FAQs
Are landmarks required in WCAG?
No, landmarks are not explicitly required to comply with WCAG Guidelines. However, they are strongly recommended because they support the following key success criteria:
1.3.1 Info and Relationships – Ensures that the structure and relationships of content (such as grouping, headings, or semantic regions) are programmatically conveyed.
2.4.1 Bypass Blocks – Allows users to skip repeated content such as navigation menus or headers and jump directly to the main content.
So, while you won’t fail WCAG solely for missing landmarks, using them is considered best practice and shows conformance with accessibility standards.
Is page content contained by landmarks?
To ensure best practice, all meaningful content on a page should be contained within landmarks such as <header>, <nav>, <main>, <aside>, and <footer>.
Skip links are an exception, as they usually sit before the first landmark to give users a way to jump straight into the main content.
In addition, when there is more than one landmark of the same type on a page e.g. two <nav> elements, it is important to provide additional labelling so that users can tell them apart.
What is the maximum of main landmarks in one page?
There should only ever be one <main> landmark element per page. It represents the primary content area, and multiple <main> elements on a single-page layout can confuse assistive technologies.