How to Run a Free Website Accessibility Audit in 5 Minutes

What you'll need

Nothing. No account, no credit card, no software download required. The RedQA Accessibility Scanner tests any public URL against 9 industry-standard tools in one run and generates a full WCAG 2.1 compliance report. Free tier: 2 scans per 12 hours.

5-minute accessibility audit guide

Step 1: Run the automated scan (2 minutes)

Go to redqa.com/accessibility-scanner, enter your URL, and click Scan. The scanner runs your page through:

• axe-core — the industry-standard WCAG rule engine
• WAVE — visual accessibility overlay
• Colour contrast checker — 4.5:1 ratio verification for normal text
• Keyboard navigation test
• Heading structure audit
• ARIA validation
• Form labels check
• Link text analysis
• Media alt text review

Step 2: Read the results (1 minute)

The report categorises issues by severity: Critical (Level A failures — must fix), Serious (Level AA — needed for legal compliance), Moderate (best practice), and Minor (enhancement). Focus on Critical and Serious first.

Step 3: Identify your top 3 issues (1 minute)

Sort by severity. The most common critical issues found in automated scans are:

1. Missing or insufficient colour contrast
2. Images without alt text
3. Form inputs without labels

If any of these appear in your report, they're the first things to fix.

Step 4: Understand the limits (1 minute)

Automated scanners catch approximately 30% of WCAG failures. Things automated tools reliably miss:

• Keyboard traps — you can tab in but can't tab out
• Screen reader reading order issues
• Confusing or misleading alt text (technically present but unhelpful)
• Focus management problems in dynamic content

Automated scanning is your starting point, not your finish line. For full coverage, a manual audit is required.

What to do with the results

The How to Fix guide covers remediation for every issue category the scanner identifies. For organisations subject to the European Accessibility Act or UK accessibility regulations, a documented remediation plan is also required alongside the fixes themselves.

Need a full WCAG audit with remediation guidance? Contact RedQA for a professional accessibility assessment.