What Exclusion Rules Do
Exclusion rules filter accessibility issues from third-party content, plugins, or specific patterns that are outside your direct control. Excluded issues are removed from your open issue list and do not affect your compliance score. This lets your score reflect only the accessibility of content you can actually fix.
Dynamic Filters vs Custom Rules
Dynamic content filters (covered in the Dynamic Content Filters guide) are the built-in category-based filters that operate during scanning. Custom exclusion rules provide more granular control for specific patterns and are available with Pro.
When to Exclude vs When to Fix
Exclude content when: it is generated by a third-party plugin you cannot modify, it comes from an external embed or iframe, or it is intentionally designed in a way that triggers a detection but provides an alternative accessible path.
Do not exclude content when: you have control over the source code or content, the issue represents a genuine barrier for users, or you are excluding simply to inflate your compliance score.
Documenting Exclusions
For regulatory compliance, document why each exclusion exists. When generating VPAT reports, excluded content should be noted in the remarks column as third-party content that falls outside the scope of evaluation. This transparency strengthens the defensibility of your compliance documentation.