Here’s a focused QA pass for your cloud.gov homepage. I’ve flagged concrete fixes (with drop-in snippets) across accessibility, correctness, performance, and security.

🔴 Must-fix

  1. Duplicate ID breaks skip link

You have two id="main-content" elements (the <main> and an inner <div>). IDs must be unique; the duplicate can break skip-to-content and in-page anchors.

<!-- keep this -->
<main id="main-content" class="default-layout">

<!-- change the inner one to a class or different id -->
<div class="wide-layout"> <!-- was id="main-content" -->
  1. Empty script tag (build artifact)

This creates a useless request and may confuse CSP preload scanners.

<!-- remove this -->
<script async src=" "></script>
  1. Banner images have alt="undefined"

Provide meaningful alt (or empty with aria-hidden="true" if decorative).

<img src="/img/tCQFuGROrC-16.png" class="usa-banner__header-flag" alt="U.S. flag">
<img src="/img/ZOTjv0I5H_-64.svg" class="usa-banner__icon" alt="“.gov” icon">
<img src="/img/7jkBW0JTZO-64.svg" class="usa-banner__icon" alt="HTTPS lock icon">
  1. External links with target="_blank" need rel

Prevents tab-nabbing and drops window.opener.

<a href="https://join.tts.gsa.gov/" class="usa-link--external" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Join our team</a>
<!-- do this for all target="_blank" links (status page, GSA, USA.gov, etc.) -->
  1. “Home” skip/landmark clarity

Add aria-current="page" to the current entry (logo link works fine here).

<a href="/" title="Home" aria-label="Home" aria-current="page">
  <img src="/img/SAJKr93fDF-233.svg" alt="cloud.gov">
</a>

🟠 Accessibility polish (WCAG/508)

  1. Mobile menu close button should announce purpose

The button only shows an image with alt="close". Prefer an explicit label on the button and hide the decorative img.

<button class="usa-nav__close" aria-label="Close menu">
  <img src="/img/xPu02brD0d-24.svg" alt="" aria-hidden="true">
</button>
  1. Use id instead of name for in-page links

<a name="Product"> is obsolete; switch to id.

<h2 id="Product">Why cloud.gov?</h2>
  1. Ensure all icon-only elements are silent

For purely decorative SVG/icon images, add alt="" aria-hidden="true" (you already do this in many places—finish the set).

⚡ Performance / UX

  1. Add explicit width/height to images to reduce CLS

Particularly for logos and hero imagery.

<img src="/img/LyEqftKWaW-320.svg" alt="EPA Logo" width="160" height="160" loading="lazy">
  1. Sprite duplication = extra bytes + potential ID collisions

There are two big inline <svg><symbol>…</symbol></svg> blocks with overlapping IDs. Consolidate into a single sprite (or load once as an external file) to prevent duplicate ID definitions and trim HTML weight.

  1. Preconnect for search autocomplete

You already use USA Search; add preconnect to speed first request.

<link rel="preconnect" href="https://search.usa.gov" crossorigin>
  1. Favicon type mismatch

You point to cg-favicon.ico with type="image/png". Use the correct type.

<link rel="icon" href="/img/favicon/cg-favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon">

🔐 Analytics / Privacy

  1. (If applicable) Anonymize IP in analytics

If you later add GA or similar, set IP anonymization and preconnect. (You don’t load GA here—this is just a reminder.)

✅ Minor content/semantics

  1. Improve search form label text

Current label is “Search small”. Make it user-meaningful and programmatically associated.

<label class="usa-sr-only" for="extended-search-field-small">Search cloud.gov</label>
  1. Button vs link for CTAs

Where navigation is the only action (e.g., “Try cloud.gov for free”), links with button styling are ideal—looks like you already do this correctly (<a class="usa-button …">).

Quick checklist you can run through

  • Unique IDs (resolved the duplicate main-content)
  • Remove empty <script> tag
  • Banner image alts fixed (no “undefined”)
  • All target="_blank" links have rel="noopener noreferrer"
  • One SVG sprite reference (no duplicates)
  • Width/height on imgs to prevent CLS
  • Search label says “Search cloud.gov”
  • Close button has aria-label

If you want, I can provide a minimal patch (diff) touching only these lines to keep churn low.