Guide · Shopify
What an automated accessibility check found on the homepages of 108 stores we checked for outreach
Updated
Summary. We ran one automated check on the homepage of 108 US Shopify stores between 5 and 11 November 2026. 67% of the stores we checked had text that is too faint against its background, 64% had links with no text a screen reader can read out, and the typical store failed 3 different rules. These are stores we selected for outreach, not a random sample, so read the numbers as "stores we checked", not as Shopify in general.
> Methods box > - Sample: 108 distinct US Shopify stores that we selected for outreach. Not a random sample of Shopify. Most lists required at least 2 failed rules on an earlier check, which pushes the numbers up. > - Dates: 5, 6, 10 and 11 November 2026. A store checked more than once counts once, with its latest check (11 repeat checks dropped). > - Check: one automated engine (axe-core), one load of each public homepage, desktop-sized window, read-only. Homepage only. > - Scope: It tests only what software can test of WCAG 2.0 and 2.1, Levels A and AA. It doesn't test the newer WCAG 2.2 criteria, such as target size. It also does not test keyboard use, focus, the cart or checkout. A check finds some issues, not all. > - Counting: a rule counts as failed once per store when the engine reports a violation. Items the engine could not decide are not counted.
What we found
| Issue (axe rule id) | Stores with at least one | Median elements affected |
|---|---|---|
| Text too faint against its background (color-contrast) | 66.7% | 6 |
| Links with no text a screen reader can read out (link-name) | 63.9% | 5 |
| Buttons or links announced with different words than they show (label-content-name-mismatch) | 31.5% | 1 |
| Images with no text description (image-alt) | 25.0% | 2 |
| Items hidden from screen readers that can still be tabbed to (aria-hidden-focus) | 17.6% | 4 |
| Buttons with no text a screen reader can read out (button-name) | 14.8% | 1 |
| Embedded content (map, video) with no title (frame-title) | 12.0% | 1 |
Shares are of all 108 stores. The median is among the stores that had the issue. Rules that failed on fewer than 5 stores are left out.
Across all rules, the middle store failed 3 different rules (half the stores failed between 2 and 4). Fewer than 5 of the 108 stores had no failures at all, but that figure is not representative, because most of our lists screened out clean stores on purpose. In the first round of 29 stores, which had no such screen, the picture was close: a median of 3 failed rules, and faint text and unreadable links each on 69% of stores.
Two more things stood out. Link problems are big when they exist: the middle affected store had 5 such links, and a quarter had 12 or more. And every one of the 108 stores had at least one item the engine could not decide, so a clean automated result would never mean there is nothing left to find.
What a store owner can do about the top 3
1. Faint text. Open your theme's color settings in the Shopify theme editor. Look at light grey text on white, text on photos, the announcement bar, sale badges and button labels. Paste the two colors into any free contrast checker and aim for a ratio of at least 4.5 to 1 for normal text (3 to 1 for large text). Darken the text or the background until it passes, then look at the homepage again.
2. Links with no readable text. These are usually links that hold only an icon or an image: the cart, search, social icons, the logo, a product card. Each one needs a name. Add visible text, or add a short label such as "Cart" or "Instagram" with an aria-label or visually hidden text. Linked images need alt text that says where the link goes. If you do not want to edit theme code, send the list to your theme developer or the theme's support.
3. Buttons or links announced differently than they show. If a button shows "Shop now" but its hidden label says "Go to collection", a person using speech control or a screen reader gets a mismatch. Make the hidden label start with the same words as the visible text. This usually affects one or two elements, so it is a quick fix.
After each change, run the check again and see whether the count drops.
Limits
This is a small group of stores we picked, so it cannot say how common these issues are across Shopify. We looked at one page, at one desktop width, with one engine, on a few days in November 2026. The engine tests only part of the guidelines, and passing it does not show a page is accessible to everyone. We did not compare products or vendors.
Run the same check
Check your own store's homepage with the free Shopify accessibility checker.
More about checking and fixing stores like yours: VibeFix for Shopify stores.
This page is general information, not legal advice. VibeFix is independent and is not affiliated with any company named here. Shopify is a trademark of Shopify Inc. Other names are trademarks of their owners.
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