AI search routes users to your least accessible pages

AI search is sending users to the pages brands have neglected most. AudioEye’s 2026 Digital Accessibility Index, published on 25 June 2026, found that AI engines route the majority of their traffic to deep interior pages, and those pages carry more accessibility failures than the homepages most compliance programs focus on. For multi-location brands, that means the pages AI is most likely to surface are often the ones least ready for the visitors it sends.

What happened

AudioEye analyzed more than 165,000 pages across 6,100 domains in the United States and Europe. The average page carried 62 accessibility issues, a figure that held steady across industries and regions. Interior pages averaged about 10% more issues than homepages, and AudioEye cites data from Previsible that AI search engines send roughly two-thirds of their traffic to those interior pages rather than to the homepage.

The report also found that around 21% of detected issues block people from completing a purchase, submitting a form, or accessing an account. Five WCAG criteria account for about 40% of all issues: missing image descriptions, unclear link text, unlabeled buttons and form fields, low-contrast interactive elements, and missing skip navigation.

“AI is sending users to pages most accessibility programs haven’t prioritized.”

Kelly Georgevich, CEO, AudioEye

Why it matters

For European brands the figure that stands out is regional: AudioEye reports that EU sites averaged about 25% more accessibility issues per page than US sites. That lands at an awkward moment. The European Accessibility Act has been in force since June 2025, and it applies to consumer-facing digital services across the bloc, not just to homepages.

There is also a discoverability argument. AudioEye contends that AI systems parse pages much as assistive technology does, relying on clear structure, descriptive labels, and consistent markup. On that logic, the same fixes that make a page usable for someone with a screen reader also make it easier for an AI engine to read and cite.

What this means for multi-location brands

The lesson for a large estate is that accessibility cannot stop at the homepage and a handful of flagship templates. If AI sends most of its traffic to interior pages, then every location page, store-locator result, and local landing page is both a compliance surface under the EAA and a candidate for AI citation. Auditing only the pages a brand promotes most leaves the high-traffic long tail exposed on both fronts at once.

Treat the location-page layer as the priority. Make sure the store locator on your website and individual location pages meet WCAG basics like labeled controls and descriptive links, keep that structure consistent so it scales across markets, and track where AI actually surfaces those pages as part of how you rank in AI search results. Pair the page-level work with accurate location data and listings so the destinations AI points to are both reachable and usable.

The bottom line

AI has quietly changed which pages matter, pushing traffic to the interior pages brands have invested in least. With the EAA in force and EU pages carrying the most issues, the safe assumption is that any page can be the one a visitor lands on. Fixing accessibility across the whole estate, not just the front door, is now both a legal and a visibility requirement.