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Testing page structure and links with a screen reader

Check whether a page title, landmarks, and headings communicate useful structure and links make sense outside their surrounding text.

What this method tests

This method checks whether the document title, landmarks, and semantic headings expose useful page structure and whether links communicate their purpose to someone navigating non-visually.

What you need

Use a desktop screen reader and a compatible browser. Know how to move by landmark and heading, open the screen reader’s list or rotor of landmarks, headings, and links, and navigate forward through interactive elements.

How to perform the test

  1. Read the document title and judge whether the document title usefully identifies the page and distinguishes it from other pages or views.
  2. Navigate by landmarks. Confirm that you can find the main content using landmark navigation and that the page exposes a useful, restrained set of landmarks.
  3. Read the main heading, then navigate through every heading in order.
  4. Listen for skipped levels, headings that do not describe their sections, and text styled as a heading without heading semantics.
  5. Open the screen reader’s headings list and check whether the outline still explains the page.
  6. Navigate through links in document order and listen to each accessible name.
  7. Open the links list and check whether repeated or generic names can be distinguished without nearby prose.
  8. Activate representative links when testing a real site and confirm that their names match their destinations or actions.

What to observe

Pay attention to both structure and wording. Record a useful title, discoverable main content, and purposeful landmarks as passing evidence. A technically valid heading level can still be unhelpful, and a link that satisfies a minimum requirement in context may still be confusing when heard in a links list.

Demonstration

Headings provide structure

Navigate through these headings with your screen reader's heading controls. Their text describes the content that follows, and their levels form a logical outline.

Account settings

Update your account details and preferences.

Notification preferences

Choose which notifications you want to receive.

Compare generic and descriptive links

Open your screen reader's links list or navigate through these links. The first group repeats generic text; the second identifies each destination.

Problematic link text

Descriptive link text

Interpreting the results

  • A useful document title identifies the current page and helps distinguish it from other open pages or views.
  • The main content should be discoverable through landmark navigation, and landmarks should describe a useful, restrained set of page regions.
  • A heading outline should communicate the page hierarchy without requiring the surrounding visual layout.
  • A link should communicate its destination or action when announced with a reasonable amount of context.
  • Repeated generic links become especially difficult to distinguish in a screen-reader links list.

Limitations

  • Landmark, heading, and element-list navigation commands and support differ between screen readers and browsers.
  • Finding a main region and a useful set of landmarks does not prove that every page region or visual relationship is represented correctly.
  • A logical heading hierarchy does not prove that every visual relationship is represented semantically.