Google aids the visually impaired

Accessibility is thrown into the general ranking mix as Google's search adds the quality of the page design to the usual factors such as relevance and popularity. Tools used by the visually impaired to access websites, such as text-to-voice machine readers, are often unable to make sense of sites designed for visual impact rather than accessibility. Graphical elements that break up blocks of text and nested tables are just a few of the problems that make websites unusable by the page layout, the quality of design and the organisation and labelling of information such as 'alt' tags on pictures on each page.

Google Accessible Search is based on the search engine's Co-op technology, which the company recently made available to organisations with niche search systems that target information on specific topics such as health or food.

A few searches showed that the 'Accessible' site really did reorder the listings by placing a weighting with respect to accessibility. For example, the keyword 'Macintosh' as expected brought up the Apple site at number one on both listings. In the standard listing however, the Microsoft Internet Explorer for the Mac page was number two. In the Accessibility listings it was nowhere. Make of that what you will.

The Accessible Search site is available as part of Google Labs.

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