This video covers how accessibility monitoring works, what it does behind the scenes, and where it fits into a long-term conformance strategy.
Monitoring runs automated scans on a recurring schedule. Organizations set the frequency, whether daily, weekly, monthly, or on a custom timeline. Each scan loads pages and evaluates HTML, CSS, and ARIA attributes against WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) success criteria. When new issues appear or previous ones return, the scan flags them.
Because scans only flag approximately 25% of accessibility issues, monitoring is not a replacement for audits conducted by accessibility professionals. It serves a different purpose: catching regressions between evaluations. A site that passed an audit three months ago may have introduced new issues through content updates, design changes, or code deployments. Monitoring catches those shifts early.
Some monitoring setups include authenticated page scanning, which uses a browser extension running within an active session to reach pages behind logins. This matters for web applications where most functionality sits behind authentication.
Monitoring works best as one layer within a broader accessibility program. Scheduled scans track what automation can detect. Periodic audits cover the remaining 75% that requires human evaluation. Together, these two activities keep conformance from drifting over time.