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Lists are not formatted correctly for screen readers

What this means for your business

A list on your page isn't built correctly. Screen readers rely on proper list structure to tell users how many items are in a group — when it's broken, that context is lost.

How to fix it
Easy
15–20 minutes

  1. 1List items (<li>) must be direct children of <ul> or <ol> elements — they can't exist on their own.
  2. 2Find the incorrectly structured list in your page source: look for <li> tags that are not inside a <ul> or <ol>.
  3. 3Wrap orphaned <li> elements in the appropriate list container: <ul> for unordered (bulleted) lists, <ol> for ordered (numbered) lists.
  4. 4Don't add extra elements like <div> or <p> directly inside <ul> or <ol> — only <li> elements should be direct children.
  5. 5Use the WAVE extension to highlight list structure issues on your page.

On WordPress

This often appears in navigation menus or custom HTML blocks. Check Appearance → Menus and any Custom HTML blocks on the page. The Classic Editor's HTML view often shows this issue clearly.

On Shopify

Check navigation liquid files — nav menus should use <ul><li><a> structure. Search your theme liquid files for <li> elements outside list containers.

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