How to fix landmark unique on Shopify
Add a unique aria-label (or aria-labelledby) to every repeated landmark role on the page so screen-reader users can tell them apart.
Steps for Shopify
- In your Shopify admin, go to Online Store → Themes → (your active theme) → Actions → Edit code.
- Open the theme layout file: Layout → theme.liquid. This file wraps every page and typically contains the main <header>, <nav>, and <footer> landmarks.
- Search for every <nav>, <header>, <aside>, <section>, and <footer> tag in theme.liquid, and in any section/snippet files (Sections folder and Snippets folder) included in the template.
- For each duplicated landmark type, add a descriptive aria-label attribute. Example: change <nav> to <nav aria-label='Main navigation'> and a second one to <nav aria-label='Footer navigation'>.
- For section files (e.g. header.liquid, footer.liquid, predictive-search.liquid, breadcrumbs.liquid), open each file individually in the code editor and apply the same aria-label additions.
- Save each file, preview the live theme, and verify with the axe DevTools browser extension that landmark-unique violations are cleared.
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.
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