Google’s new Accessible Search for the visually impaired

Accessible Search is a new system of search being tested by Google. This new system makes it easier to find websites that are visually-impaired friendly. Accessible Search makes use of the existing PageRank system as well as evaluating the usability of the web site. The web site’s usability is judged on layout, design quality and labelling. An internet user who is seeing-impaired will use screen magnifiers to expand small sections of the screen at a time, making web sites with a large amount of graphics time consuming to view. Users that are blind or are severely dyslexic can use screen readers that convert the text on a website to spoken word. Often a screen reader will skip over content it feels is irrelevant which could cause problems for the user. Accessible Search makes using screen magnifiers or screen readers easier by giving priority to web site pages with the best balance of relevant data and good design. In a study done in 2001 it was found that in the USA, 8 million people had visual impairments and a further 3 million people were colour blind. This means Google’s Accessible Search can help a total of 11 million people have a more enjoyable online experience. How do you feel this could affect search engine optimisation? Join our discussion forum or read our tutorial to learn how keep your code clean.