# Help That Moves When You Need It Most: WCAG 3.2.6 Consistent Help

Source: https://a11yshieldhq.com/blog/2026-11-11-consistent-help-3-2-6-help-moves-checkout.html

November 11, 2026

*A shopper hits a problem at checkout and looks for help in the place it was on every other page. It is not there. The contact link sat in the header on the homepage and the product pages, then vanished the moment the shopper reached the step where help matters most. WCAG 2.2 has a Level A criterion for exactly this, 3.2.6 Consistent Help, and it is one of the two new Level A criteria in the standard, which puts it at the floor of conformance, not the ceiling.*

## What the criterion covers, and what it does not

The text is narrower than the name suggests. If a page contains any of four help mechanisms, human contact details, a human contact mechanism, a self-help option, or a fully automated contact mechanism, and those mechanisms repeat across pages in a set, they occur in the same order relative to other page content, unless a change is initiated by the user. Same relative order means document order, not pixel position: the help link keeps the same links before and after it on every page.

What it does not do matters as much. It does not require a site to have help at all. A page with no help mechanism cannot fail it, and the understanding document says so directly: the absence of a help mechanism on certain pages within a set does not constitute a violation. The failure is offering help and then moving it, or dropping it, on the pages where the shopper is most likely to need it.

## Where checkout breaks it

The common failure is a help link in the header on the homepage and product pages that disappears at checkout, or moves to the footer, because someone decided checkout should be distraction-free. That decision trades a Level A failure for a cleaner layout, and it lands on the shoppers who are stuck: a payment that will not go through, a discount code that will not apply, an address the form will not accept. Those are the moments when a person who cannot see the page well, or who processes slowly, needs the contact link in the place they already learned.

The second failure is subtler. A chat launcher floats bottom-right on the homepage and bottom-left on the contact page, or a help link sits in the header on desktop and in a hamburger menu on mobile in a different order. The understanding document allows changes initiated by the user, and it names viewport size, zoom level, and orientation as the intended cases. Merely navigating between pages is not a user-initiated change, so a help link that moves because the shopper went to checkout is a failure, full stop.

## The test that takes ten minutes

Open four pages: homepage, product, cart, checkout. Note every help mechanism on each one and its order relative to the surrounding content. If the contact link, chat launcher, or FAQ link changes position or disappears between those pages, you have a 3.2.6 failure. The fix is technique G220, a contact link in a consistent location, and it is usually a template change, not a redesign: put the help link in the same header or footer slot on every page in the set, including checkout. For the form side of the same checkout audit, see [the form error pattern](https://a11yshieldhq.com/blog/2026-11-10-form-errors-aria-describedby-3-3-1.md) that screen readers actually hear, and for the focus side, [the heading map](https://a11yshieldhq.com/blog/2026-11-08-heading-levels-screen-reader-navigation-map.md) screen reader users navigate by.

## Frequently asked questions

### Does 3.2.6 force us to add a help link to every page?

No. The criterion only applies when a help mechanism exists and repeats across pages. A site with no help mechanism cannot fail it. But once you offer help on some pages, the pages that have it must keep it in the same relative order.

### Is a chat widget a help mechanism under 3.2.6?

Yes. The four types are human contact details, a human contact mechanism, a self-help option, and a fully automated contact mechanism. A chat launcher and a chatbot both count, as do contact links and FAQ links.

### Does moving help on mobile count as a failure?

It depends on why it moved. Viewport size, zoom, and orientation changes are user-initiated changes the criterion allows. But the help still has to keep the same relative order within that page variation, and a move caused by navigating to checkout is not user-initiated.

### What level is 3.2.6, and does it apply to AA targets?

Level A, which means it is inside every AA conformance target. WCAG 2.2 AA requires all 31 Level A criteria plus 24 at AA. A site that fails 3.2.6 fails AA.