2025-07-24 –, Auditorium
As applications grow increasingly complex and AI transforms development practices, accessibility has never been more critical. Making your digital products work for people with disabilities doesn't just promote inclusion—it directly improves your SEO performance. This presentation explores the powerful correlation between accessibility and search rankings, providing practical strategies to leverage this relationship for enhanced user experiences and outcomes.
Web accessibility and search engine optimization (SEO) share a symbiotic relationship that increasingly defines digital success. When websites are designed to be accessible to people with disabilities, they inherently incorporate many elements that search engines value for ranking purposes. Proper semantic HTML structure, descriptive alt text for images, clear navigation hierarchies, and readable content benefit both users with disabilities and search engine crawlers. This overlap is not coincidental but reflects a fundamental truth: what makes content accessible to humans with diverse needs also makes it more comprehensible to algorithmic systems. As search engines evolve to prioritize user experience metrics, the connection between accessibility and SEO grows stronger, with improved page speed, reduced bounce rates, and enhanced engagement serving both purposes.
During this presentation, we'll explore a small flask app, improve it's accessibility and document best practices, while discussing accessibility fundamentals.
Accessibility is a key feature of your application and should always be viewed as an ally for your SEO.
Presentation topics:
- How do people with disabilities interact with our applications
- Web accessibility and the WCAG
- Proper content and structure of a good web app
- Description and context are everything
- HTML Semantics
- Image alt text, video transcriptions and audio descriptions
- Responsiveness and optimized navigation
- Speed and optimization
- Continuous testing and improvements
Intermediate
What are the main topics of your talk? –Web accessibility, frontend
Developer at a large learning platform at FCT|FCCN (https://www.fccn.pt/), with a special interest in web accessibility and search engine optimization. I have a Bachelors degree in Multimedia Technologies and Communication and a Master degree in Computer Engineering. I do regular contributions to open source and am always looking for ways to help communities grow.