ADA Compliance for GoDaddy Sites

GoDaddy Website Builder (formerly GoDaddy Website + Marketing) is one of the most popular website creation tools for small businesses, solopreneurs, and local service providers. Its simplicity — pick a template, add content, publish — attracts users who have no technical background. This simplicity also means users have minimal control over the underlying HTML, accessibility attributes, and semantic structure of their websites.

ADA compliance applies to all business websites serving U.S. customers, regardless of how they were built. Small businesses on GoDaddy are increasingly targeted by serial ADA plaintiffs who use automated tools to find violations at scale. The average demand letter settlement ranges from $3,000 to $15,000. With the April 24, 2026 ADA Title II deadline signaling broader federal commitment to web accessibility, GoDaddy site owners cannot assume their template handles compliance automatically.

GoDaddy's simplified builder creates predictable accessibility patterns:

• Limited heading control — GoDaddy's editor offers heading styles but may not enforce proper hierarchy (H1 > H2 > H3), leading to screen reader navigation issues
• Image alt text gaps — while GoDaddy supports alt text on images, many small business owners do not know they need to fill in this field
• Template contrast issues — GoDaddy templates use brand-friendly color palettes that frequently fail the WCAG 4.5:1 contrast ratio, especially on buttons and navigation
• E-commerce accessibility — GoDaddy's online store features (product listings, cart, checkout) may lack proper form labels and keyboard navigation
• Footer and contact information — embedded Google Maps, social media icon links without text alternatives, and phone numbers that are not properly marked up

GoDaddy's closed platform architecture means many of these issues cannot be fixed by the site owner — they require GoDaddy to update the template rendering engine.

GoDaddy has made some accessibility improvements to its builder:

• Alt text fields — images in the editor support alt text input
• Mobile responsive — templates adapt to screen sizes, which helps users with screen magnification
• Basic semantic output — the builder generates reasonably structured HTML for simple content

However, the limitations are significant for a platform serving millions of small businesses. GoDaddy provides no accessibility checker or audit tool, no ARIA attribute customization, no heading hierarchy enforcement, and no skip navigation links. Users cannot edit the underlying HTML or CSS directly (unlike Squarespace or Wix, which offer some code injection). The platform also does not require accessibility on marketplace themes or integrated apps.

For GoDaddy users, accessibility is essentially whatever the template provides. If the template has contrast issues or missing ARIA landmarks, the site owner has no way to fix them within the builder.

Start with a CompliScan scan to understand your current WCAG 2.1 AA compliance status. GoDaddy's limited customization means your remediation options focus on content-level improvements and template selection. Automated tools catch approximately 30-40% of WCAG issues.

GoDaddy-specific compliance steps:

• Add alt text to every image — review all images on your site and add descriptive alt text through GoDaddy's image settings
• Use heading levels properly — maintain proper heading hierarchy (H1 for page title, H2 for sections) rather than selecting headings based on visual size
• Choose high-contrast templates — if your current template has contrast issues you cannot fix, consider switching to a template with darker text and higher contrast ratios
• Use descriptive link text — replace "Click Here" and "Learn More" with descriptive text that makes sense out of context
• Report platform issues to GoDaddy — document accessibility problems rooted in GoDaddy's platform code and report them to support; save documentation for legal defensibility

If CompliScan identifies issues you cannot fix within GoDaddy's builder, consider migrating to a platform with more accessibility control (WordPress, Webflow, or Squarespace). CompliScan's free scan helps you make this evaluation objectively.