• Success Criterion 2.4.5
  • Conformance level AA

Site Search That’s Broken or Doesn’t Index Most Pages

2.4.5 — Multiple Ways

Scenario

Setting

An e-book reader's library page

What’s wrong

Site search exists but is broken/never indexes most pages (only nominal second way).

Example 

<form action="/search">
  <input type="search" name="q" placeholder="Search your library">
</form>
<!-- backend only indexes titles added in the last 30 days; older purchases and authors/tags are unsearchable -->

Why it matters

A reader searching for a book they bought eight months ago gets zero results, because the index silently excludes anything older.

How to test

Use the site search for several known terms: if results are broken, incomplete, or the index misses most pages, it's not a genuine second way and fails.

How to fix

A search that only nominally exists but misses most content doesn't satisfy the intent of a real second way to find pages.

<form action="/search">
  <input type="search" name="q" placeholder="Search your library" aria-describedby="search-hint">
</form>
<p id="search-hint">Searches all books, authors, and tags in your library.</p>

Outcome

A reader searches for an older purchase and finds it on the first try.

Who is affected

Users relying on search as their primary navigation method get false not-found results for content that does exist.

Learn more

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