I Just Got My First Scan Report - Now What?

Quick answer: Look at your Overall Score first (0-100). Below 70 = needs work. Check high-severity issues (red flags in report) - these break user experience. In the next hour: fix the #1 highest-impact issue (usually performance or accessibility). This week: fix all high-severity issues. This month: address medium-severity issues. Don’t try to fix all 62 issues at once - prioritize by severity and impact. Run Scan again after fixes to measure improvement.

Reading time: 9 minutes

What you’ll learn:

• How to decode your scores with action thresholds: Overall Score 0-100 aggregate health (80-100 excellent minor optimizations, 70-79 good solid foundation some improvements, 60-69 needs work notable UX issues, 50-59 poor significant problems fix urgently, below 50 critical major issues breaking UX), category scores Technical SEO/Performance/Accessibility/Security each 0-100 (70+ good, 50-70 needs work, below 50 critical with lawsuit or trust risk for Accessibility/Security), your worst category = your priority (if Performance 42 and everything else 70+ fix Performance first)
• Three-tier severity system with fix timelines: high severity red flags (breaking UX major SEO penalty or legal risk like LCP >4.0s, missing alt text WCAG violation ADA lawsuit risk, broken canonical URLs Google penalizes, mixed content browser warnings, fix in 24-48 hours, typical 5-15 issues/site), medium severity yellow (degraded experience minor SEO impact like LCP 2.5-4.0s slow not critical, missing heading hierarchy accessibility issue, missing schema fields AI visibility impact, suboptimal WebP vs JPG, fix this week, typical 15-30 issues), low severity green (best practice minor optimizations like compress images more, improve color contrast 4.3:1 to 4.5:1 already passes, fix this month or later, typical 20-40 issues)
• Four priority frameworks for #1 issue: Priority 1 security (site not HTTPS = browsers show “Not Secure” + Google penalties, contact hosting for SSL certificate 1-2 hours), Priority 2 critical performance (LCP >4.0s mobile = Google ranks lower + users abandon >3s + conversion drops 7%/second, compress images TinyPNG + enable caching + defer JavaScript 30 min to 4 hours), Priority 3 accessibility violations (missing alt text + form labels + color contrast = ADA lawsuits $10k-50k to settle + WCAG 2.1 AA legal standard, add alt/labels/contrast 1-3 hours), Priority 4 SEO hurting rankings (missing schema = AI + Google can’t understand + lower rankings, fix canonical + meta descriptions + LocalBusiness schema 2-6 hours)
• Actionable next-hour fixes for each issue type: security issue not HTTPS (email hosting “need enable HTTPS with SSL certificate” expect 1-2 hours free Let’s Encrypt then Scan again verify Security score jumps 80+), performance slow LCP (TinyPNG.com compress hero image 60-80% smaller replace original expect LCP improves 0.5-2.0s if image bottleneck 15-30 min), accessibility missing alt (add descriptive alt to top 5 images like “Phoenix Cool Air HVAC technician repairing air conditioner” not “image1.jpg” 15-30 min WordPress or code), SEO missing schema (WordPress install Schema Pro/Rank Math fill business info 30-60 min expect +10-20% AI Presence Rate 4-8 weeks)
• What NOT to do with five common mistakes: don’t fix all 62 issues at once (overwhelming burn out quit, reality fix 5-15 high-severity first medium/low wait, focus 3-5 high-impact this week), don’t panic if Performance 42 (fixable, most issues are image optimization easy + caching one-click, compress images + enable caching jumps 60-70+), don’t ignore accessibility “no disabled users” (ADA lawsuits don’t require proof harm lawyers target non-compliant $10k-20k settlements, 15-20% population has disability + alt text helps AI + contrast helps mobile sunlight), don’t assume “developer will handle” (50% fixes non-technical like alt text + schema plugin + image compression, separate “developer needed” from “I can do” do your part then hand off), don’t run Scan again tomorrow (haven’t fixed anything yet tomorrow shows same issues, fix high-severity this week THEN Scan 1-2 weeks later verify improvements)

You just opened the PDF and see scores + a long list of issues. Here’s how to prioritize.

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Step 1: Decode Your Scores (5 Minutes)

Your Overall Score

What it is: Aggregate health score across performance, accessibility, SEO, security (0-100 scale)

Your number: _____ (find it on page 1)

What it means:

• 80-100: Excellent - Site is in great shape, minor optimizations only
• 70-79: Good - Solid foundation, some improvements needed
• 60-69: Needs Work - Notable issues affecting user experience
• 50-59: Poor - Significant problems, fix urgently
• Below 50: Critical - Major issues breaking user experience

Don’t panic if your score is 55. This is your starting point. Most sites have 10-20 issues to fix. You’ll improve this.

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Your Category Scores

Find these on page 2 (each 0-100 scale):

Technical SEO: _____

• Meta tags, schema markup, canonical URLs, robots.txt
• 70+: Good | 50-70: Needs work | Below 50: Critical

Performance: _____

• Core Web Vitals (LCP, CLS, INP), page load speed, image optimization
• 70+: Good | 50-70: Needs work | Below 50: Critical

Accessibility: _____

• WCAG 2.1 AA compliance, screen reader support, keyboard navigation
• 70+: Good | 50-70: Needs work | Below 50: Critical (lawsuit risk)

Security: _____

• HTTPS, security headers, mixed content, SSL certificate
• 70+: Good | 50-70: Needs work | Below 50: Critical (user trust risk)

Your worst category = your priority. If Performance is 42 and everything else is 70+, fix Performance first.

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Step 2: Understand Issue Severity (5 Minutes)

Your Scan report lists issues tagged with severity:

High Severity

What it means: Breaking user experience, major SEO penalty, or legal risk

Examples:

• LCP > 4.0s (page loads extremely slowly)
• Missing alt text on critical images (WCAG violation, ADA lawsuit risk)
• Broken canonical URLs (Google penalizes duplicate content)
• Mixed content (HTTPS site loading HTTP resources - browser warnings)

Priority: Fix in next 24-48 hours

Typical count: 5-15 high-severity issues per site

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Medium Severity

What it means: Degraded experience, minor SEO impact, or usability issues

Examples:

• LCP 2.5-4.0s (slow but not critical)
• Missing heading hierarchy (accessibility issue but not lawsuit-critical)
• Missing schema markup fields (AI visibility impact but not breaking)
• Suboptimal image formats (WebP would be better than JPG)

Priority: Fix this week

Typical count: 15-30 medium-severity issues per site

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Low Severity

What it means: Best practice recommendations, minor optimizations

Examples:

• Could compress images slightly more
• Could add more descriptive meta descriptions
• Could improve color contrast from 4.3:1 to 4.5:1 (already passes, but could be better)

Priority: Fix this month (or later)

Typical count: 20-40 low-severity issues per site

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Step 3: Identify Your #1 Priority Issue (10 Minutes)

Scan your report for the single highest-impact issue. Look for:

Priority 1: Security Issues (Fix Immediately)

Red flags:

• “Site not using HTTPS” (your URL starts with http:// not https://)
• “Mixed content detected” (HTTPS site loading HTTP resources)
• “SSL certificate expired”

Why this is #1: Browsers show “Not Secure” warnings. Users won’t trust your site. Google penalizes non-HTTPS sites.

How to fix: Contact hosting provider to enable HTTPS + SSL certificate (usually free via Let’s Encrypt)

Time: 1-2 hours (with hosting support)

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Priority 2: Critical Performance Issues

Red flags:

• “LCP > 4.0s on mobile” (page takes 4+ seconds to show main content)
• “Total page size > 5MB” (massive images or unoptimized assets)
• “Blocking scripts delay render”

Why this is priority: Google ranks slow sites lower. Users abandon pages loading >3 seconds. Conversion rates drop 7% per second of delay.

How to fix (quick wins):

• Compress images (use TinyPNG or ImageOptim)
• Enable caching (hosting provider usually has one-click option)
• Defer non-critical JavaScript (talk to developer)

Time: 2-4 hours (with developer) or 30 min (image compression only)

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Priority 3: Accessibility Violations (Lawsuit Risk)

Red flags:

• “Images missing alt text” (screen readers can’t describe images)
• “Form inputs missing labels” (screen readers can’t identify form fields)
• “Color contrast below 4.5:1” (text unreadable for low-vision users)

Why this is priority: ADA lawsuits cost $10k-50k to settle. WCAG 2.1 AA compliance is legal standard.

How to fix (quick wins):

• Add alt text to images (describe what the image shows)
• Add <label> elements to form inputs
• Fix color contrast (use darker text or lighter background)

Time: 1-3 hours (depending on issue count)

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Priority 4: SEO Issues Hurting Rankings

Red flags:

• “Missing or incomplete schema markup” (AI platforms + Google can’t understand your business)
• “Duplicate canonical URLs” (Google confused about which page to rank)
• “Missing meta descriptions” (Google shows ugly snippets in search results)

Why this is priority: Direct impact on Google rankings + AI Presence Rate

How to fix (quick wins):

• Add LocalBusiness schema (see What is Schema Markup)
• Fix canonical tags (developer task, 1-2 hours)
• Write meta descriptions (15-30 min per page)

Time: 2-6 hours (depending on page count)

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Step 4: What to Do in the Next Hour

Pick ONE action based on your #1 priority:

If Your #1 Issue is Security (Not HTTPS):

Immediate action: Contact hosting provider

Email template:

“Hi, our site is currently http:// and we need to enable HTTPS with an SSL certificate. Can you help us set this up? We’re using [Bluehost/SiteGround/WP Engine/etc.].”

Expected response: Most hosts enable HTTPS free via Let’s Encrypt, setup takes 1-2 hours

After HTTPS is enabled: Run Scan again to verify (Security score should jump to 80+)

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If Your #1 Issue is Performance (Slow LCP):

Immediate action: Compress images on your homepage

1. Go to TinyPNG.com (free tool)
2. Upload hero image from homepage (usually the biggest file)
3. Download compressed version (typically 60-80% smaller)
4. Replace original with compressed version on your site

Expected impact: LCP improves 0.5-2.0 seconds (if image was the bottleneck)

Time: 15-30 minutes

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If Your #1 Issue is Accessibility (Missing Alt Text):

Immediate action: Add alt text to top 5 images

1. Identify most important images (homepage hero, product images, team photos)
2. For each image, add descriptive alt text:
   • Bad: alt="image1.jpg"
   • Good: alt="Phoenix Cool Air HVAC technician repairing air conditioner"
3. Save changes

Time: 15-30 minutes

If using WordPress: Edit page → click image → add alt text in sidebar If using code: Add alt="description" to <img> tag

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If Your #1 Issue is SEO (Missing Schema):

Immediate action: Check if schema plugin is available

For WordPress:

1. Go to Plugins → Add New
2. Search “Schema Pro” or “Rank Math”
3. Install + activate
4. Fill out business information (name, address, phone, services)

Time: 30-60 minutes

Expected impact: +10-20% AI Presence Rate in 4-8 weeks (if schema was missing)

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Step 5: What to Do This Week

Fix All High-Severity Issues (Priority)

Process:

1. Open your Scan report PDF
2. Find section labeled “High Severity Issues” (usually red flags)
3. Make a checklist (copy/paste issue descriptions)
4. Fix issues one by one, starting with security/performance

Typical high-severity fixes:

• Enable HTTPS (1-2 hours with hosting support)
• Compress top 10 images (1 hour)
• Add alt text to images (2-3 hours for 30 images)
• Fix broken canonical URLs (1-2 hours with developer)
• Add missing schema markup (2-4 hours)

Total time: 8-12 hours (spread across week)

Expected impact: Overall Score improves 15-25 points (e.g., 55 → 75)

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Create Fix Tracking Spreadsheet (Optional)

Columns:

• Issue (from Scan report)
• Severity (High/Medium/Low)
• Category (Performance/Accessibility/SEO/Security)
• Status (Not Started / In Progress / Fixed)
• Notes (how you fixed it, who helped)

Why: Keeps you organized, prevents forgetting issues, helpful for team collaboration

Time: 30 minutes to set up

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Step 6: What NOT to Do (Common Mistakes)

Don’t Try to Fix All 62 Issues at Once

Why this is a mistake: You’ll get overwhelmed, burn out, and quit before making meaningful progress.

Reality: Fix high-severity issues first (5-15 issues). Medium-severity issues can wait until next week. Low-severity issues can wait until next month.

What to do instead: Focus on 3-5 high-impact fixes this week. Ignore low-severity issues for now.

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Don’t Panic If Your Performance Score is 42

Why this is a mistake: 42 is fixable. Most performance issues are image optimization (easy fix) or caching (one-click fix).

Reality: Performance scores below 50 are common for sites with large images, no caching, or old hosting. You’ll improve this quickly.

What to do instead: Start with image compression (biggest ROI, easiest fix). Then enable caching. Performance score will jump to 60-70+ from these two alone.

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Don’t Ignore Accessibility Issues Because “We Don’t Have Disabled Users”

Why this is a mistake: ADA lawsuits don’t require proof of harm. Lawyers target non-compliant sites, send demand letters for $10k-20k settlements.

Reality: 15-20% of population has some form of disability. Plus, accessibility fixes help everyone (alt text helps AI understand images, good contrast helps mobile users in sunlight).

What to do instead: Fix high-severity accessibility issues (missing alt text, form labels, color contrast) to reduce lawsuit risk.

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Don’t Assume “My Developer Will Handle This”

Why this is a mistake: Many fixes don’t require a developer (image compression, alt text, schema plugin). Waiting for developer = delays.

Reality: 50% of Scan issues are non-technical (content fixes, plugin configuration). You can fix these yourself.

What to do instead: Separate “developer needed” (broken canonical URLs, caching config) from “I can do this” (alt text, meta descriptions, image compression). Do your part, then hand off to developer.

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Don’t Run Scan Again Tomorrow

Why this is a mistake: You haven’t fixed anything yet. Tomorrow’s Scan will show same issues.

Reality: Fix high-severity issues first, THEN run Scan again to verify improvements.

What to do instead: Fix issues this week, run Scan again in 1-2 weeks to measure progress.

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Step 7: When to Run Scan Again

First Follow-Up (1-2 Weeks)

Why: Verify your fixes worked

What to measure: Did Overall Score improve? Did category scores (Performance, Accessibility, etc.) increase? Did high-severity issue count drop to 0?

If you improved: Great! Move on to medium-severity issues.

If you didn’t improve: Double-check fixes were actually published (image compression uploaded, schema plugin activated, HTTPS enabled). Sometimes fixes are made locally but not deployed.

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Before Major Launches

When: Staging site ready for production launch

Why: Catch issues before users see them (broken links, slow pages, missing alt text)

Process: Run Scan on staging URL, fix high-severity issues, run Scan on production after launch to verify

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Quarterly Check-Ups

When: Every 3 months (if site doesn’t change frequently)

Why: Catch regressions (plugin updates sometimes break things, new content may have accessibility issues)

Process: Run Scan, fix any new high-severity issues

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After Major Changes

When: New website launched, major redesign, switched hosting

Why: New sites often have 20-30 issues missed during development

Process: Run Scan immediately, fix high-severity issues before announcing launch

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Step 8: Quick Wins (Do These This Week)

1. Compress Top 10 Images

Impact: Performance score +10-20 points, LCP improves 0.5-2.0s

Time: 1 hour

Tool: TinyPNG.com (free, no signup)

Process: Upload images → download compressed → replace originals on site

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2. Add Alt Text to All Images

Impact: Accessibility score +15-25 points, reduces ADA lawsuit risk

Time: 2-3 hours (for 30 images)

Format: alt="Descriptive text explaining what image shows"

Tip: Be specific (“Phoenix Cool Air HVAC technician repairing AC unit” not “technician working”)

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3. Enable HTTPS (If Not Already)

Impact: Security score jumps to 80+, Google ranking boost

Time: 1-2 hours (with hosting support)

Process: Contact hosting provider, ask for SSL certificate (usually free via Let’s Encrypt)

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4. Add Schema Markup (If Missing)

Impact: Technical SEO score +10-20 points, AI Presence Rate +10-20% (in 4-8 weeks)

Time: 30-60 minutes (with plugin) or 2-4 hours (with developer)

Tool: Schema Pro or Rank Math plugin (WordPress) or ask developer to add LocalBusiness schema

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5. Fix Form Labels (If Missing)

Impact: Accessibility score +5-10 points, reduces lawsuit risk

Time: 30-60 minutes

Process: Add <label> element to each form input (name, email, phone, message)

Example:

<label for="name">Your Name:</label>
<input type="text" id="name" name="name">

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Step 9: Understanding Cross-Browser Issues

What Scan tests: 9 browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari macOS/iOS, Edge, Brave, Chrome Android, Instagram in-app, Facebook in-app)

Why this matters: Your site may look perfect in Chrome but break in Safari iOS (20% of traffic)

How to interpret:

• Issue appears in 1-2 browsers: Browser-specific bug (lower priority)
• Issue appears in 5+ browsers: Universal problem (high priority)

Common cross-browser issues:

• Layout breaks in Safari iOS (CSS Grid or Flexbox compatibility)
• Instagram in-app browser blocks external links (security restriction)
• Performance varies by browser (Firefox may load slower than Chrome for same page)

What to fix first: Issues appearing in 5+ browsers (affects majority of users)

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Common Questions

My Overall Score is 55. Is that bad?

It’s not great, but it’s very fixable. 55 typically means 10-20 high-severity issues. Fix those this week, score jumps to 70-75. Most sites improve 15-25 points after first round of fixes.

Scan found 62 issues. Do I need to fix all of them?

No. Fix high-severity issues first (5-15 typically). Medium-severity can wait. Low-severity are nice-to-haves. Fixing all 62 at once is overwhelming and unnecessary.

How long until fixes show up in Google rankings?

Performance fixes (image compression, caching): 1-4 weeks Schema markup: 4-8 weeks (AI platforms retrain periodically) Accessibility fixes: Immediate user experience improvement, SEO impact 2-4 weeks

My Performance score is 38. Should I switch hosting providers?

Maybe, but try easy fixes first. Compress images, enable caching, defer JavaScript. If Performance score is still below 50 after these, hosting may be the bottleneck (upgrade plan or switch providers).

What if I don’t have a developer?

50% of Scan fixes are non-technical (alt text, meta descriptions, image compression, plugin configuration). Do those yourself. For technical fixes (canonical URLs, caching, schema coding), hire freelance developer on Upwork ($50-200 for most Scan fixes) or ask hosting provider support.

Scan says I have “mixed content” but I see HTTPS in my browser. Why?

Your homepage is HTTPS, but some pages or resources (images, scripts) are loading via HTTP. Your browser upgrades HTTP to HTTPS automatically (modern browsers do this), but Scan tests raw code. Fix: Update all URLs to use HTTPS or relative URLs (/images/logo.png instead of http://example.com/images/logo.png).

Should I run Signal or Solutions next?

If Scan Overall Score < 70: Fix Scan issues first, then run Signal (website quality affects AI Presence Rate - AI won’t recommend sites with broken experiences).

If Scan Overall Score 70+: Run Signal to check AI visibility or Solutions for strategic decisions.

What if something went wrong with my Scan report?

We have automatic refund systems if something goes wrong. If that doesn’t work, reach out to hi@surmado.com - we’ll make it right.

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Automation

Scan reports can be triggered via API and delivered via webhook. Perfect for recurring site health checks.

Next Steps

Today (1 hour):

• Identify your #1 priority issue (Security, Performance, Accessibility, or SEO)
• Make quick fix (compress images, add alt text, or contact hosting for HTTPS)

This week (8-12 hours):

• Fix all high-severity issues
• Create tracking spreadsheet (optional but helpful)
• Verify fixes are published (not just saved locally)

In 1-2 weeks:

• Run Scan again
• Compare: Did Overall Score improve? Category scores increase? High-severity count drop to 0?
• Move on to medium-severity issues

Need help? Contact hi@surmado.com with your Intelligence Token and specific questions. If something went wrong with your report, we’ll make it right.

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Want to track progress? Run Scan again in 1-2 weeks: Order Scan. Use Intelligence Token from this report to compare scores over time via API or manually track improvements.