How’s Your Website Accessibility: 3 Reasons to Regularly Check Your Compliance

There’s nothing more frustrating than trying to access information online, only to find a brand’s website is working against you — images aren’t loading, links aren’t working, and you can’t get the answers you need.

Now, imagine experiencing that frustration 94.8% of the time? Because that’s how many home pages around the world have detected WCAG 2 accessibility failures.

Website accessibility is not just about color contrast or adding alt text.

From web design, SEO (or GEO, or LLMO, or whatever you want to call it), and UX to conversion rate optimization — better website accessibility has a positive impact on all these areas. And smart marketers are already seeing accessibility not as an isolated topic but one that will maximize their performance in other marketing efforts.

If you’re wondering, “why this topic, why now?” you should know that starting June 28, 2025, brands offering services in the European Union must meet new digital accessibility requirements under the European accessibility act (EAA).

I’m hoping this article will inspire marketers to see this as an opportunity rather than a responsibility. After all, adopting and respecting these regulations today will set you ahead for tomorrow, and I’ll tell you why.

How Do You Check Your Website Accessibility?

Few companies have a dedicated Website Accessibility Compliance Officer — although, it would be admittedly nice to have one. This means the task of checking digital accessibility compliance falls … well … usually to marketers. Marketers who are also wearing multiple other hats.

But this is a key responsibility to have, and digital accessibility compliance affects millions of businesses. If you serve customers in certain regions in which these accessibility laws are enforced, you must ensure that your website, mobile app, or self-service platform is compliant. The most commonly cited set of digital accessibility standards is W3C’s WCAG, which is the industry standard for making web content accessible. The most recent version is Version 2.2.

The good news is that many SEOs have (maybe unknowingly) positioned themselves well for optimum website accessibility — since many SEO initiatives generally tackle bad user experience, such as nondescript anchor text and illogical heading hierarchy. For many marketers, a full audit might reveal that they only need to make a few additional tweaks to achieve compliance and improve overall performance.

The other good news is that we’re actively helping Uberall customers implement these accessibility enhancements, so that their website will be compliant with the WCAG 2.2. For example, our team is supporting marketing teams in reviewing their Locator Pages ahead of our upcoming feature release — which may introduce unexpected changes to the website experience. If the new version looks and functions well, teams can move forward with confidence, knowing their accessibility standards are met. And if any issues arise, our experts are ready to assist with updates before the June 28, 2025, deadline, giving you plenty of time to fine-tune everything in advance.

Your Google Business Profile

Google rewards businesses that optimize their local presence. These tips for local SEO will help you boost your visibility on Google, build trust, increase engagement, and get more customers.

1. Combine Your Ranking Factors

Leverage optimized reviews, images, menus, and services to signal what you want to rank for — for example, “best caesar salad near me.” Using this particular example, this might look like:

• Including SEO-optimized images/video of caesar salads

• Ideally, leveraging reviews, in which customers have commented on the superiority of your caesar salad

• Uploading a menu, on which your caesar salad is listed

Combined, these elements signal your authority in a certain topic/product.

2. Fix Unpublished Reviews

Some businesses notice that their customers are not able to publish reviews to them. Sometimes, this is because Google has blocked the review Google has blocked the review after identifying it as likely spam or not genuine, whereas in other instances, Google has just taken a while to process the review and decide what to do with it.

Oftentimes, legitimate reviews fall through the cracks and I see this often in the Google forum. Here’s a great article posted by the Google Forum Community managers providing more troubleshooting tips.

That said, one of my amazing Product Expert colleagues, Vinay Toshniwal, noticed that you can sometimes pull the good old “turn it off and on again” approach with reviews too.

So, do you have a missing review? Try getting the customer to visit the Google listing, call the business or go to the website (or better yet, go directly to the business if they’re nearby), wait a minute and then post again again.

3. Use Rich Media and CTAs

Videos are super important and give users a better insight into customer experiences. These can appear as the second item on the carousel. This is how much Google values video. I’ve also seen instances where Google has experimented displaying the user-generated video as the first item.

Google also rewards Local Guides with extra points if they add videos, so the company is really trying to push more for videos!

4. Post Photos and Videos Regularly

It’s all about engagement recency. Update little and often. If you have 100 photos, upload (for example) 40 now and then two every week for a year. Start drip-feeding. This signals that your business is relevant and up-to-date. You can apply this to opening hours and other fields in your listing as well!

5. Knowledge Panel Lookup

Use this online Knowledge Panel API Explorer find out what Google is sharing about your business. You'll see which entities the real-time knowledge panel contains that are related to your business (news, events, products, people, etc.), and you’ll be able to see where you can make further optimizations.

6. Spot Fake Competitors

Audit your local area for keyword-stuffed, old, or fake profiles. Report them to Google. It makes your life easier when you’re trying to suss out who your real local competitors are.

7. Avoid Triggering Suspensions

Trust is important — you should avoid the following on your Google Business Profile:

• call-center phone numbers

• purchased reviews

• spammy owners

• keyword stuffing

• ultra-edited photos

• conflicting website info

• spam posts

• fake or virtual offices

You can find out more here from Google’s guidelines on representing your business.

8. Translate Your Bilingual Business Name

If you’re in a territory where multiple languages are spoken, ensure you fill out both fields, like I’ve demonstrated in this screenshot below. You’ll only be able to do this on Google Maps, not Google Business Profile! So if you’re struggling to find it in GBP, this is why.

9. Monitor Google’s Edits

Google can update your business info without warning – download the Google Export to see what’s required. You can find more information about this on Google’s support pages.

10. Switch Off Automated Calls from Google

Sometimes, Google tries to call you to see if you’re around and the info you’ve got on your profile is correct.

If you’re a business that is not answering calls during peak hours when you’re busy (for example, if you’re a packed restaurant), Google might take this to mean you’re closed. Google might also change your opening hours on your behalf, so make sure you switch off automated calls, if you think it’s necessary.

11. Fix Ownership

Primary owners can instantly upgrade another owner, but what if your primary owner account has gone missing or is inaccessible?

Other owners can request primary ownership but must also wait seven days. If a third party (like a former agency or employee) is the primary owner, this can delay your ability to manage your listing, which can become critical if you, for example, have received bad reviews or want to fix outdated business information.

This seven-day delay can cost you visibility and customer trust.

12. Location Spoofer

Use a SERP checker, such as valentin.app, to emulate a specific location and monitor how your brand appears on the SERP. This will give you ideas on how you appear to your potential customers from their locations and whether you need to optimize further.

13. Check Claimed Listings

Don’t let third parties own your listings. Take control of your online presence and ensure accuracy. When you own and manage your listings, you strengthen your visibility in local search and build trust with both search engines and potential customers.

Your Local Landing Pages

Your website needs to be fast, localized, and conversion-friendly. Remember, optimizing your local landing pages is your chance to own the narrative of your business outside your listings.

Google and other search engines also rely on your website as the first means of a “web presence” when checking if your business is legit and you have the correct info online. These expert tips will help you optimize not only for search visibility but also for UX and conversions.

13. Align H1/H2s with Your GBP Business Name

Keep your headings (and address) clear, relevant, and consistent with your Google Business Profile for SEO consistency

14. Optimize Your Local Page Content

You should include rich images, videos, and clear call-to-actions that are specific to that location. If you want to add a human touch, you can include the name of, for example, the chef of that particular restaurant.

15. Link Local Pages in Google

Link your local page URLs (not just your homepage) in your Google Business Profile. If you’re a multi-location business, providing more than just your homepage is a far better user experience and is more likely to drive traffic and conversions to your location.

16. Complete Structured Data

When you update your information on the frontend of your website, don’t forget to update it in your website code! Search engines and generative engines will better understand your business with the right and up-to-date schema markup. While you won’t be penalized for not updating information, you certainly won’t be rewarded either for consistency.

Your Apple Business Connect

Apple Business Connect (ABC) is your direct line to Apple Maps, Siri, and the iPhone’s native apps. If you don’t optimize your ABC, you might be missing out on engagement or store visits from billions of customers with Apple devices. So, here are some expert tips on how to unlock the power of ABC.

18. Add Rich Data

When you update Apple Business Connect, you then empower Apple to add rich ABC data to your customers’ iPhone Phone app – not just Apple Maps!

Apple likes to integrate its tools a lot, so this rich data is an easy way to provide more information about your business. So, it’s important to add high-quality photos to help your business stand out, pin your locations accurately, sync consistent business information, and get native Apple reviews here!

19. Use Apple Showcases

With Apple Showcases — that is, Apple’s version of Google Posts – you can highlight offers, events, or business updates and other promotional content and include a call-to-action. You can find out more about these on Apple’s support pages.

20. Get Native Apple Reviews

Don’t rely on third-party sites like Yelp or Trustpilot – Apple Maps will pull data from these sites if it can’t find enough native Apple reviews or photos. Apple will prioritize its own reviews if you collect enough of them. Push down those third-party ratings and give yourself more control over your reputation by actively asking your customers to leave Apple reviews.

Want to share these tips with the rest of your team or clients? Download my cheat sheets from BrightonSEO for free.

Don’t Delay Your Local SEO Audit

Google updates its algorithms all the time; businesses that stay proactive will win.

If you see anything new in the this space, or you’ve got new tips for local SEO to share — or if you simply want to share your experiences – reach out to me on LinkedIn! You can also contact my colleagues for a local SEO audit to get your business on track.