The 53-point check every site passes before it publishes

Broken links (3)

Every link to another page of the site, and every file of the site a page points to, leads somewhere real.

• All links resolve (Must pass). Every link from one page of your site to another leads to a page that exists.
• In-page links land (Must pass). Every link that jumps to a spot on the same page has a spot to land on.
• All assets load (Must pass). Every image, style and script file of the site that a page points to exists.

Page structure (6)

Headings are in order and the facts search engines read match the page.

• Valid JSON-LD (Must pass). Machine-readable facts about your business that search and AI systems consume directly.
• Exactly one page heading (H1) (Must pass). Assistive tech and search engines see one unambiguous page topic.
• Headings in order (Must pass). Headings step down one level at a time, so a screen reader can follow the outline.
• No repeated element names (Must pass). No two parts of one page share the same internal name.
• Questions and answers on the home page (Advice). The home page has a questions-and-answers section.
• FAQ schema matches visible text (Must pass). The questions in the code search engines read are the same questions shown on the page.

Search basics and accessibility (17)

Each page has the title, description and settings a search engine and a phone need, and a few points that help people read its text and images.

• Page title present (Must pass). The home page has a title, the line a search result leads with.
• Title tag (≤58 chars) (Advice). Your headline in search results, kept to 58 characters and not cut mid-phrase.
• Meta description present (Must pass). The sentence under your title in search results.
• Meta description length (110–160) (Advice). The description is 110 to 160 characters.
• Every page has the basics (Must pass). Every page has its own title, description and main heading.
• No two pages share a title (Must pass in some cases). No two pages share the same title, description or main heading. It must pass on any site with more than one page.
• Canonical tag (Must pass). Tells search engines which address is the official one for each page.
• Mobile viewport (Must pass). Every page carries the setting that lets a phone show it at the right size.
• Page language declared (Must pass). Every page states the language it is written in, which screen readers use.
• Header on every page (Must pass). Every page has a header.
• Footer on every page (Must pass). Every page has a footer.
• Styles attached (Must pass). Every page is linked to a style sheet.
• Site icon (Advice). Every page points to a site icon, the site has a favicon.ico file, and the home page points to a square picture icon (PNG, ICO or another picture format search engines list, at least 8 by 8 pixels) that search engines are allowed to read. An SVG icon on its own does not count.
• Logo in the business details (Advice). The business details search engines read on the home page name a logo: a PNG or JPG file on the site, at least 112 by 112 pixels, with the site's address beside it.
• Share picture (Advice). Every page names a share picture that is a PNG or JPG file on the site, at least 200 by 200 pixels.
• Images have alt text + dimensions (Must pass). Every image has an alt attribute, a width and a height.
• Main text colors meet the 4.5:1 contrast ratio (Must pass). Six main text and background color pairs in the site's style sheet are measured against the 4.5 to 1 ratio that WCAG AA sets for normal text. Colors set anywhere else are not measured.

Site map (3)

The site map lists every page, and only pages that exist.

• Site map in one flat list (Must pass). The site has a site map, written as one flat list.
• Site map points at real pages (Must pass). Every address in the site map leads to a page that exists.
• No page left off the site map (Must pass). Every page of the site is listed in the site map.

Clean addresses and security settings (2)

Page addresses are tidy and the site ships with its security settings.

• Clean URLs (no .html) (Must pass). No page address, link or site map entry ends in .html.
• Strict security headers (Must pass). HSTS, clickjacking and MIME-sniffing protections ship with every page.

Phone layout and outside files (2)

The layout rules are checked for grids that would not fit a phone, and files loaded from outside the site are flagged.

• Responsive grids only (Must pass in some cases). The layout rules are checked for grids set to a fixed number of columns, which can overflow a phone. Such a grid must be fixed before publishing; a fixed width of 1,000 pixels or more is advice.
• Few outside files (Advice). Pages load files only from the site itself and two approved video players. The fonts every site loads from Google are flagged here today.

Honest, original content (11)

Pages are checked for real content, search tricks, and a few kinds of claims you did not confirm.

• Not thin content (Must pass). The home page has substantial, real content, not a placeholder.
• No keyword stuffing (Must pass). Written for people; repeating keywords is a policy violation, not a strategy.
• No hidden text / cloaking (Must pass). No page hides a block of text from visitors with inline styling.
• No meta keywords tag (Must pass). An obsolete tag that only signals spam — we make sure it can never appear.
• No leftover text (Advice). No page shows leftover placeholder text or prints your private profile notes word for word.
• Sourced figures match the source (Must pass). On a page that cites the Census Bureau's County Business Patterns or American Community Survey, the counts or the population figure match a figure in the platform's copy of that data.
• Self-claims are customer-attested (Advice). Statements like 'trusted since 2015' on your pages match what you actually confirmed about your business.
• Trust-signal claims are customer-attested (Advice). Star ratings, review counts, and 'as seen on' mentions on your pages match what you actually confirmed about your business.
• No unsubstantiated outcome guarantees (Advice). Your pages never promise a guaranteed result — an unconditional outcome promise carries real regulatory risk.
• Navigation stays clean (Must pass). Menu labels stay short and readable, and the menu never grows with your page count.
• No copied pages with the town swapped (Advice). The platform's page generator refuses pages that are a template with the town swapped, and edits that make pages too alike are refused too. This point only reports: at other times, and on a single page, it is reported as not measured.

Ready for AI search (7)

Pages carry the short answer, the questions and the dates that AI search tools read.

• Answer-first opening on the home page (Must pass). The home page has the short answer block that says what this is and who it is for.
• Answer-first opening on every page (Advice). Every content page opens with a short, clear answer — not just your homepage — which helps readers and every AI assistant understand the page.
• Short answer is the right length (Advice). Each short answer at the top of a page is 40 to 60 words.
• Questions labeled for search (Advice). The home page has a questions-and-answers section and the code that labels those questions for search engines.
• Business named for search engines (Advice). The home page carries the machine-readable block that names your business.
• Freshness dates (Advice). The home page's structured data carries a published or updated date, and the page shows an 'Updated' line.
• llms.txt for AI assistants (Advice). The site carries an llms.txt file, a plain summary of your business written for AI assistants. Google Search does not use it; other assistants may.

Privacy and legal pages (2)

The cookie notice is there where it is required, and you can see whether your own legal pages are uploaded.

• Cookie notice where required (Must pass in some cases). A cookie consent notice is on the site. A site on an account set to serve international visitors cannot be built without one.
• Legal pages uploaded (privacy, terms, accessibility) (Advice). The platform never writes your legal pages for you. Upload your own privacy policy, terms of service and accessibility statement any time.