Providing a clear and concise structure for your website content is one of the most effective ways to help people quickly find, understand, and act on the information they need. Well-organized content, meaningful headings, and concise language create a more intuitive experience that reduces frustration, improves comprehension, and makes it easier for users to navigate your site with confidence.

A strong content structure benefits everyone. It supports people who scan for information, those accessing your site on mobile devices, users with varying literacy levels, and individuals who rely on assistive technologies. When content is easy to follow, it becomes more accessible, more usable, and ultimately more effective.

Clear and concise content structure should be the standard, not the exception. Below are several best practices you can implement—or continue following—to ensure your content delivers the greatest possible impact for every member of your audience.

Headings

Headings are essential to help visitors navigate the content on your page. Think of them like a table of contents for information. Not only do they help visitors understand how content on your page is organized, but they provide a quick way for them to scan the page to look for specific topics and details.

In our WordPress environment, there are six heading levels that create a logical hierarchy for your content. Using headings correctly makes your pages easier to scan, improves accessibility, and helps visitors quickly understand how information is organized.

Always use headings in sequential order (H2 → H3 → H3 → H4, and so on) with proper nesting of topics and subtopics, and avoid skipping heading levels. This creates a logical structure that improves readability, supports assistive technologies, and makes your content easier for everyone to navigate.

Additional information on how to use Headings, the impact they have on digital accessibility, and how to find any issues on your website can be found in the Siteimprove Headings tutorial.

Lists

Ordered and unordered lists are one of the simplest ways to make your content easier to read and understand. Rather than asking visitors to search through long paragraphs for key information, lists break content into concise, digestible points that people can scan quickly. This is especially valuable for users who are short on time, browsing on mobile devices, or looking for a specific answer.

Lists also improve accessibility by providing a clear, predictable structure that is easier for assistive technologies, such as screen readers, to interpret. When information is organized into a list, users can more easily understand the relationship between items and navigate through the content efficiently.

Example:

In addition to improving the user experience, well-structured lists can make your content easier for search engines and AI-powered search tools to interpret. Generative AI platforms often look for clearly organized information when summarizing content or answering questions. Presenting key facts, steps, requirements, or recommendations in a list makes them easier to identify and extract, increasing the likelihood that your content will be referenced or cited in AI-generated responses.

Whenever you have a series of related items, steps, requirements, features, benefits, or key takeaways, consider using a list instead of a paragraph. It makes your content more readable, more accessible, and more discoverable.

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Alt text should be included for all meaningful images on your website. While not visible to most users, it is essential for accessibility because screen readers use it to describe images to people who are blind or have low vision.

Alt text should not describe every visual detail. Instead, it should convey the image’s purpose or the key information it adds to the page. A helpful question to ask is: “What would someone miss if they couldn’t see this image?”

Images are often included to reinforce a message, illustrate a concept, or support navigation. Alt text should reflect that context so screen reader users receive the same understanding as sighted users.

Example:

For example, alt text for an image of bigfoot being discovered in the forest (as shown above) may be written as “An image of a surprised bigfoot in the forest who just realized he was spotted by some Wake Forest students.” If an image is purely decorative and adds no meaningful information, it should be marked as decorative so assistive technologies can skip it.

Clear, purposeful alt text helps ensure all users can understand and engage with your content.

Captions and Transcripts

Captions and transcripts make audio and video content accessible to a wider audience. When creating captions and transcripts, keep the following in mind:

• Videos should include accurate, synchronized captions
• Audio-only content should provide a transcript

These features are essential for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, but they also benefit many others, including people with cognitive disabilities, those who are learning a new language, and anyone viewing or listening in environments where audio isn’t available or practical.

Providing captions and transcripts helps ensure everyone can access and understand your content, regardless of how or where they consume it.

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Good content isn’t just about what you say—it’s also about how you say it. The way you write has a direct impact on how easily people can find, understand, and act on your information. Writing clearly benefits everyone, including people using assistive technologies, visitors who are scanning for answers, and users accessing your site on mobile devices.

As you create or revise content, keep these best practices in mind:

• Write with clarity. Make your main message easy to identify and understand. Visitors should be able to quickly determine whether a page contains the information they’re looking for.
• Keep sentences and paragraphs short. Long blocks of text are difficult to scan and can discourage visitors from reading. Breaking content into shorter, more focused sections improves readability and comprehension.
• Use simple, familiar language. Choose words that are easy to understand whenever possible. While technical terms may sometimes be necessary, avoid unnecessarily complex or polysyllabic words that could make your content harder to read.
• Limit acronyms and jargon. Don’t assume your audience is familiar with internal terminology or Wake Forest campus-specific language. When an acronym or specialized term is necessary, spell it out the first time it appears or provide enough context for readers to understand its meaning.
• Organize content with headings and lists. Use descriptive headings, bullet lists, and numbered lists to break up information into manageable sections. A well-structured page is easier to scan, easier to navigate, and easier for both people and assistive technologies to understand.

Writing with clarity isn’t just an accessibility best practice—it’s a fundamental part of creating an effective website. Clear, concise, and well-organized content helps every visitor find the information they need more quickly and with greater confidence.

If you want to learn more about best-practices with writing for the web and readability, check out our Writing for the Web page.

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We’ve just scratched the surface on how you can make what you do with technology more accessible for everyone. If you’d like to learn more on digital accessibility, beyond how it make your website compliant and easier to use, visit our Technology Accessibility at Wake website for additional resources, tutorials, campus accessibility events, and more.