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Scanning

How WP Comply scans your site and which WCAG 2.1 rules it checks.

How scanning works

WP Comply scans the rendered HTML output of your WordPress pages. This means it catches issues regardless of which theme, page builder, or plugins you use — because it evaluates the final HTML that visitors and screen readers see.

What gets scanned

  • All published posts and pages
  • Published custom post types (WooCommerce products, portfolio items, etc.)
  • The scan processes content in batches to avoid overwhelming your server

Scan triggers

You can scan your site in three ways:

  1. Manual scan: Click “Run Full Scan” from the WP Comply dashboard
  2. Scan on publish: Automatically scans a page when you publish or update it (enabled by default)
  3. Scheduled scan: Set up a recurring scan via WP-Cron (Pro feature)

Rules checked

WP Comply currently checks the following WCAG 2.1 Level AA criteria:

1.1.1 — Non-text Content

  • Images without alt attributes
  • Images with empty alt on non-decorative images
  • <input type="image"> without alt text

1.3.1 — Info and Relationships

  • Heading hierarchy violations (e.g., h1 → h3, skipping h2)
  • Form inputs without associated <label> elements
  • Tables without proper header markup

2.4.4 — Link Purpose

  • Links with generic text like “click here” or “read more” without context
  • Links with identical text but different destinations

3.1.1 — Language of Page

  • Missing lang attribute on the <html> element

4.1.2 — Name, Role, Value

  • Form inputs without accessible names
  • Buttons without text content or aria-label

Scan results

Each violation includes:

FieldDescription
RuleWCAG criterion reference (e.g., 1.1.1)
SeverityCritical, Serious, Moderate, Minor
PageURL where the issue was found
ElementCSS selector of the affected element
DescriptionHuman-readable explanation
SuggestionRecommended fix

Export

You can export scan results as CSV from the dashboard for use in spreadsheets or project management tools. The export includes all fields above plus the page title and publication date.