Methodology 3.0.0-preview

A readiness score with visible rules and honest limits.

The audit examines the initial server response for one public URL, plus that host's robots.txt and sitemap. It is designed to identify technical work—not manufacture an “AI visibility” claim from evidence the scan cannot observe.

Run the audit

Scoring model

Pass and fail drive the score. Evidence quality stays visible.

Only applicable pass/fail checks earn or lose weighted points. Weighted not-tested checks reduce coverage instead of being silently counted as failures; zero-point advisories remain outside the math. Confidence combines evidence coverage and evidence quality. A numeric score is withheld below 70% coverage or 60% confidence.

Discovery & access · 40%

Whether search and answer-engine crawlers can fetch, index, and discover the audited page.

Answerability · 35%

Whether the page presents a clear topic, useful hierarchy, and extractable answers in its initial HTML.

Entity & service signals · 25%

Whether machine-readable markup identifies the organization, page subject, and commercial offering.

The checks

One policy powers the audit and this page.

8 weighted pointsSuccessful page response

The final audited URL returns a successful HTTP response.

10 weighted pointsIndexing is permitted

HTML and HTTP robots directives do not contain noindex.

6 weighted pointsCanonical is valid

The page declares one valid, same-host canonical URL.

12 weighted pointsSearch crawlers are allowed

robots.txt permits Googlebot, Bingbot, OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot, and PerplexityBot.

4 weighted pointsSitemap is discoverable

A sitemap is declared in robots.txt or found at /sitemap.xml.

AdvisoryCrawler policy is explicit

Advisory: publish and maintain intentional robots.txt controls even though a missing file does not block crawlers.

AdvisoryNon-search crawler controls

Advisory: training, model-control, and user-initiated agents are reported separately and never change the score.

6 weighted pointsDescriptive page title

The initial HTML contains a concise, descriptive title.

5 weighted pointsUseful meta description

The initial HTML contains a substantive meta description.

5 weighted pointsOne clear primary heading

The page contains one non-empty H1.

9 weighted pointsExtractable answer blocks

Question-led headings, definition lists, or FAQ schema pair questions with substantive answers.

5 weighted pointsCrawlable internal paths

The initial HTML exposes at least one normal internal link.

5 weighted pointsSubstantive content hierarchy

The page pairs useful body copy with multiple descriptive subheadings.

10 weighted pointsValid JSON-LD is present

At least one JSON-LD block parses and declares a schema.org type.

9 weighted pointsPrimary entity is identified

JSON-LD identifies an organization, person, article, product, or service entity.

6 weighted pointsEntity identifiers are stable

JSON-LD uses @id or sameAs to connect the entity to a stable identity.

Crawler taxonomy

Search crawlers and data-use controls are not the same thing.

Googlebot, Bingbot, OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot, and PerplexityBot affect the discovery-access check. Training, model-control, and user-initiated agents are shown for policy awareness only. Blocking one of those advisory agents is not scored as a search failure.

Scored search crawlerGooglebot

Google Search crawling, including content eligible for Google's AI search features.

Scored search crawlerBingbot

Bing search discovery and indexing.

Scored search crawlerOAI-SearchBot

Surfaces websites in ChatGPT search results.

Scored search crawlerClaude-SearchBot

Search crawling used to improve relevance for Claude users.

Scored search crawlerPerplexityBot

Search indexing used to answer Perplexity queries.

Advisory · trainingGPTBot

OpenAI model-training control; it is not the ChatGPT search crawler.

Advisory · trainingClaudeBot

Anthropic model-training control; it is separate from Claude-SearchBot.

Advisory · model controlGoogle-Extended

A standalone control token for Gemini training and grounding; it does not control Google Search inclusion.

Advisory · user initiatedChatGPT-User

A fetch initiated by a ChatGPT user or agent action.

Advisory · user initiatedClaude-User

A fetch initiated by a Claude user request.

A missing robots.txt file means no crawler restriction was discovered; it does not mean “all bots blocked.” HTTP 429, authentication responses, server errors, and fetch failures produce not-tested evidence instead of a guessed result.

Limitations

What this audit does not claim

  • This is a one-page, technical-readiness scan of the initial HTML response; it does not render client-side JavaScript.
  • It does not measure rankings, answer-engine citations, referral traffic, conversions, or actual AI visibility.
  • Crawler access is a point-in-time robots.txt interpretation, not proof that a provider has crawled or indexed the page.
  • Structured data presence is checked syntactically and semantically at a high level; provider-specific eligibility is not guaranteed.

Data handling

The public scan does not require contact details.

The server processes the submitted public URL to produce the score and top findings. Contact details are requested only when you choose to unlock the detailed roadmap; that submission and audit summary are sent to eComStrategics through Formspree so Dan can follow up. Standard hosting and service logs may still apply. See the privacy notice.

Primary documentation

Sources used for crawler interpretation