Success Criteria

WCAG 3.2.6 Consistent Help

Success Criterion 3.2.6 requires that if a help mechanism (contact details, a chat feature, a self-help FAQ link, a human-support option) is repeated across multiple pages, it occurs in the same relative order on each page, unless the user changes it themselves. It's a Level A criterion under Guideline 3.2 (Predictable), new in WCAG 2.2.

What counts as a "help mechanism"

Any of the following, when present: a direct contact link (phone, email, contact form), a live chat widget or human-support option, a self-service help/FAQ link, or a guided-tour/onboarding-help feature. If a site offers any of these on more than one page, this criterion applies to how consistently they're positioned.

Why help specifically got its own criterion in 2.2

Someone who's already struggling to complete a task — precisely the moment they most need help — shouldn't also have to hunt for where the help feature moved to on this particular page. Consistent positioning matters more for help mechanisms than almost any other UI element, because the user reaching for help is, by definition, already in a moment of friction; adding "where did the help button go this time" on top of that friction is a uniquely bad experience to introduce right when a user needs support most.

The same "relative order" rule as Consistent Navigation

Like Consistent Navigation, this is about relative sequence among the repeated help elements themselves, not an exact pixel position — if a chat widget always appears before a "Contact us" link in the footer, that relative relationship needs to hold across every page both appear on.

Where this commonly slips

• A live-chat widget that's present on marketing pages but absent (or positioned differently) on logged-in dashboard pages
• Help links added incrementally to different page templates over time by different teams, without a shared, enforced pattern
• A "Contact support" option that appears in a page's header on some pages and only in the footer on others

The practical fix

Same as Consistent Navigation and Consistent Identification: define the help-mechanism pattern once (which options exist, and in what relative order) as part of a shared site template or design system, and apply it uniformly, rather than letting individual pages or teams decide independently where help-related links belong.

Common questions

What is WCAG 3.2.6 Consistent Help?

A Level A criterion new in WCAG 2.2: if pages offer help (contact info, a help link, chat), it must appear in a consistent relative location across the set of pages.

What counts as a help mechanism?

Human contact details, a human-contact method, a self-help option, or a fully automated contact mechanism such as a chatbot.

Does 3.2.6 require me to add help to my site?

No — it doesn't require providing help; it only requires that any help you do provide stays in a consistent place.