There’s something new brewing at the Google Labs.
It’s called Accessible Search, a search engine tool by Google that sorts results based on the readability and simplicity of the page layout. This proves to be useful for those who are reading or sight impaired, as it gives them faster but not necessarily better access to information with minimal graphical distractions.
I’m always one for very simple yet classy design, but when I searched for some important keywords related to my site, my homepage (www.alleba.com) was nowhere to be seen in the first page of results (as opposed to the normal Google search where it’s ranked #1). Accessible Search could be the wake up call we’re waiting for for webmasters to step up and make their pages more HTML/XHTML compliant to standards to reach the widest possible audience. Most blogs (such as this) are already compliant because many templates are validated before they are released by their authors. But there are still many others who aren’t aware of or numb to this issue. Honestly, I do not see Accessible being implemented soon or at all. But it helps that it gives us a broader perspective on search results relevance and how perception on accessibility plays a big role in it.
Check out Accessible Search.