When I first started out in digital over 15 years ago, my first job was SEO copywriting, and designing around content has always been close to my heart.

 

It's more than just optimising for search engines—it’s about writing great content for real people. And when it’s done well, SEO naturally overlaps with web accessibility in wonderful ways.

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At its core, SEO is about making content findable, understandable, and usable—not just by algorithms, but by humans of all reading abilities. And if you look at the technical and content best practices for SEO—clean HTML structure, semantic markup, descriptive link text, clear hierarchy—they’re also the foundations of accessible design.

 

The same elements that help a search engine crawl and index a page efficiently are often the same ones that help screen readers interpret content for users with disabilities.

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Over the years, I’ve worked on projects where improving alt text, heading structure, and link clarity led to both higher rankings and a better experience for users relying on assistive technologies. Structured data, for example, doesn’t just help with rich snippets—it can make information more digestible for everyone. And ensuring that your site is keyboard-navigable improves engagement across the board.

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One of the biggest mindset shifts I try to bring to teams is that SEO and accessibility aren't in competition —they're complementary. In fact, when you build for accessibility from the start, you're also building a stronger foundation for organic search. Google, after all, is trying to evaluate pages much like a human would—so the more usable and inclusive your content is, the better it performs in both realms.

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To me, good SEO is inclusive SEO. It’s about removing barriers—whether those barriers are between your content and a search engine, or between your content and a user with a disability. Well structured pages and great content make the web experience better for everyone.