CheezeDMG Blog

I read with interest the latest announcement from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) on its new standard to make sites more accessible to visually impaired and disabled users.

With over 2 million users in the UK who have sight problems or are visually impaired, this is no small number and a section of the population who should not be ignored by web designers and online advertisers alike. Equally, this number grows when you think of those browsing on their mobile phones or PDAs, and accessibility helps these devices access you site more easily, and makes for a better ‘browsing experience’

The new W3C guidelines are very detailed to help web designers make their sites easier to use for the visually impaired. Something as simple as adding a descriptive text to alt text can not only help users to know where they will end up when they click on the link, but also can help the search engine spiders to fully map your website and improve your natural listings through good SEO– a double benefit.

How many alt text on links simply say “click here” or “find out more”? - hardly the most descriptive or helpful statement.

Whilst it is great to see these guidelines set out for website design, it begs the question ‘what about guidelines for online advertising?’

Advertising banners and buttons on websites provide no information for screen readers to interpret what they are advertising, what images are displayed in the advertising message or where a user will go when they click on them.

The fact that Google’s Accessible Search is still lingering in Google labs shows how far behind online advertising is in catering for visually impaired users. Even when a search is done on the Google Accessible Search site, the results returned are only natural listings with no sponsored listings returned.

This lack of accessibility within online advertising means that a percentage of the online audience will never ‘see’ your adverts as the programmes that help them engage with your brand and website online cannot interpret your creative. Until the time comes that sponsored listings and display advertising can be easily read by screen readers, the only way you can promote to this audience is through the natural listings on search engines such as Google’s Accessible Search.

A good SEO program is therefore vitally important if you want to promote to these users and, of course, don’t forget to have a well-designed and fully accessible site when they click on your natural listing. An accessible site is, by default, well-optimised as it is easier for the search engines to access your site information.

You want consumers to access your website, your products and, ultimately, your sales process. All of this begins with accessible advertising.

It is sad to read that Lycos Europe is calling it a day after 14 years in existence. From its birth as one of the first ever search engines in 1994, Lycos grew to become the most visited web portal in the world with a presence in 40 countries. There is no word on Lycos’ North American arm but one look at the site this afternoon (which incidentally crashed my computer!) and it’s not hard to see why the European site is closing down. The site is not the most inspiring portal in the world and seems to have changed little over the years. With many portals adopting the social media, DIY aspect of the internet Lycos was very lacking in this department.

Historically Lycos was a good site for advertising [in the early days] with good volumes and the first site to offer keyword targeted text link adverts, long before the likes of Google or Goto.com were offering it. However, as the year’s progressed their volumes dropped month on month to the point it was not a viable advertising platform.

The saddest aspect of all of this, however, is that a quick search on Google News and the story of Lycos Europe’s demise only seems to have warranted 5 news articles. For a company that was once acquired for $5.4 billion at the height of the Internet boom this is a sad end. Here’s hoping that the Lycos company can keep going in the US and one of the founders of the commercial Internet revolution isn’t forgotten.

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