Issues FAQ

"Issues" is the Siteimprove term for problems detected during a crawl.

Siteimprove crawls your website and flags things that may affect accessibility, content quality, or the user experience as "issues." These can include accessibility problems, quality issues, and other technical or structural concerns that could impact how users navigate your site. Each issue comes with guidance to help you understand what it means and how to fix it, making it easier to keep your site accurate, accessible, and user‑friendly.

Siteimprove checks websites for a wide range of accessibility issues based on standards set by the IT Accessibility Office in alignment with legal requirements. Common types of issues include:

Missing or incorrect alternative text for images and non-text content
Heading structure errors that affect page navigation and screen reader use
Color contrast problems that make text difficult to read for users with visual impairments
Unclear or non-descriptive link text
Form accessibility issues, such as missing labels or instructions
Keyboard navigation barriers, including elements that cannot be reached or operated without a mouse
Other structural or semantic issues that impact screen reader users and overall usability

While Siteimprove automatically identifies these and other issues, some barriers, like whether content makes sense when read aloud or interactive elements are fully usable, still require manual testing to ensure true accessibility.

See the following Siteimprove help articles for additional information:

Do I need both automated and manual accessibility testing?

How Do I Fix Images, Headings and Links

Accessibility: Reviewing Potential Issues

Course: Accessibility Testing for the Web

Missing alt text
Form label issues
Keyboard traps
Color contrast failures
Improper headings structure
Poor keyboard focus
Empty links or buttons
Non-descriptive links
Auto playing media/content issues

See the following Siteimprove help articles for additional information:

How Do I Fix Images, Headings and Links

Accessibility: Reviewing Potential Issues

Course: Accessibility Testing for the Web

Generally speaking, prioritize issues that appear most frequently across your site, and/or issues that appear on the pages that receive the most traffic.

Visit the How to Prioritize Issues page for more information.

Siteimprove scans PDF files linked from Penn State websites to identify common accessibility barriers that can affect users of screen readers and other assistive technologies. These checks focus on whether PDFs are structured and tagged in a way that supports navigation, readability, and comprehension.

Common issues Siteimprove looks for in PDFs include:

Missing or incomplete document tags, which are needed for screen readers to understand the structure of the content
Improper reading order, causing content to be read out of sequence
Missing document titles and language settings
Untagged images or graphics without alternative text
Tables without proper headers or structure
Form fields without accessible labels or instructions
Scanned image-only PDFs that are not machine-readable and cannot be interpreted by screen readers

While Siteimprove can identify many technical and structural issues in PDFs, some problems, such as whether the content is clear, logical, and usable in real-world scenarios, still require manual review. Creating accessible PDFs often involves using proper source documents, applying accessibility features during export, and validating results with human testing.

IMPORTANT NOTE: PDFs with accessibility issues DO NOT impact your site’s Accessibility Score. This is because not all sites or accounts have PDF checking enabled. See the following Siteimprove help article for additional information: Login Required: What does Siteimprove check for in PDFs?

No, Siteimprove cannot automatically fix accessibility issues. The platform identifies problems and provides guidance, examples, and recommended solutions, but actual remediation must be done by the website’s content authors, designers, or developers.

This approach ensures that fixes are implemented correctly and in context, since accessibility often depends on the content, page layout, and user interactions. For example:

Alternative text must accurately describe the specific image.
Headings must follow the logical structure of the page.
Form labels, instructions, and interactive elements must match their intended function.

By relying on human review and action, we can ensure that changes truly improve accessibility for all users rather than applying generic fixes that might not fully resolve the barrier.

If you believe that an accessibility issue flagged by Siteimprove is incorrect or does not apply, the platform allows you to dismiss occurrences of that issue, but it’s not a simple “ignore” button. Dismissing an issue triggers a manual testing and review process by Siteimprove. The issue will be examined carefully by experts before being removed from reports.

There are three ways to dismiss an issue:

Dismiss for this page only – removes the issue from this specific page but keeps it visible elsewhere.
Dismiss for all pages on this site – removes the issue across the entire site.
Dismiss for all sites in your account – removes the issue everywhere your account has access.

Because dismissing an issue initiates review and takes time, Penn State encourages users to consider carefully whether the issue is truly a false positive. When in doubt, it’s often better to leave the issue in place until it can be verified or addressed. For full instructions, see Siteimprove's guide on dismissing accessibility issues.

Yes, Siteimprove allows users without an account to view an individual Page Report if they have the unique Page Report URL. This means you can share accessibility issues with colleagues, vendors, or collaborators who do not have Siteimprove access by sending them a link to the page report that contains the issue.

To do this, open the affected page in Siteimprove, navigate to its Page Report, and copy the URL from your browser. When shared, this link allows the recipient to view the identified issues and related guidance without needing to log in. This can be especially helpful for coordinating fixes with content authors, designers, or developers who are not regular Siteimprove users.

Seeing new issues in Siteimprove after making improvements is normal and expected. Websites are constantly changing as content is updated, new pages are added, and designs evolve, and each change can introduce new accessibility barriers. In addition, updated scanning rules and standards may identify issues that were not previously flagged.

Accessibility is an ongoing process, not a one-time project. The goal is to reduce high-impact and recurring problems, improve overall trends over time, and build accessibility into everyday workflows. By regularly reviewing scan results, using Siteimprove’s guidance, and supporting content creators and developers with best practices, units can prevent many new issues and continue making steady, sustainable progress.

Issues FAQ

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