Squarespace accessibility checker

What Squarespace already does

Squarespace builds in a few things that many sites get wrong: a “Skip to Content” link on the first Tab, an automatic keyboard focus outline, semantic headings and pre-labeled checkout fields. In the WebAIM Million 2026, Squarespace home pages averaged 33.0 detected errors, below the 56.1 average. What remains is mostly in your content and design choices.

Typical Squarespace issues

• File names as alt text. Where no alt text is added, Squarespace uses the image’s file name in most places. A name like IMG_4021.jpg tells a screen reader user nothing.
• Background images. Banner and section background images can’t have alt text; Squarespace treats them as decorative. Don’t put important text or information only in them.
• Color themes. Each section can use a different color theme, so a palette that works in one section may fail contrast in another.
• Overlapping blocks. In Fluid Engine, blocks can overlap. Squarespace warns that overlapping blocks must stay usable, for example a button placed over a form.
• Custom code. Scripts added with Code Injection, and third-party embeds, are not supported by Squarespace and bring their own markup.

Where to fix common issues in Squarespace

Image alt text

For an image block: click the block, click the pencil icon, and fill in Image alt text on the Content tab. For product images, use Edit metadata and the Alt text field (up to 200 characters; it defaults to the product name). Gallery sections use the image description instead.

Colors and contrast

Open Site styles > Colors and choose Edit palette to change the five palette colors, then check each color theme you use. To change one section, use Edit section > Colors. Squarespace doesn’t show contrast ratios here, so test the result.

Form labels

In a form block, click the pencil icon, then Edit Form Fields on the Content tab, and click each field to set its label. Keep labels short and put longer guidance in the field description; don’t use a placeholder instead of a label.

Headings and links

Squarespace recommends one Heading 1 per page, heading levels in order, and headings only for structure, not for styling. Write link text that says where the link goes instead of “click here”.

Page language

Set it in the Site Languages panel (Language & region on version 7.0) with the Site language dropdown. Squarespace adds the selected language to your site’s header code.

What Perceivly adds

Built-in features cover the basics; your content changes every week. Perceivly checks every page on a schedule, tracks each issue until it is fixed, and gives you PDF reports and a hosted accessibility statement.