What Can Scan Actually Tell Me About My Website?

Scan runs 150+ automated checks on your website covering technical SEO, performance (Core Web Vitals), accessibility (WCAG 2.1), security, and code quality. You get a 15 minuteute diagnostic showing exactly what’s broken and how to fix it.

Reading time: 16 minutes

What you’ll learn:

• The 7 categories Scan audits: technical SEO (40+ checks), Core Web Vitals performance, accessibility (150+ WCAG checks), security headers, mobile optimization, content quality, and 9-browser compatibility
• How Scan catches issues Lighthouse misses: site-wide broken link detection, orphaned pages, deep accessibility audits, and real iOS/Android device testing
• Specific examples of high-impact findings: 890 missing alt text images, LCP 4.8s (target 2.5s), 67 WCAG violations creating lawsuit exposure
• The prioritized fix list with effort estimates (2-4 hours vs 15-20 hours) so you know what to tackle first
• Why Scan tests Instagram/Facebook in-app browsers separately (40% of social traffic has different rendering behavior)

Core output: Overall score (0-100), prioritized fix list with effort estimates, and page-level recommendations for quick wins.

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What Scan Tests

1. Technical SEO (40+ checks)

What it measures: Issues that prevent Google from indexing or ranking your site.

Checks include:

Indexability:

• Robots.txt blocking critical pages
• Noindex tags on pages that should rank
• Sitemap.xml missing or errors
• Pages not in sitemap
• Canonical URL issues (pointing to wrong pages)

On-Page SEO:

• Missing or duplicate title tags
• Missing or duplicate meta descriptions
• Multiple H1 tags per page (should be 1)
• H1 tags missing entirely
• Heading structure broken (H1 → H3, skipping H2)
• Image alt text missing (SEO and accessibility issue)

Internal Links:

• Broken internal links (404 errors)
• Redirect chains (A → B → C, should be A → C)
• Orphaned pages (no internal links pointing to them)
• Deep link depth (pages 5+ clicks from homepage)

Schema Markup:

• Missing structured data (Organization, Product, LocalBusiness)
• Invalid schema syntax
• Incomplete schema (missing required fields)
• Opportunities (FAQ, HowTo, BreadcrumbList not implemented)

Example finding:

“Technical SEO Issues (23 found):

• HIGH: 12 pages have duplicate title tags (thin content signals)
• HIGH: Sitemap missing 47 blog posts (not indexed by Google)
• MEDIUM: 8 broken internal links (link equity lost)
• LOW: Missing LocalBusiness schema (no map pack eligibility)”

Why it matters: Technical issues block Google from finding, understanding, or ranking your content. Fix these first for maximum SEO impact.

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2. Core Web Vitals and Performance (30+ checks)

What it measures: Page speed and user experience metrics Google uses for rankings.

Core Web Vitals (Google’s official metrics):

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP):

• Target: Under 2.5 seconds
• Measures: Time until main content visible
• Common issues: Unoptimized images, slow server response, render-blocking resources

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS):

• Target: Under 0.1
• Measures: Visual stability (elements jumping around while loading)
• Common issues: Images without dimensions, ads/embeds shifting content, web fonts

Interaction to Next Paint (INP):

• Target: Under 200ms
• Measures: Page responsiveness to user interactions
• Common issues: Heavy JavaScript, long tasks blocking main thread

Performance checks:

• Page weight (MB per page)
• Number of HTTP requests
• Image optimization (format, compression, lazy loading)
• JavaScript bundle size
• CSS optimization
• Render-blocking resources
• Browser caching configured
• CDN usage

Example finding:

“Core Web Vitals: FAIL

• LCP: 4.8 seconds (target: 2.5s) - Homepage hero image 3.2MB uncompressed
• CLS: 0.35 (target: 0.1) - Product images missing width/height attributes
• INP: 450ms (target: 200ms) - Heavy analytics scripts blocking interactions

Quick win: Compress hero image (4.8s → 1.9s LCP improvement)”

Why it matters: Core Web Vitals are Google ranking factors. Poor performance = lower rankings + higher bounce rates.

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3. Accessibility (150+ checks via pa11y)

What it measures: WCAG 2.1 AA compliance (web accessibility standard).

Accessibility checks:

Images and Media:

• Alt text missing on images
• Alt text too generic (“image”, “photo”)
• Decorative images not marked as decorative
• Video captions missing

Color and Contrast:

• Text contrast ratio under 4.5:1 (hard to read)
• Color-only information (not accessible to colorblind users)

Keyboard Navigation:

• Skip-to-content links missing (screen reader users)
• Focus indicators invisible (can’t see which element is selected)
• Keyboard traps (can’t tab out of modal)
• Tab order illogical

Forms:

• Form labels missing (inputs not labeled)
• Error messages not associated with fields
• Required fields not indicated
• ARIA attributes incorrect

Semantic HTML:

• Improper heading hierarchy
• Links with ambiguous text (“click here”, “read more”)
• Buttons vs links misused
• Landmarks missing (nav, main, footer)

Example finding:

“Accessibility: 67 violations (WCAG 2.1 AA)

• HIGH: 890 images missing alt text (screen reader issue)
• HIGH: Color contrast fails on 12 elements (readability issue)
• MEDIUM: Skip-to-content link missing (keyboard navigation)
• LOW: 45 links with ambiguous text (‘click here’, ‘learn more’)

Legal risk: ADA compliance issues. Potential lawsuit exposure.”

Why it matters: Accessibility violations create legal risk (ADA lawsuits) and exclude 15% of users (people with disabilities).

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4. Security and Trust Signals (15+ checks)

What it measures: Basic security hygiene affecting SEO and user trust.

Security checks:

HTTPS:

• SSL certificate valid
• SSL certificate expiration date
• Mixed content (HTTP resources on HTTPS pages)
• HTTPS redirect configured (HTTP → HTTPS)

Security Headers:

• Content-Security-Policy (CSP) configured
• X-Frame-Options set (prevents clickjacking)
• X-Content-Type-Options set
• Strict-Transport-Security (HSTS) enabled
• Referrer-Policy configured

Vulnerabilities:

• Known JavaScript library vulnerabilities
• Outdated CMS version
• Exposed admin paths (/wp-admin, /admin visible)
• Directory listing enabled

Example finding:

“Security Issues (8 found):

• HIGH: SSL certificate expires in 14 days (forgot auto-renew)
• HIGH: Mixed content warnings on 23 pages (HTTPS broken)
• MEDIUM: Content-Security-Policy missing (XSS vulnerability)
• LOW: X-Frame-Options not set (clickjacking risk)

Trust impact: Browser warnings visible to users. Conversions affected.”

Why it matters: Security issues trigger browser warnings (red flags to users) and hurt trust signals for Google.

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5. Mobile Optimization (20+ checks)

What it measures: Mobile user experience (70% of web traffic is mobile).

Mobile checks:

Viewport Configuration:

• Viewport meta tag present
• Viewport width set correctly
• Text readable without zooming
• Touch targets properly sized (44x44px minimum)

Responsive Design:

• Content fits screen width (no horizontal scroll)
• Font sizes appropriate for mobile
• Images scale properly
• Navigation usable on mobile

Mobile Performance:

• Mobile page speed score
• Mobile Core Web Vitals
• Mobile-specific loading issues

Mobile Usability:

• Tap targets not too close together
• Forms easy to fill on mobile
• Pop-ups not covering content
• Mobile viewport configured

Example finding:

“Mobile Optimization: FAIL

• Viewport meta tag missing (users must pinch-zoom)
• 18 tap targets under 44px (hard to click on mobile)
• Horizontal scroll on 12 pages (content wider than screen)
• Mobile LCP: 6.2 seconds (desktop: 3.1s) - Mobile performance 2x worse

Impact: 70% of traffic is mobile. Poor mobile experience = high bounce rate.”

Why it matters: Google uses mobile-first indexing. If mobile site is broken, your rankings suffer even for desktop searches.

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6. Content Quality Signals (10+ checks)

What it measures: Content issues affecting SEO and user experience.

Content checks:

Duplicate Content:

• Identical title tags across pages
• Identical meta descriptions across pages
• Thin content (under 300 words)
• Duplicate body content

Readability:

• Paragraph length (walls of text)
• Sentence length (too complex)
• Heading usage (breaking up content)

Media:

• Images present (not just text)
• Video embeds working
• Image file size (over 500KB flagged)

Example finding:

“Content Quality Issues (15 found):

• 45 pages with duplicate meta descriptions (copy-paste from template)
• 12 pages under 300 words (thin content, won’t rank)
• 890 images over 500KB (slow page load)

SEO impact: Duplicate meta descriptions signal low-quality site to Google.”

Why it matters: Content quality signals affect rankings. Thin content and duplicates hurt authority.

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7. Browser Compatibility (9 browsers tested)

What it measures: How site renders across browsers and devices.

Browsers tested:

1. Chrome (desktop)
2. Firefox (desktop)
3. Safari (macOS)
4. Safari (iOS)
5. Edge (desktop)
6. Chrome (Android)
7. Brave
8. Instagram in-app browser
9. Facebook in-app browser

Compatibility checks:

• Layout rendering correctly
• JavaScript errors per browser
• CSS rendering issues
• Font loading problems

Example finding:

“Browser Compatibility Issues:

• Safari iOS: Viewport bug (content cut off on iPhone)
• Facebook in-app: Pop-up modal broken (can’t close)
• Instagram in-app: Video autoplay blocked

Impact: 40% of traffic from social (FB/IG in-app browsers). Broken experience.”

Why it matters: In-app browsers (Instagram, Facebook) behave differently than Chrome. If broken, you lose social traffic.

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What Scan Does NOT Do

Scan is NOT:

• security audit including penetration testing (consult security professionals for penetration testing)
• Content strategy tool (doesn’t write content, just flags thin/duplicate)
• Backlink analyzer (use Ahrefs/Semrush for link profile)
• Keyword research tool (doesn’t suggest keywords to target)
• AI visibility test (use Signal for how AI platforms describe you)

Scan IS:

• Technical SEO audit (indexation, schema, broken links)
• Performance diagnostic (Core Web Vitals, page speed)
• Accessibility compliance check (WCAG 2.1 AA)
• Security basics audit (HTTPS, headers, mixed content)
• Pre-launch quality gate (catch issues before going live)

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Scan Report Output

What you receive (delivered in 15 minutes):

1. Overall Score (1 page)

• Score: 0-100 (weighted across all categories)
• Pass/Fail per category
• Top 5 critical issues

2. Technical SEO Report (2-3 pages)

• Indexability issues
• On-page SEO gaps
• Schema markup opportunities
• Broken links and redirects

3. Performance Report (2 pages)

• Core Web Vitals scores
• Page weight analysis
• Optimization recommendations
• Before/after estimates

4. Accessibility Report (2-3 pages)

• WCAG 2.1 violations by severity
• Screen reader issues
• Keyboard navigation gaps
• Color contrast failures

5. Security Report (1 page)

• HTTPS configuration
• Security headers missing
• Known vulnerabilities
• Trust signal gaps

6. Prioritized Fix List (2 pages)

• Issues ranked by impact × effort
• Quick wins (high impact, low effort)
• Long-term fixes (high impact, high effort)
• Effort estimates (hours)

Total: 12-15 page PDF + structured JSON (Intelligence Token for automation)

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Scan Tiers

Scan Basic: $25 (up to 30 pages)

• Homepage + top landing pages
• Core Web Vitals
• 150+ accessibility checks
• Technical SEO basics

Scan Pro: $50 (up to 100 pages)

• Full site crawl
• Page-level recommendations
• Browser compatibility testing
• Detailed performance analysis

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Practical Use Cases

Use Scan when you need to:

1. Pre-launch audit: Catch issues before site goes live
2. SEO troubleshooting: Why aren’t we ranking?
3. Performance diagnosis: Why is site slow?
4. Accessibility compliance: Are we ADA compliant?
5. Pre-acquisition audit: Buying website, what’s broken?
6. Quarterly health check: Prevent issues from accumulating
7. Post-migration validation: Did site redesign break anything?

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The Bottom Line

Scan tells you what’s technically broken on your website and how to fix it. You learn:

• Technical SEO issues blocking Google (indexation, schema, broken links)
• Performance problems affecting rankings (Core Web Vitals failures)
• Accessibility violations creating legal risk (WCAG compliance)
• Security gaps hurting trust (HTTPS issues, missing headers)

15 minutes, $25 or $50, 150+ checks. You get prioritized fix list with effort estimates for quick wins.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How is Scan different from Google Lighthouse?

Lighthouse (free, Chrome DevTools):

• Single page testing
• about 50 accessibility checks
• Basic performance metrics
• No site-wide crawling

Scan ($25 or $50):

• Up to 100 pages tested
• 150+ accessibility checks (pa11y, more thorough with 150+ checks)
• Schema optimization (not just validation)
• Real device testing (iOS Safari, Android Chrome)
• Site-wide crawling (finds orphaned pages, broken links)

Lighthouse optimizes performance. Scan audits pre-launch readiness.

See full comparison

Can Scan fix issues automatically?

No. Scan identifies and prioritizes issues. You (or your developer) implement fixes.

Why manual fixes: Every site is different. Automated fixes often break things (change wrong file, conflict with custom code).

Scan provides:

• Specific issue location (file path, line number when possible)
• Fix recommendation (what to change)
• Effort estimate (hours to fix)

You decide which fixes to prioritize based on impact and resources.

How often should I run Scan?

Recommended cadence:

• Pre-launch: Before site goes live (catch issues early)
• Post-launch: 30 days after launch (verify fixes held)
• Quarterly: Every 90 days (prevent issues accumulating)
• Post-migration: After redesign, CMS change, major updates

Cost: $50 × 4/year = $200 (quality assurance investment)

Does Scan test staging sites?

Yes, if staging URL is publicly accessible:

• Submit staging URL to Scan
• Catch issues before production deploy
• Fix before going live

Staging must be:

• Publicly accessible (not behind auth, unless you share credentials)
• Not blocked by robots.txt
• Functional (not half-built)

What if my Scan score is low (under 50)?

Common for sites that haven’t been audited. Low score means:

• Technical debt accumulated (site hasn’t been maintained)
• Accessibility not prioritized (not uncommon, but risky)
• Performance issues ignored (slow site accepted as normal)

Good news: Most fixes are straightforward:

• Broken links: Fix or remove (1-2 hours)
• Missing alt text: Add descriptions (2-4 hours)
• Core Web Vitals: Compress images, lazy load (4-8 hours)

After fixes, re-run Scan to measure improvement (42 → 78 typical).

Can I use Scan to compare my site to competitors?

Yes. Run Scan on competitor sites:

• See their technical SEO gaps (opportunities for you)
• Benchmark performance (are they faster? what are they doing?)
• Identify accessibility compliance (are they WCAG compliant?)

Use case: Competitor ranks higher. Run Scan on their site. Discover they have schema markup you don’t. Add schema. Close ranking gap.

Does Scan work for e-commerce sites?

Yes. Scan has e-commerce-specific checks:

• Product schema (price, availability, reviews)
• Checkout flow accessibility
• Payment page security (HTTPS, trust signals)
• Image optimization (product photos often huge)

E-commerce priorities:

1. Product schema (rich snippets in Google Shopping)
2. Checkout accessibility (ADA compliance, don’t lose sales)
3. Mobile performance (70% of e-commerce is mobile)

Does Scan check for SEO spam or black-hat tactics?

Partially. Scan flags common spam signals:

• Hidden text (white text on white background)
• Keyword stuffing (unnatural keyword density)
• Cloaking (different content for users vs bots)

But Scan doesn’t:

• Analyze backlink quality (use Ahrefs for spam links)
• Detect paid link schemes
• Identify negative SEO attacks

For spam audit using multiple tools: Use Scan + Ahrefs + manual review.

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Ready to audit your website for technical issues? Run a Scan report ($25 or $50) and discover broken links, Core Web Vitals failures, and accessibility violations in 15 minutes.