Every audit check has a methodology page behind it.

Methodology changelog

Changes

1. 2026-10-08

   Score model v3, trust, writing, data and Bing checks

   • New score model (v3). Trust, writing, usefulness and citation-readiness findings are our methodology, not engine rules, so together they can lower a pillar only up to a fixed limit. Measured defects (a blocked crawler, a broken citation, missing markup) have no limit.
   • A new finding kind, advisory, covers things nobody can see from outside your site, such as an IndexNow key or Bing verification by DNS. Advisory items explain what to check yourself; they never score, never count toward coverage and never enter your action plan.
   • The overall readiness score now appears only when every pillar that applies to your industry has enough measured checks, and it always averages the same pillars. A check that newly starts measuring can no longer raise the overall on its own.
   • Scores from the previous model (v2) and this one are not compared. Re-audits and weekly digests show "the scoring model changed" instead of a score change.
   • Pages that answer with a bot check, an error or something other than a web page are no longer graded as your content. Content checks on those pages show as not measured, with what the server sent.

   23 new checks

   • About, Contact and Privacy pages
   • People behind the business
   • Author credentials
   • Primary source citations
   • Reviews and testimonials
   • Consistent business name
   • Declared profiles exist
   • Skimmability: can a reader find the point fast?
   • Filler and unsupported claims
   • In-page repetition and template text
   • Buyer question coverage
   • Statistics with a date and a source: our sourcing methodology
   • Past years presented as current
   • Date signals that agree
   • Outbound links in your content that no longer load
   • Bing crawl access: can Bing read your site?
   • Snippet and archive controls that limit AI answers
   • Bing Webmaster Tools verification
   • IndexNow: notify Bing when pages change
   • A plain sentence saying what the business is
   • Question headings answered at once
   • Structured data that matches the visible page
   • Page loads as content: did our crawler get your real page?

2. 2026-10-08

   Local checks apply to businesses with a location or service area

   • Local SEO is for businesses that serve customers at a location or in a service area. A general audit now runs the local checks only when the pages we read show one: a street address or a city and state, a Maps link, LocalBusiness or opening-hours schema, locations or service-area pages, or a city or state in the title or headings.
   • When none appear, an online-only site sees each local check marked not applicable with that reason. The local pillar then has no score, it is left out of coverage and of the overall readiness score, and it never enters the action plan. Accountants, lawyers, medical practices and real estate audits always run the local checks.
   • The LocalBusiness schema check now accepts every LocalBusiness subtype in the schema.org vocabulary, not a short list, so a page that declares MedicalClinic or HVACBusiness is no longer told it has no LocalBusiness schema.