JAWS Video on the Cusp of SEO Friendly

A highly intelligent coworker of mine recently emailed me a great video from Accessify.com. It's about how screen readers can be a tool for web development and design. But the video just misses out on scoring an A+ for failing to mention SEO.

Here's a basic explanation of how this tool helps development, design & search marketing work hand-in-hand...

Tools like JAWS are typically used by blind people to read/hear a website. Your site's code should be "user friendly" for this audience under the American's with Disabilities Act. A nice side benefit of compliance is that your "user friendly" descriptions are typically also keyword rich, helping to reinforce your target keyword set with search engines.

The video walks you through how a JAWS screen reader reads a site's code. This is a fantastic way for designers to understand the usability of their design, for developers to make sure their code is clean and for search engine marketers to evaluate opportunities for keywords. And the moderator keeps mentioning how people who are blind will appreciate easily understood language, but falls short of calling out the specific search marketing implications.