Labels on form fields: Crawl Audit check 179

Short answer: every form field needs a label that's tied to it in the code, so a screen reader can say "Email, edit text" instead of just "edit text". Grey placeholder text inside the box doesn't count. Check 179 fails when fields have no label.

What Crawl Audit checks

• Full audit: it reads Lighthouse's "Form elements have associated labels" audit.
• Free check: every input, select and textarea needs a <label for> matching its id, a wrapping <label>, or an aria-label. Hidden inputs and buttons are skipped.

The free check is stricter than it should be. It doesn't accept aria-labelledby, and it counts hidden spam-trap fields that screen readers never see. If it flags a field you can't find, that's probably why.

What the sources say

• W3C: "Whenever possible, use the label element to associate text with form elements explicitly." And: "The for attribute of the label must exactly match the id of the form control."
• W3C: "Assistive technologies, such as screen readers, do not treat placeholder text as labels."
• WebAIM's 2026 survey found missing form labels on 51% of top home pages.

The markup

<label for="email">Work email</label>
<input id="email" type="email" autocomplete="email">

<label>Name <input name="name" autocomplete="name"></label>

A visible label also helps everyone else: it stays on screen while people type, unlike a placeholder.

On devmarde.com

Every visible field in our contact form has a label, and Lighthouse's label audit passed on 6 October. The free check flags one field: a hidden spam trap that is marked aria-hidden and can't be reached by keyboard. We've asked for the free check to skip fields like that.

Sources

• W3C, Labeling controls and Form instructions.
• WebAIM, The WebAIM Million (2026), checked 6 October 2026.