We scanned 10 small-business home pages: the most common accessibility issues (2026)
Results of an automated axe-core scan of 10 small-business home pages in October 2026: the most common issues, how often each appeared, and plain fixes.
On 25 October 2026 we ran our automated scanner once on the home page of 10 public small-business websites, one each from 10 common types of business: a dentist, hair salon, roofing contractor, law office, restaurant, auto repair shop, fitness studio, gift shop, accounting firm and plumber. We name no businesses here. This page shows only totals.
Method and limits (please read)
- Sample: 10 home pages picked from ordinary web searches in four US Midwest states. It's a small, non-random sample, so treat the percentages as examples, not statistics about all small businesses.
- Tool: axe-core in headless Chrome at a 1280px desktop width, checking WCAG 2.0–2.2 A/AA rules plus axe best-practice rules. One page load per site, home page only.
- What this misses: automated checks find only part of accessibility barriers. They can't judge keyboard use, focus order, whether alt text is accurate, or how a screen reader user actually gets through a booking form. A site with zero automated issues isn't necessarily accessible.
Headline numbers
- 8 of 10 home pages had at least one automated issue. 2 had none that axe could detect.
- Median: 3 issue instances and 3 different issue types per home page. The range was 0 to 38 instances.
- The two pages with the most instances (15 and 38) got most of them from low-contrast text and links with no text.
Most common issues
| Issue (axe rule) | Home pages with it | Total instances | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
Low colour contrast (color-contrast) | 4 of 10 | 33 | Serious |
Content outside landmarks (region) | 4 of 10 | 4 | Moderate |
Links with no text (link-name) | 3 of 10 | 20 | Serious |
Skipped heading levels (heading-order) | 3 of 10 | 4 | Moderate |
Duplicate landmarks with no label (landmark-unique) | 3 of 10 | 3 | Moderate |
No single main landmark (landmark-one-main) | 2 of 10 | 2 | Moderate |
| Image with no alt text, embed with no title, no page language, no H1, auto-refresh | 1 of 10 each | 1 each | Critical or serious |
Plain fixes for the top issues
1. Low colour contrast
Usually light grey text, white text on a photo, or a pale button. Body text needs at least 4.5:1 against its background, and large text 3:1. Check your brand colours with our free contrast checker, then darken the text or add a solid overlay behind text on images. More in the contrast guide.
2. Links with no text
Almost always social media icons, a logo link or an image-only button. A screen reader announces just "link". Add a text label:
<a href="https://facebook.com/yourpage" aria-label="Our Facebook page"><svg aria-hidden="true">…</svg></a>
3. Landmarks (region, landmark-unique, landmark-one-main)
Screen reader users jump between regions of a page. Wrap the page's main content in one <main>, keep the header in <header> and the footer in <footer>, and if you have two <nav> menus give each a label, e.g. aria-label="Main" and aria-label="Footer". Most site builders have a setting or theme option for this. See our WordPress, Wix and Squarespace guides.
4. Skipped heading levels
Headings are often picked for their size, so an H2 is followed by an H4. Use one H1, then H2 for sections and H3 inside them, and change the look with styles instead. See heading structure.
5. Missing alt text and the rest
Each of these turned up on just one site, but they're quick to fix: give meaningful images alt text (try our alt text checker), give embedded maps and videos a title, set <html lang="en">, and remove timed page refreshes.
Check your own home page
Run the same automated check on your site with the free homepage snapshot. If you want every issue across up to 10 pages with copy-paste fixes for your platform, the $149 Fix-Pack is delivered within 48 hours with a 14-day refund promise. For a manual pass, use the checklist and the keyboard test.
This study is general technical information, not legal advice. Automated results don't certify ADA or any legal compliance and don't predict legal risk.
Related guides
- WCAG 2.2 explained for small-business websites
- Squarespace accessibility fixes: alt text, contrast, forms and more
- Wix accessibility fixes: a practical checklist
- WordPress accessibility fixes (block editor and themes)
This guide is general technical information, not legal advice. Following it does not certify ADA or any legal compliance. Automated checks find only part of accessibility barriers.
Check your own site
Run a free homepage snapshot to see your top 3 issues in about a minute, or order the $149 Fix-Pack for up to 10 pages with copy-paste fixes for your platform.