Think like a screen reader to increase your AI discoverability
One of the many skills I learned while working for the federal government was how to make documents accessible to the visually impaired. What seemed like tedious work at the time has prepared me for today’s growing need for AI-discoverable content.
Large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT read web content like a screen reader for the visually impaired. Making documents and content 508-compliant is no longer a “nice to have.” It’s a core way of addressing the needs of more than 7 million people in the United States who have a visual impairment while establishing your company or organization as an authority on a topic.
Here's the overlap:
508-compliance and AI crawlers like a logical reading structure: Before you start a document or a new webpage, create styles for headings, subheadings, lists, etc. Then use them! When you use the styles, documents and webpages will be tagged and structured in a logical reading order for the visually impaired, allowing them to better navigate your work. This also helps AI crawlers which use headings and lists to understand the structure and create summaries of the content. While making text bold and underlined may seem like the simple way to give documents structure, using the set styles will ensure consistency across your content, provide a better reading experience for the visually impaired and make your content more discoverable by AI.
Meaningful alt text is a crucial information source for the visually impaired and LLMs: All images—whether it’s in a document, on a website or in a social media post—should have helpful alternative text (alt text) that describes what you see in the image. Helpful text goes beyond saying, “A map of California showing forested areas.” Good alt text will say, “A map of northern California showing forested areas in the northwest portion of the state and along the state’s eastern border with Nevada.” For the visually impaired, alt text helps them understand how an image relates to the content around the image. It’s the same for AI bots. The alt text for an image provides context that can be used to link images to information themes.
“Click here” is a meaningless link: In the age of scams and phishing emails, we’ve all been taught to avoid clicking on any link that doesn’t have a clear destination. AI bots and screen readers for the visually impaired are trained to think that way, too. Instead of “click here,” describe what the user will find when they click on the link. For example, “This link will take you to a blog post I wrote on transitioning your yard to California native plants.” The descriptive links will help AI identify relevant information and sources on a topic and the visually impaired understand where a link will take them.
Making documents 508 compliant is especially important for the public sector, but it’s not something the private sector should brush aside as “extra work.” A few extra minutes of work will help you connect with more Americans and increase the likelihood of your content being pulled into AI query summaries.
