Understanding WCAG 2.0

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Labels Descriptive:
Understanding SC 2.4.6

2.4.6 Labels Descriptive: Labels and headings are descriptive. (Level AA)

The intent of this Success Criterion is to help users understand what information is contained in Web pages and how that information is organized. When headings are clear and descriptive, users can find the information they seek more easily, and they can understand the relationships between different parts of the content more easily. Descriptive labels help users identify specific components within the content.

  • Descriptive headings are especially helpful for users who have disabilities that make reading slow and for people with limited short-term memory. These people benefit when section titles make it possible to predict what each section contains.

  • People who have difficulty using their hands or who experience pain when doing so will benefit from techniques that reduce the number of keystrokes required to reach the content they need.

  • This Success Criterion helps people who use screen readers by ensuring that labels and headings are meaningful when read out of context, for example, in a Table of Contents, or when jumping from heading to heading within a page.

    This Success Criterion may also help users with low vision who can see only a few words at a time.

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  1. G130: Providing descriptive headings

  2. G131: Providing descriptive labels

Note: Headings and labels must be programmatically determined, per Success Criterion 1.3.1 .


The following are common mistakes that are considered failures of Success Criterion 2.4.6 by the WCAG Working Group.

(No failures currently documented)

Key Terms


text or other component with a text alternative that is presented to a user to identify a component within Web content

Note 1: A label is presented to all users whereas the name may be hidden and only exposed by assistive technology. In many (but not all) cases the name and the label are the same.

Note 2: The term label is not limited to the label element in HTML.