Image Accessibility Benchmarks
First published 6 September 2026. Figures update as the sample grows.
How well does the web describe its images? We run the same free Health Score anyone can use on sets of sector homepages and publish the aggregates here. Sectors are named. Individual sites are not. Each figure is a single-page scan of a homepage, scored against WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 1.1.1 with an AI check on a sample of images, exactly as described in the methodology.
The headline finding so far: all 20 homepages we scanned had at least one content image that gives a screen-reader user nothing useful.
The sectors so far
| Sector | Pages scanned | Median score | Grades | Pages with a failing image |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scottish hospitality and tourism | 11 | 53 (grade D) | 2 A · 2 B · 1 C · 2 D · 4 F | 11 of 11 |
| UK retail and e-commerce | 9 | 74 (grade C) | 0 A · 3 B · 4 C · 1 D · 1 F | 9 of 9 |
What the numbers say
Hospitality has the wider spread: two homepages scored in the nineties, and four scored an F, with the weakest at 13 out of 100. A sector that sells rooms, views and plates of food on photography had the lower median of the two sectors we scanned, 53 against 74.
Retail clusters in the middle: most homepages scored a B or C, meaning alt text exists but a meaningful share of it is thin, duplicated or unrelated to the product it sits on.
Two further sites in the sample refused every automated visitor, including a full browser, and are excluded from the figures rather than guessed at.
How to read this fairly
- The sample is early and deliberately small. We publish it because the pattern is already clear, and we will keep scanning, so the counts above grow over time.
- A homepage is one page, not a whole site. A sector median is evidence of a pattern, not a verdict on any organisation.
- We name sectors, never individual sites. Any site owner can run the same scan on their own pages in seconds and see their exact images, verdicts and suggested rewrites.
- A low score is not a finding of unlawfulness and a high score is not a compliance certificate. The score measures one WCAG 2.2 requirement, stated plainly.
For journalists and researchers
We are happy to share the methodology in detail, run scans for a sector you care about, or provide the underlying aggregates. Write to hello@narrasight.com and the founder will answer.