If you think ADA compliance only applies to physical storefronts — ramps, wide doorways, accessible restrooms — it’s time to update that assumption. Over the past several years, website accessibility lawsuits have surged, and small businesses are increasingly finding themselves named in complaints they never saw coming.
The good news: most of these risks are easy to spot once you know what to look for. Below are seven warning signs that your website may not meet accessibility standards — and what to do about each one.
1. Your Images Don’t Have Alt Text
Alt text describes an image for users who rely on screen readers. If a visually impaired visitor can’t tell what’s in your product photos, team headshots, or infographics, your site is failing a basic accessibility requirement.
Quick check: Right-click any image on your site and inspect the code, or ask your developer to run an accessibility scan. If most images come back blank, this is an easy — but urgent — fix.
2. Your Site Can’t Be Navigated With a Keyboard Alone
Many users with motor impairments navigate entirely with a keyboard — tabbing through links, buttons, and forms instead of using a mouse.
Try it yourself: Unplug your mouse and try to browse your own site using only the Tab and Enter keys. If you get stuck, lose track of where you are on the page, or can’t reach your navigation menu, your visitors are running into the same wall.
3. Your Color Contrast Is Too Low
Light gray text on a white background might look sleek in a design mockup, but it can be unreadable for users with low vision or color blindness — a large share of your potential audience.
Quick check: WCAG guidelines require a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for normal text. Free tools like WebAIM’s Contrast Checker can tell you in seconds whether your color palette passes.
4. Your Forms Don’t Have Labels
If your contact form, newsletter signup, or checkout page only shows placeholder text inside the input field (and no actual label), screen reader users may have no idea what information they’re supposed to enter.
Quick check: Click into a form field and clear the text. If nothing remains to tell you what the field is for, it likely lacks a proper label — a common and easily fixable issue.
5. Your Videos Don’t Have Captions or Transcripts
Video content without captions excludes deaf and hard-of-hearing visitors entirely, and it’s one of the most frequently cited issues in accessibility complaints.
Quick check: Review any video on your site. If there’s no caption option and no accompanying transcript, this is a gap worth closing — especially for product demos, testimonials, or explainer videos on key pages.
6. Your Site Relies on Pop-Ups That Can’t Be Closed Easily
Pop-ups and modals that trap focus — meaning a user can’t tab out of them or close them without a mouse — are a common accessibility violation, even on otherwise well-designed sites.
Quick check: Open any pop-up on your site (newsletter signups are a common culprit) and try closing it using only your keyboard. If the Escape key doesn’t work and there’s no clearly focusable close button, that’s a problem.
7. You’ve Never Actually Had an Accessibility Audit
This might be the biggest warning sign of all. If your website was built without accessibility in mind from the start, there’s a good chance it has several of the issues above — and possibly more that aren’t visible without a proper audit.
Quick check: Ask yourself honestly: has anyone ever tested your site against WCAG 2.1 standards? If the answer is no, the risk isn’t hypothetical — it’s simply undiscovered.
What To Do Next
None of these issues mean your website is a lost cause. Most accessibility gaps can be fixed without a full rebuild, especially when they’re caught early. The real risk comes from not knowing where you stand.
If you’re unsure whether your site meets current ADA and WCAG standards, the safest move is a professional accessibility audit — before a complaint, not after one.
