Website audit glossary
What the terms in your report mean, and why they matter.
"Confirm you're human" check
A page some security tools show before your website, asking visitors to tick a box or solve a puzzle to prove they aren't a robot.
Why it matters: Every extra step loses some visitors, and people using screen readers often can't get past these checks. They should stop robots, not real customers.
About page
A page that explains who runs the website: the business, its people and its story.
Why it matters: Google's quality guidelines (E-E-A-T: experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trust) look for who is behind a site, and visitors are more likely to buy from a business they can put a face to.
AI crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot)
The programs AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity use to read websites. A site's robots.txt file can allow or block them.
Why it matters: If they're blocked, AI assistants can't read your pages, so they're less likely to recommend your business when customers ask.
Alt text
A short written description attached to an image. It's read aloud by screen readers and shown if the image can't load.
Why it matters: It makes your site usable for blind and low-vision visitors, and helps your images appear in Google Image search.
Analytics (visitor counting)
A small tool on your site, such as Google Analytics, Plausible or Jetpack Stats, that counts visitors and shows where they came from and which pages they read.
Why it matters: Without it you can't tell whether your site is growing or whether a change helped. Free options take about 15 minutes to add, and WordPress plugins like Site Kit do it for you.
Broken links
Links on your site that lead to a page that no longer exists, usually showing a '404 Not Found' error.
Why it matters: They frustrate visitors, make the site feel neglected, and waste the attention search engines give your site.
Browser protection settings (security headers)
Small settings your server sends with each page, such as X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options, Referrer-Policy and Permissions-Policy, that tell browsers to turn on extra protections.
Why it matters: They block common tricks like hiding your page inside another site or leaking page addresses to other sites. Most hosts or a security plugin can add them all at once.
Canonical URL
A tag that tells search engines which web address is the 'main' version of a page, when the same content can be reached at more than one address.
Why it matters: It stops Google from splitting your ranking power between duplicate addresses (like with and without 'www').
Click depth
How many clicks it takes to reach a page starting from your homepage, using the links on your pages.
Why it matters: Pages that are many clicks away, or that only one page links to, are harder for visitors to find and look less important to Google.
Contact page
A page or link that lets visitors reach the business, such as a contact form, an email address or a phone number.
Why it matters: Visitors and search engines trust sites more when there's a real way to get in touch. Without one, a site can look abandoned or untrustworthy.
Content Security Policy (CSP)
A security setting that lists which scripts, images, and other files your site is allowed to load. Anything not on the list is blocked.
Why it matters: If a hacker manages to inject malicious code into your site, a CSP can stop it from running — protecting your visitors' data.
Core Web Vitals
Google's measurements of how a page feels to real visitors: how fast the main content appears, how quickly it responds to taps, and whether things jump around while loading.
Why it matters: Slow, jumpy pages lose visitors and can rank lower in Google.
DMARC record
A DNS setting that tells email providers what to do with messages that fail your SPF/DKIM checks — deliver, send to spam, or reject.
Why it matters: It's the main defense against people impersonating your business by email, and big providers like Gmail increasingly expect it.
Favicon
The small icon that represents your website in browser tabs, bookmarks, phone home screens, and next to your site in Google search results.
Why it matters: Without one, browsers show a generic blank icon, so your tabs and search listings look unfinished and are harder to spot. It's a 10-minute fix that makes your brand look professional everywhere your site appears.
H1 heading
The main headline on a page — the biggest, most important heading. Each page should have one that says what the page is about.
Why it matters: Visitors and search engines use it to understand the page at a glance. Missing or multiple H1s make the page's topic less clear.
HSTS
A security setting that tells browsers to always use the secure HTTPS version of your site, never the insecure one.
Why it matters: It closes a gap attackers can use to intercept visitors on public Wi-Fi before they reach the secure version.
HTTPS
The secure version of a web address (the padlock in the browser). It encrypts everything sent between the visitor and your site.
Why it matters: Browsers label sites without it as 'Not secure', which scares visitors away, and Google prefers secure sites in rankings.
Internal links
Links from one page of your site to another, such as a blog post linking to the service it talks about.
Why it matters: They help visitors find related pages and show Google which pages matter and what each one is about. A page that mentions a topic you have a page for should usually link to it.
JavaScript-rendered pages
Pages whose content is built by code running in the visitor's browser, rather than sent ready-made by the server.
Why it matters: Some search engines and tools see a mostly empty page at first, so parts of this report (and of your search visibility) may be limited.
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
How long it takes for the biggest piece of content on a page, usually a large image or headline, to appear on screen.
Why it matters: It's Google's main measure of how fast a page feels. 2.5 seconds or less is good, over 4 seconds is poor, and visitors often leave pages that take that long.
Link text
The clickable words of a link, like "see our pricing" or "click here".
Why it matters: Google and screen readers use these words to understand where a link goes. "Click here" and "read more" say nothing about the page they open.
Meta description
A short summary (about 1–2 sentences) of a page, written in the page's code. Google often shows it under your link in search results.
Why it matters: Without one, Google picks random text from your page. A good description works like a mini-ad that persuades people to click.
Mixed content
When a secure (https://) page loads images, scripts or styles from insecure http:// addresses.
Why it matters: Browsers may block those files or show a "Not secure" warning, which breaks parts of the page and scares visitors away.
Mobile viewport
A one-line setting that tells phones to fit the page to the screen instead of showing a tiny zoomed-out desktop page.
Why it matters: Most visitors are on phones. Without it, your site can look broken on mobile, and Google ranks mobile-unfriendly sites lower.
Noindex
A setting on a page that tells Google not to show it in search results. Shop baskets and login pages use it on purpose.
Why it matters: When it's left on a page you want people to find, such as a blog post or service page, that page can never appear in Google.
Orphan pages
Pages that exist on your site but that no other page links to, so visitors and search engines can't easily reach them.
Why it matters: If nothing links to a page, Google may never find it or may treat it as unimportant.
Page title
The headline of a page that shows in the browser tab and as the blue link in Google results. It lives in the page's code, not on the page itself.
Why it matters: It's usually the first thing searchers read. A clear, unique title for each page gets more clicks and helps Google understand what the page is about.
Privacy Policy
A page that explains what visitor data the site collects (from forms, analytics or cookies) and how it's used.
Why it matters: Visitors and Google's quality guidelines expect one on any site that collects data, and privacy laws in many places require it.
Redirects
When a link sends the visitor to an old address that then forwards them to a new one.
Why it matters: Each extra hop slows the page down a little. Pointing links straight at the final address is faster and cleaner.
robots.txt
A small text file at your site's root (yoursite.com/robots.txt) that tells search engines which parts of the site they may visit.
Why it matters: A wrong rule can hide your whole site from Google. A good one helps search engines focus on the pages that matter.
Server version header
A line your server sends with every page saying which software and version it runs, such as "Apache/2.4.41".
Why it matters: It tells attackers exactly which known weaknesses to try. Hiding it is a one-line setting for most hosts.
SPF record
A setting in your domain's DNS that lists which mail services are allowed to send email from your domain.
Why it matters: Without it, scammers can more easily send fake emails that look like they came from you, and your real emails are more likely to land in spam.
SSL certificate
A digital ID card for your website that proves it's really you and makes HTTPS work. Certificates expire and must be renewed.
Why it matters: If it expires, visitors get a full-screen security warning and most will leave immediately.
Structured data (JSON-LD)
Hidden labels in your page's code that describe things like your business, products, reviews, or FAQs in a format search engines understand.
Why it matters: It can earn richer search results — star ratings, prices, FAQs — that stand out and get more clicks. Broken code means none of that shows.
Text contrast
How much the colour of text stands out from the colour behind it, measured as a ratio such as 4.5 to 1. Normal text needs at least 4.5 to 1; large text needs 3 to 1.
Why it matters: Faint text, like light grey on white or white on a bright photo, is hard or impossible to read for people with weaker eyesight and for anyone on a phone in sunlight.
Thin content
A page with very little text of its own, not counting menus and footers.
Why it matters: Google needs words to understand what a page is about. Pages with almost nothing to read rarely show up in search.
XML sitemap
A file that lists all the important pages on your site, like a table of contents made for search engines.
Why it matters: It helps Google find new and deep pages faster, especially on larger sites.
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