October 6, 2025 | Mindy Weinstein | SEO |

Web Accessibility Standards for 2025

• Web accessibility helps your business communicate with customers
• Web accessibility is a legal requirement, with penalties for non-compliance
• Learn how to make your content compliant with web accessibility guidelines

Implementing web content accessibility is crucial for businesses to reach their customers, create inclusive content, and comply with legal requirements. We outline the latest web accessibility standards and best practices and explain how you can achieve accessibility compliance to help your business succeed digitally. 

The Importance of Web Accessibility in 2025

Web accessibility refers to “websites, tools, and technologies designed and developed so that people with disabilities can use them” (Henry, 2024a). 1.3 billion people, or 16% of the world’s population, experience significant disability, and the number is increasing due to aging populations (World Health Organization, 2023). Therefore, creating accessible web content is important for inclusivity and to be able to communicate with a significant portion of users. Web accessibility helps not only people with disabilities​​ (including cognitive disabilities) but also people without disabilities. This is because following the guidelines makes content accessible to people using various devices (smartphones, smart watches, etc.), people with different abilities due to aging, or those with slow internet. The bottom line is that companies need to make their online content accessible to reach their customers and comply with legal mandates. 

Understanding Web Accessibility Standards

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) developed the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as an international technical standard to help make digital content accessible to people with disabilities (Henry, 2024a). The Department of Justice references WCAG when enforcing American law (Yampolsky, 2025). Therefore, making your company’s web content WCAG compliant will help ensure it is accessible to all users and that you meet your legal obligations.

Deep Dive into WCAG 2.2 Guidelines

The latest version of WCAG is 2.2, the current standard recommended by W3C (W3C, 2024b). Due to the pace of regulation, some nations’ laws may require that online content conform to WCAG 2.0 or WCAG 2.1 (Rogers, 2025). The good news is that WCAG is backwards compatible, so if you are compliant with WCAG 2.2, you are also compliant with WCAG 2.0 and WCAG 2.1.

To determine if content is accessible to people with disabilities, W3C developed WCAG under the four principles of perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. The WCAG technical standard, published as a W3C recommendation in October 2023, has 13 guidelines to inform web content development (Henry, 2025). For each guideline, there are testable success criteria, which are at three levels: A, AA, and AAA. WCAG 2.2’s technical documentation is quite extensive, totalling nearly 22,000 words. You can see W3C’s brief overview of WCAG here and the complete WCAG 2.2 technical documentation here.

Legal Implications and Compliance

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandates that businesses’ web content be accessible to people with disabilities (Department of Justice, 2024). The Department of Justice uses WCAG to determine if companies are ADA compliant (Yampolsky, 2025). The Department of Justice may sue non-compliant businesses under the Disabilities Act ADA to seek injunctions to compel compliance (Darkhorse Law, 2024). Non-compliant companies may also face fines up to $75,000 for a first violation, and up to $150,000 for subsequent violations (Darkhorse Law, 2024). Accessibility mandates extend beyond the private sector, as federal agencies must also provide digital systems accessible to people with disabilities, under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Implementing Accessibility: Tools and Best Practices

W3C recommends a manual review to determine if web content is WCAG compliant (Henry, 2023a). W3C’s starter guide on how to conduct manual reviews is available here. The opening paragraphs of the guide explain which steps to take next after completing the starter guide. W3C (Henry, 2024b) suggests that testing should involve users, explaining that “Evaluating with users with disabilities and with older users identifies usability issues that are not discovered by conformance evaluation alone.”

You can increase testing efficiency using leading free automated accessibility testing tools such as Google Lighthouse, WAVE, and Axe. Note that these tools should be used alongside manual evaluation, not as a replacement. 

Market MindShift’s Approach to Web Accessibility

Businesses often seek guidance on web content development and optimization when looking for digital marketing services near me. To help achieve this goal, Market MindShift offers a complete website development service. The service covers creating websites, improving existing websites, and conducting a full web accessibility audit. Market MindShift’s comprehensive accessibility audit involves conducting a detailed assessment of your web content and producing actionable recommendations to achieve compliance with accessibility regulations. This will ultimately improve your customers’ user experience.

Embracing an Inclusive Digital Future

Implementing a modern web accessibility approach is a vital step that businesses must take to communicate with customers and meet regulatory requirements. Website accessibility standards are complex, but you don’t have to take it on alone. Market MindShift offers a complete web development service, which includes a comprehensive web accessibility audit. The audit provides a detailed assessment of the accessibility status of your web content and produces actionable recommendations to achieve compliance with accessibility regulations, thereby improving customers’ user experience. Talk to Market MindShift today for web development and digital marketing services that prioritize inclusivity, helping you communicate with customers effectively.

FAQs: Navigating Web Accessibility Standards

What are the key differences between WCAG 2.1 and WCAG 2.2?

WCAG 2.2 introduced nine new success criteria “to address gaps in accessibility” (W3C, 2025). W3C developed the new criteria (outlined here) to provide increased accessibility for people with visual, hearing, mobility, and cognitive disabilities (W3C, 2024a).

How can I determine if my website meets current accessibility standards?

The most robust method to check if your website meets current accessibility standards is to conduct a manual review, referencing the latest Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, WCAG 2.2 (Henry, 2023a). W3C’s guide on conducting manual reviews to ensure compliance with web accessibility standards​ is available here. You can also complement manual reviews by using automated tools to test a website’s accessibility​.

Which tools are recommended for testing website accessibility?

The three leading website accessibility tools are Google Lighthouse, WAVE, and Axe. All three are free and offer a suite of tools for testing website accessibility.

What are the legal consequences of non-compliance with web accessibility guidelines?

Businesses that are non-compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act may be sued by the Department of Justice to gain injunctions to compel compliance. Businesses may also face fines, with first violations attracting penalties up to $75,000, and subsequent violations drawing penalties up to $150,000 (Darkhorse Law, 2024).

How does Market MindShift assist businesses in achieving web accessibility compliance?

Market MindShift offers a comprehensive website development service. This service can help you create a website from scratch or improve existing web content. It also includes a full web accessibility audit, which will assess every aspect of your website and provide actionable recommendations for improvement. This will ensure regulatory compliance and facilitate seamless communication with your customer base.

 

Citations

Disability (2023, March 7). World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/disability-and-health

Fact Sheet: New Rule on the Accessibility of Web Content and Mobile Apps Provided by State and Local Governments (2024, March 8). U.S. Department of Justice. https://www.ada.gov/resources/2024-03-08-web-rule/

Henry, S. L. (2023, August 9). Easy Checks – A First Review of Web Accessibility. W3C. https://www.w3.org/WAI/test-evaluate/preliminary/

Henry, S. L. (2023, October 5). What’s new in WCAG 2.2. W3C. https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/new-in-22/

Huang, K. (2022, September 16). For Gen Z, TikTok is the New Search Engine. The New York Times.  https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/technology/gen-z-tiktok-search-engine.html

Henry, S. L. (2024, March 7). Introduction to Web Accessibility. W3C. https://www.w3.org/WAI/fundamentals/accessibility-intro/

Henry, S. L. (2024, April 30). Involving Users in Evaluating Web Accessibility. W3C. https://www.w3.org/WAI/test-evaluate/involving-users/

Henry, S. L. (2025, May 6). WCAG 2 Overview. W3C. https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/

WCAG 101: Understanding the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (2024, October 9). W3C. https://www.wcag.com/resource/what-is-wcag/

WCAG 2.2: New Success Criteria, More Inclusive Content (January 28, 2025). W3C. https://www.wcag.com/blog/wcag-2-2-aa-summary-and-checklist-for-website-owners/

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2. (2024, December 12). W3C. https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/

What Are the Penalties for ADA Website Non-Compliance? (2024, October 14). Darkhorse Law. https://darkhorse.law/penalties-ada-website-non-compliance/

Yampolsky, Y. (2025, April 17). The ADA vs WCAG: What You Need to Know. Accessibe.com. https://accessibe.com/blog/knowledgebase/ada-vs-wcag#2.-u.s.-courts-point-to-wcag-when-interpreting-the-ada