Shopify Store Accessibility: A Step-by-Step Guide for Store Owners

If you run a Shopify store, accessibility is no longer optional. The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is now in effect, ADA-related lawsuits against e-commerce sites are rising every year, and search engines reward accessible websites with better rankings. The good news: you do not need to be a developer to fix most Shopify accessibility issues.

This guide walks you through why Shopify accessibility matters, what Shopify already handles for you, the 10 most common problems, and exactly how to fix each one from your Shopify admin — no code required.

Why Your Shopify Store Needs to Be Accessible

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) requires online stores selling to EU customers to meet accessibility standards as of June 2025. In the United States, ADA Title III lawsuits targeting e-commerce sites exceeded 4,000 per year, and Shopify stores are not exempt. Even if you are a small business, a single demand letter can cost thousands in legal fees.

Shopify WCAG compliance helps SEO

Accessible websites tend to rank better. Proper heading structure, descriptive alt text, and semantic HTML are all things Google looks for. Improving your Shopify store’s WCAG compliance is one of the rare cases where doing the right thing also helps your bottom line.

You are leaving money on the table

Roughly 15-20% of the global population has some form of disability. If your store is hard to navigate with a keyboard, or your product images have no descriptions, you are actively turning away customers.

What Shopify Gives You for Free

Before you panic, know that Shopify’s official themes already do a lot of the heavy lifting for Shopify accessibility:

  • Semantic HTML structure — Shopify’s free themes (Dawn, Refresh, Craft, and others) use proper heading hierarchy and landmark regions out of the box.
  • Keyboard navigation — Focus states and tab order work correctly in all current official themes.
  • Skip-to-content links — Built in. Screen reader users can skip past your header navigation.
  • ARIA labels on interactive elements — Cart drawers, mobile menus, and slideshow controls include ARIA attributes.
  • Responsive design — All official themes are mobile-friendly, which is part of accessibility.

If you are using an up-to-date official Shopify theme and have not heavily customized it, your foundation is solid. The problems usually come from the content you add, the apps you install, and the theme customizations you make.

The 10 Most Common Accessibility Issues in Shopify Stores

Here are the issues we see most often, ranked roughly by how frequently they appear and how much impact they have. Each one includes a fix you can do today from your Shopify admin.

1. Missing or unhelpful alt text on product images

The problem: Screen readers announce images by reading their alt text. If your product images have no alt text, or if they all say something like “IMG_4392.jpg”, visually impaired customers cannot understand what you are selling.

How to fix it:

  1. Go to Products in your Shopify admin.
  2. Click on a product.
  3. Click on each product image.
  4. In the Alt text field, write a concise description: “Black leather crossbody bag with brass hardware, front view.”
  5. Repeat for every product image.

Tip: Describe what the customer would want to know. Color, material, angle, and any distinguishing features. Keep it under 125 characters.

2. Poor color contrast on text

The problem: Light gray text on a white background looks sleek but is unreadable for people with low vision — and annoying for everyone else. WCAG requires a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text.

How to fix it:

  1. Go to Online Store > Themes > Customize.
  2. Click Theme settings (the paint palette icon in the left sidebar).
  3. Open the Colors section.
  4. Check your text colors against your background colors. Dark text on light backgrounds is the safest bet.
  5. Use a free contrast checker like WebAIM’s Contrast Checker to verify your ratios.

If your brand colors fail contrast requirements, darken them slightly. A customer who cannot read your text will not buy your product.

3. Missing or incorrect heading structure

The problem: Screen reader users navigate pages by jumping between headings. If your headings skip levels (H1 to H4 with no H2 or H3), or if you use bold text instead of actual headings, navigation breaks.

How to fix it:

  1. Go to Online Store > Themes > Customize.
  2. In each section of your homepage and key pages, check that headings follow a logical order: H1 (page title, usually handled by the theme), then H2 for major sections, H3 for subsections.
  3. When editing rich text blocks, use the heading dropdown in the toolbar instead of just making text bold.

4. Inaccessible slideshow/carousel content

The problem: Auto-playing slideshows are one of the worst offenders. They move too fast for some users to read, cannot be paused, and often lack proper controls for keyboard users.

How to fix it:

  1. Go to Online Store > Themes > Customize.
  2. Select your Slideshow section.
  3. Look for the Auto-rotate slides setting and turn it off, or set the rotation speed to at least 6-7 seconds.
  4. Make sure each slide has a descriptive heading. Do not put critical information only in the slide image.
  5. Better yet: consider replacing your slideshow with a static banner. Slideshows have poor engagement rates anyway.

5. Links and buttons with vague text

The problem: “Click here” and “Read more” tell a screen reader user nothing about where the link goes. When a user pulls up a list of all links on the page, they see “Read more, Read more, Read more.”

How to fix it:

  1. When editing page content, collection descriptions, or blog posts, write descriptive link text: “View our winter jacket collection” instead of “Click here.”
  2. For buttons in theme sections, go to Online Store > Themes > Customize and update button labels to be specific: “Shop men’s shoes” rather than “Shop now.”

6. Form fields without visible labels

The problem: Some themes and apps use placeholder text inside form fields instead of visible labels. When a user starts typing, the placeholder disappears and they forget what the field is for. Screen readers may also miss placeholder-only fields.

How to fix it:

  1. Go to Online Store > Themes > Customize.
  2. Navigate to pages with forms (Contact, Newsletter signup).
  3. Check if your theme has a setting for showing field labels. In Dawn and newer themes, look for a Show labels toggle in the form section settings.
  4. If your theme does not offer this, consider switching to a theme that does.

7. Missing language attribute

The problem: Screen readers need to know what language your store is in to pronounce words correctly. If the language attribute is wrong or missing, the reading experience is garbled.

How to fix it:

  1. Go to Settings > Languages in your Shopify admin.
  2. Make sure your store’s default language is set correctly.
  3. Shopify sets the HTML lang attribute based on this setting, so getting it right here fixes it globally.

8. Videos without captions

The problem: Product videos and brand story videos without captions exclude deaf and hard-of-hearing customers. They are also useless in noisy environments or when someone is browsing silently.

How to fix it:

  1. Add captions to your videos before uploading them. YouTube and Vimeo both offer free auto-captioning tools — review and correct the auto-generated captions before publishing.
  2. When embedding videos on your Shopify pages, make sure the embedded player has caption controls visible.
  3. For important product information shown in video, include the same information in text on the product page.

9. Inaccessible third-party apps

The problem: That popup email capture, the reviews widget, the chat bubble — third-party Shopify apps frequently inject inaccessible code into your store. They create keyboard traps, missing focus management, and unlabeled buttons.

How to fix it:

  1. Test your store by navigating it using only your keyboard (Tab, Enter, Escape). If you get stuck or cannot close a popup, the app has a problem.
  2. Contact the app developer and ask about their WCAG compliance. Responsible developers will fix issues.
  3. If an app is not accessible, look for an alternative. The Shopify App Store now includes accessibility information for some apps.
  4. Reduce the number of third-party apps you use. Each one is a potential accessibility liability.

10. Missing focus indicators

The problem: When keyboard users press Tab to navigate your store, they need to see which element is currently focused. Some theme customizations or apps remove the default focus outline, making keyboard navigation impossible.

How to fix it:

  1. Test your store by pressing Tab repeatedly and watching for a visible outline around buttons, links, and form fields.
  2. If focus indicators are missing, it is likely caused by a custom CSS change or a third-party app. Go to Online Store > Themes > Customize > Theme settings and check if there is a focus style option.
  3. If you previously asked a developer to remove “those ugly outlines,” ask them to add them back. Focus indicators are required for Shopify WCAG compliance.

Choosing an Accessible Shopify Theme

If you are selecting a new theme, accessibility should be a deciding factor. Here is what to look for:

Best free themes for accessibility (2026)

  • Dawn — Shopify’s default and flagship theme. Regularly updated with accessibility improvements. The safest choice.
  • Refresh — Clean layout with strong accessibility defaults. Good for stores with large catalogs.
  • Craft — Excellent for stores with visual storytelling. Proper heading hierarchy and focus management.
  • Crave — Solid keyboard navigation and contrast. Good for food and lifestyle brands.

What to check in any theme

  • Does the demo pass a basic keyboard navigation test? Tab through the entire homepage.
  • Are heading levels correct? Use your browser’s accessibility inspector or a free tool.
  • Does the theme have built-in settings for contrast, font sizing, and label visibility?
  • When was the theme last updated? Themes that have not been updated in over a year are more likely to have accessibility gaps.

Avoid these red flags

  • Themes with heavy animation or parallax effects that cannot be disabled.
  • Themes that hide critical navigation behind hover-only interactions.
  • Themes with no update history or developer support.

Shopify Apps for Accessibility: An Honest Take

Several Shopify apps promise to make your store accessible with one click. Here is the reality:

Overlay and widget apps (the ones that add a floating accessibility icon to your site) are controversial in the accessibility community. They do not fix underlying code issues, and many accessibility advocates actively warn against them. Some have even triggered additional lawsuits rather than preventing them.

What can actually help:

  • Alt text automation apps — Apps like those that use AI to generate alt text can save time if you have hundreds of product images. But always review the generated text. Automated alt text is a starting point, not a finished product.
  • Accessibility audit apps — Some apps scan your store and report issues. These are useful for identifying problems but you still need to fix them yourself.

The most effective approach is to fix issues at the source using the steps above, choose an accessible theme, and be careful about which third-party apps you install.

Testing Your Store’s Accessibility

After making changes, here is how to verify your work:

  1. Keyboard test — Navigate your entire checkout flow using only Tab, Enter, and Escape. Can you complete a purchase without a mouse?
  2. Zoom test — Zoom your browser to 200%. Does your store still work? Is text readable? Do elements overlap?
  3. Contrast check — Run your homepage and a product page through WebAIM’s Contrast Checker or the WAVE browser extension.
  4. Screen reader test — Turn on VoiceOver (Mac) or NVDA (Windows, free) and try browsing your store. This is the single most revealing test you can do.
  5. Automated scan — Use a free tool like [a]ccessibility checker to scan your store URL and get a report of issues with prioritized fixes.

Moving Forward

Shopify accessibility is not a one-time project. Every time you add a product, install an app, or update your theme, you should be thinking about accessibility. Build these habits:

  • Write alt text when you upload product images, not later.
  • Test new apps with keyboard navigation before committing.
  • Check color contrast when updating your brand colors or seasonal themes.
  • Review your store quarterly with the testing steps above.

The EAA is in effect. ADA enforcement is increasing. But more importantly, an accessible store is a better store for every customer. The fixes in this guide are straightforward, require no coding, and will make your Shopify store usable by the widest possible audience.

Start with missing alt text — it takes the least effort and has the biggest impact. Then work through the list above at your own pace. Your future customers will thank you.

We’re building a simple accessibility checker for non-developers — no DevTools, no jargon. Join our waitlist to get early access.

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