouse required.

3. Color Contrast

• Text and background combinations meet minimum contrast ratios (4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text).

4. Resizable Text

5. Logical Heading Structure

• Your site uses semantic HTML (

  to

  ) to organize content meaningfully for screen readers.

6. Accessible Forms

• All form fields include labels, instructions, and error handling that can be read by assistive technology.

7. Descriptive Links

• Link text is meaningful on its own (avoid “Click here”) and describes the destination.

8. Multimedia Accessibility

• Videos have accurate captions. Audio has transcripts. Auto-play is avoided unless user-controlled.

9. ARIA Roles & Landmarks

• Use ARIA tags responsibly to improve screen reader navigation where necessary.

10. Skip Navigation Links

• “Skip to content” links are available to bypass repetitive navigation.

11. No Flashing Content

• Avoid flashing or blinking content that may trigger seizures or distract users.

12. Consistent Navigation

• Menus and UI components behave predictably across pages.

Accessibility Is Ongoing—Not One and Done

Compliance isn't a one-time fix. It requires:

• Regular audits
• Testing with screen readers
• Updates as content evolves
• Staying current with changing standards

At Steele Solutions, we use leading accessibility tools like WAVE, axe DevTools, and Lighthouse as part of our QA process. Our client dashboard lets you track site accessibility improvements alongside SEO and performance metrics.

Build Inclusively, Grow Sustainably

An accessible website is a smarter, stronger, and safer website. It welcomes more visitors, ranks higher on search engines, and reflects your brand’s values of inclusivity and excellence.

Contact Steele Solutions to get an ADA compliance audit or build your next website with accessibility at the core.

A practical website acceptance plan

A design review should include real customer tasks, not only a visual tour of the homepage. Ask someone unfamiliar with the site to find the relevant service, explain what the business offers and locate the next step. Watch where the wording or navigation creates uncertainty. The goal is to remove unnecessary decisions while preserving enough detail for a visitor to assess fit.

Agree what will be delivered

A clear scope names the pages, content responsibilities, integrations and review rounds. It should also explain who owns the domain, hosting account, media and source files. If the site includes a publishing system, test the editing process before handover. A feature that only the original developer can operate may create an avoidable dependency for a small team.

Separate the launch scope from later enhancements. A booking integration may be essential for one business and unnecessary for another. The same is true of search, filtering, a customer portal or multiple languages. Prioritization should follow the visitor’s task and the team’s ability to maintain the result.

Protect the site’s established addresses

Before a redesign, inventory pages that receive search traffic or external links. Preserve those URLs when the purpose remains the same. If a move is necessary, map the old address directly to the most relevant destination and update internal links. Sending every retired page to the homepage can leave visitors without the information they expected.

Test accessibility and small-screen use

Navigate the site with a keyboard, check visible focus, read form labels and confirm that errors explain what needs correcting. Review headings and meaningful image descriptions. Automated tools can identify some problems, but W3C explains that human evaluation is also necessary. A perfect automated score should not be presented as a complete accessibility assessment.

On a phone-sized screen, check long headings, menus, tables and the actual contact form. Make sure important buttons remain understandable without hover. Large visuals should not prevent a visitor from reaching the service description or next step. Test representative interior pages as well as the homepage.

Plan for ordinary maintenance

Assign someone to review offers, contact details, images and forms. Keep a record of major changes and a recoverable copy of the site. Define how a broken integration or failed submission will be noticed. Good maintenance is usually a set of modest, repeatable checks rather than a dramatic redesign every few years.

Our web design service connects this planning with implementation. For a focused review of barriers affecting visitors, see website accessibility. The right scope depends on what the business and its customers actually need.

Sources and further reading

W3C: evaluating web accessibility. Review these primary references alongside the practical planning guidance above.