Landmark Accessible Label
When a page has several regions of the same kind — two navigations, three search areas, a handful of complementary panels — each one needs its own name. Without a name, a screen reader announces them all identically ("navigation… navigation…") and the user has no way to tell which is the site menu and which is the footer links.
This check looks for exactly that: duplicated region types where the individual regions are not named.
What the tool checks
For every kind of region on the page (navigation, search, complementary, and so on), the tool counts how many visible instances there are. If there is more than one of a kind, each of them must carry a name.
A region can be named in three ways, any of which the tool accepts:
aria-labelaria-labelledbytitle
Why it matters
Screen readers offer a list of the page's regions as a navigation shortcut. That list is only useful if the entries are distinguishable. Two entries both reading "navigation" force the user to enter each one and explore it before deciding which was the one they wanted — on every page of the site.
When it reports an issue
- Two or more visible regions of the same kind and none of them is named. Each unnamed region is reported separately, so two unnamed navigations produce two issues.
- Two or more visible regions of the same kind where only some are named. Only the unnamed ones are reported.
- A visible region that cannot be told apart from its siblings for any other reason.
When it stays quiet
| Situation | Why it is not reported |
|---|---|
| Only one region of that kind on the page | There is nothing to confuse it with |
| Every region of that kind is named | The user can tell them apart |
section and form without a name | Without a name these are not exposed as regions at all, so they do not compete with anything |
A named section next to an unnamed one | Only the named one is a region; there is no duplication |
A header inside an article | Only page-level headers count as regions; a nested one is not a duplicate |
| Hidden regions | A region hidden with display: none, visibility: hidden, aria-hidden="true" or the hidden attribute is left out of the count |
Regions that appear dynamically but are visible when the check runs are included.
What the report says
Title: Landmark without accessible label when multiple of same type exist
Description: The landmark has no accessible name while other visible landmarks of the same type exist on the page
Actual result: Landmarks without an accessible name that cannot be told apart
Expected result: All landmarks of the same type must have unique accessible names
WCAG checkpoint: 1.3.1 - Info and Relationships
Issue type: Screen Readers
How to verify it by hand
- Open the page and turn on a screen reader (NVDA, JAWS or VoiceOver).
- Navigate by regions — the D key in NVDA, or the landmarks rotor in VoiceOver.
- Count how many regions of each kind the page announces.
- For any kind that appears more than once, check whether the screen reader gives each one a distinct name or just repeats the generic type.
Known limitations
- Naming a region is not the same as naming it well. This check only asks whether a name exists. Two navigations called "nav 1" and "nav 2" satisfy it, even though the names tell the user nothing useful.
- Browsers do not always agree. How a region is exposed can vary between browsers, and screen readers differ in how they announce them, so a page may behave slightly differently than the report suggests.
- Pages that change after loading may need to be re-checked, since regions added later were not part of the count.
Related check
Once every region of a kind is named, the names still have to differ from each other. That is covered separately by Landmark Name Uniqueness.
WCAG reference
Success Criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A)