Zach is the VP of Marketing at Silktide. He's a former ecommerce founder, lifetime obsessive marketer, and on a mission to help make the internet accessible to everyone. He enjoys writing about himself in the third person.
A quick rundown of what’s different in the November 2026 version, what it means for your score, and where to find more details.
We’ve updated the Silktide Index. It’s been redesigned, and as of the November 2026 version every website is tested by a new engine and gets two accessibility scores. We publish a new edition every month.
If you use the Index to track your organization’s progress, you’ll notice a few differences.
The score you already know is calculated the same way as before, and we expect most of those scores to stay close to October’s.
What’s changed?
In short:
- A new look. The Index has been redesigned. You can still compare your website with others in your sector, and earlier editions are still there.
- A new testing engine. Every website in the Index was tested again from scratch, by the same engine that tests every Silktide customer’s website.
- Two accessibility scores, side by side. You’ll see the score you already know, called V4, next to a new one, called V5. You can switch between them.
- More to come. The Index is growing beyond accessibility. We’ll share more on that soon.
What are V4 and V5 scores?
Both scores come from the same tests. We test the same pages, with the same automated checks, against WCAG 2.2. Both run from 0 to 100. Only the scoring method differs.
- V4 is calculated the way Index scores have been calculated for years. It scores each WCAG level and mobile accessibility separately, then combines them into one score by weight.
- V5 is calculated the way the latest version of Silktide scores accessibility. Every website starts at 100, and each check takes points off depending on how badly the website fails it.
Neither score is more correct than the other. They weigh the same problems differently, so a website can score higher in one than the other, and rank differently in each.
A few things to know:
- Compare like with like. Compare V4 with V4, and V5 with V5. A V5 score can’t be compared to an earlier V4 score.
- V5 starts with this edition. There are no V5 scores for October or earlier, so V5 trends begin in November.
- V4 is shown first, for now. That way you can keep comparing with earlier editions. We plan to retire V4 scores at some point in the future, and we’ll announce when well before it happens.
For how each score is calculated, read the documentation on V4 and V5 scores.
Will my score change?
Your V4 score: for most websites, not by much. It’s calculated by the same rules as before, so we expect most V4 scores to stay close to October’s. Your V5 score is new, so there’s no earlier score to compare it with.
Some V4 scores will move, and a few will move a lot. If yours did, these are the most likely reasons:
- Your website changed. A redesign, a new template, a new cookie banner, or a new chat widget affects every page that uses it.
- Different pages were tested. The Index tests a sample of each website’s pages, and the sample can differ from one month to the next.
- Your website limits automated visitors. The new engine slows down when a website refuses its requests, and leaves out pages it still can’t load instead of scoring an error page. This is the most likely reason for a big move. For these websites, the score is now based on more of their real pages.
- We fixed some of our checks. Some checks now find problems they missed before. Others no longer report problems that weren’t real.
Our tests now come from different servers than before. If your website had a score in October and has none this month, check whether a security service or firewall rule is blocking automated visitors.
If you use Silktide, your account’s score will usually differ from your Index score. Your account tests more pages, runs more checks, and applies decisions your team has made, such as marking an issue as a false positive.
The changes most likely to move a score are in What changed in the November 2026 Index.
See where you stand
See how your website compares with others in your sector, and switch between V4 and V5 scores.
Want more details?
This post covers the headlines. If you report on your score, or want to work out why it moved, our help documentation goes deeper:
- Silktide Index: what the Index is and what it covers.
- What changed in the November 2026 Index: the changes most likely to move a score, and how to work out which one affected you.
- V4 and V5 scores: how each score is calculated, and why your Silktide account scores differently.
- How scoring changed in Silktide 5: the V5 scoring method in full, with a worked example.
Future changes to the Index will be documented there too.
