How to fix landmark unique on BigCommerce

Steps for BigCommerce

1. In your BigCommerce control panel, go to Storefront → Themes → (your active theme) → Advanced → Edit Theme Files (or use the Stencil CLI locally).
2. Navigate to templates/layout/base.html for the global wrapper, and templates/components/ for reusable partials such as header.html, footer.html, and navigation.html.
3. Find every <nav>, <aside>, <section>, and <header> tag that appears more than once across the rendered page.
4. Add a unique aria-label to each, e.g. <nav aria-label='Main navigation'>, <nav aria-label='Breadcrumb'>, <nav aria-label='Footer links'>.
5. Save (or push via Stencil CLI: stencil push), then publish the updated theme and verify with the axe browser extension.

What is landmark unique?

Landmarks are special HTML regions — like `<nav>`, `<main>`, `<header>`, `<footer>`, `<aside>`, and `<section>` — that act as signposts for people using screen readers or keyboard-only navigation. When the same type of landmark appears more than once on a page (for example, two `<nav>` menus or two `<section>` blocks), each one must carry a unique label so users can understand what each region contains and jump directly to the right one. Without these labels, a screen reader will just announce "navigation" twice, with no way to tell which is which.

Screen-reader users rely on landmark navigation to skip around a page quickly — it's the equivalent of sighted users scanning headings at a glance. Duplicate, unlabeled landmarks force these users to listen through entire sections just to find what they need, creating a frustrating, unusable experience. This violates WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.3.6 (Identify Purpose) and is flagged by automated accessibility checkers like axe. Depending on your market, failing WCAG 2.1 AA exposes your business to legal risk under the ADA (US), the European Accessibility Act (EU), and similar laws. Beyond compliance, accessible stores convert better — a broader audience can browse and buy without barriers.

See the complete Landmark unique guide for every platform and the full background.