WCAG 2.2 AA checklist: start with what a scan can prove
WCAG 2.2 level AA is the benchmark behind EN 301 549, the standard the European Accessibility Act points to for websites. This checklist groups the most common AA criteria and - honestly - which ones an automated scan can detect and which only a human can verify.
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Perceivable
- Text alternatives (1.1.1) - every meaningful image has descriptive alt text. Automated scan: yes.
- Colour not the only cue (1.4.1) - links and status are not distinguished by colour alone. Scan: partial.
- Colour contrast (1.4.3 AA) - text contrast of at least 4.5:1 (3:1 for large text). Scan: yes.
- Text spacing & resize (1.4.4) - text scales without loss. Scan: partial.
Operable
- Keyboard operation (2.1.1) - everything reachable and operable with the keyboard. Scan: partial (needs manual pass).
- No keyboard trap (2.1.2) - focus never gets stuck. Scan: partial.
- Focus order (2.4.3) - logical, predictable tab order. Scan: partial.
- Link purpose (2.4.4) - link text describes where it goes. Scan: partial.
- Headings and labels (2.4.6) - describe topic or purpose. Scan: partial.
- Focus visible (2.4.7) - a visible focus indicator. Scan: partial.
Understandable
- Language of page (3.1.1) - the document has a declared language. Scan: yes.
- Labels or instructions (3.3.2) - form fields have labels. Scan: yes.
- Error identification (3.3.1) - form errors are identified and described. Scan: partial.
Robust
- Parsing / well-formed structure (4.1.1) - no serious markup errors. Scan: yes.
- Name, role, value (4.1.2) - controls expose correct names, roles and values to assistive tech. Scan: yes.
- ARIA used correctly - no invalid or conflicting ARIA. Scan: yes.
“Partial” means an automated scan can flag many instances but a human must confirm them. An automated scan reliably covers the machine-testable subset - the fastest and cheapest evidence you can gather.
What automation proves, and what it cannot
Automated scanning with axe-core detects real, reproducible violations across the machine-testable WCAG criteria: missing alt text, contrast failures, unlabelled form fields, broken focus order, invalid ARIA, missing document language and more. It cannot judge subjective criteria - reading order of a screen-reader user, whether link text is genuinely descriptive, or how a complex widget behaves with assistive technology. Those require a manual pass.
For most businesses the pragmatic path is: run the automated scan (it finds a large share of concrete, fixable issues immediately), fix those, and pair the result with human review where the risk matters. The automated evidence is also exactly what you reference in your accessibility statement.
Scan your site against the machine-testable criteria
Get your 0-100 score, the number of distinct violations and a severity breakdown. The €19 report adds a documented PDF with a prioritised fix plan ordered by impact - the fastest way from “is it compliant?” to a concrete to-do list.
Free scan is an automated pre-check, not a certification. See pricing.