How Answer Patch scores your site
Answer Patch scores AI search readiness across six pillars with a deterministic rules engine: no AI model in the score. A free scan scores homepage pillars that actually run, including on-page Technical Access. Competitive Visibility, robots.txt, llms.txt, live-fetch, and sitemap checks run at paid Fix Report depth. The overall score is a weighted blend, not a ranking forecast.
Last reviewed: September 13, 2026
Pillars, checks, and scoring
A free scan scores the homepage pillars that actually run: Business Clarity, Answer Readiness, Technical Access (on-page checks), Structured Data, and Trust Signals. Competitive Visibility does not run on a free scan. The category is marked not_run and excluded from that overall score. The checks below describe the full method. Robots.txt, llms.txt, sitemap, per-crawler fetch comparison, and competitor checks run at paid Fix Report depth. Findings carry a severity (Critical, High, Medium, Low, or Info). Scored findings use Observed or Assessment confidence; Not verified means the check was not confirmable from available evidence. The checks match those listed on each feature pillar page.
Check matrix: what scores on a free scan vs the Fix Report
| Pillar | Check | When it scores |
|---|---|---|
| Business Clarity | Title tag: is it present, long enough to carry a signal, and, for local-service sites, does it name category or city instead of a bare brand? | Scores on the free scan |
| Business Clarity | Meta description: is one present, and is the length in a range a snippet can use? | Scores on the free scan |
| Business Clarity | H1: does the page have one primary heading, not zero and not a stack of competing H1s? | Scores on the free scan |
| Business Clarity | Heading hierarchy: do heading levels step H1 → H2 → H3, or skip a level? | Scores on the free scan |
| Business Clarity | Image alt text: are selected images missing an alt attribute? Dummy values such as image1 are not this rule. | Scores on the free scan |
| Answer Readiness | Homepage opener: does the first meaningful sentence state what the business is, who it serves, and where? | Scores on the free scan |
| Answer Readiness | FAQ coverage: does the homepage show at least two visible questions with visible answers an assistant can lift? | Scores on the free scan |
| Answer Readiness | Local intent (local-service sites): does the homepage mention the target city and the services you actually offer? | Scores on the free scan |
| Answer Readiness | Service-page clarity (local-service sites): do service URLs state service, location, audience, proof, and a booking or contact step? | Paid Fix Report only - not scored on the free scan |
| Answer Readiness | Citability analysis in the report: passage-level scores for direct-answer openings, a report section, not a second copy of this pillar's score | Not a scoring input |
| Technical Access | On-page HTML on the free scan. Fix Report Technical Access: crawler allow-block, sitemap, llms.txt, and live-fetch comparison | On-page HTML scores on the free scan; crawler checks are Fix Report only |
| Technical Access | robots.txt rules: are AI crawlers like GPTBot, ClaudeBot, and PerplexityBot allowed or blocked? | Paid Fix Report only - not scored on the free scan |
| Technical Access | llms.txt presence and quality: does the site publish a curated summary for AI systems? | Paid Fix Report only - not scored on the free scan |
| Technical Access | Server-side rendering: does JavaScript-only rendering hide content from non-browser fetches? | Scores on the free scan |
| Technical Access | Response codes and redirects: do crawled pages return clean 200s or break on redirect chains? | Scores on the free scan |
| Technical Access | Sitemap availability: can crawlers discover the important pages? | Paid Fix Report only - not scored on the free scan |
| Technical Access | Per-crawler fetch comparison: do different AI user agents get different responses? | Paid Fix Report only - not scored on the free scan |
| Structured Data | LocalBusiness JSON-LD (local-service sites with verified local presence): present, required fields, recommended fields | Scores on the free scan |
| Structured Data | FAQPage quality: if FAQ schema exists, do questions include acceptedAnswer? Do schema questions match visible copy? | Scores on the free scan |
| Structured Data | FAQ page expectation: if the page is an FAQ URL with visible questions, is FAQPage present? | Paid Fix Report only - not scored on the free scan |
| Structured Data | BreadcrumbList: inner pages should declare a trail; items need ordered positions and absolute URLs | Paid Fix Report only - not scored on the free scan |
| Structured Data | Absolute schema URLs: url, logo, image, and sameAs should be http(s), not relative paths | Scores on the free scan |
| Structured Data | Page-type expectations: LocalBusiness on a local homepage; Organization, WebSite, and SoftwareApplication on SaaS; Article or BlogPosting on editorial pages for SaaS, ecommerce, content, and other, not for local_service | Scores on the free scan |
| Trust Signals | Credential tokens in page text: Licensed, Certified, Accredited, DDS, MD, and the other tokens the extractor looks for, each match is one proof point | Scores on the free scan |
| Trust Signals | Numeric reviews mention: one bucket if main text matches a number plus stars, reviews, or rated, a quote with no number does not count | Scores on the free scan |
| Trust Signals | Featured-on listing links: visible directory or press links in the body, not a footer social-icon row | Scores on the free scan |
| Trust Signals | Schema sameAs (separate rule): does Organization or LocalBusiness JSON-LD include at least two profile URLs? | Scores on the free scan |
| Trust Signals | Not scored here: case studies, customer stories, years-in-business, generic testimonials without a number (Competitive Visibility); authorship; physical address (LocalBusiness in Structured Data) | Not a scoring input |
| Competitive Visibility | Fix Report competitive comparison: six observed dimensions against the competitor URLs you add | Paid Fix Report only - not scored on the free scan |
| Competitive Visibility | Answer readiness vs. competitors: are extractable passages as easy to quote as the pages you named? | Paid Fix Report only - not scored on the free scan |
| Competitive Visibility | FAQ coverage: do competitors publish visible FAQ answers and matching FAQPage schema you lack? | Paid Fix Report only - not scored on the free scan |
| Competitive Visibility | Schema coverage: which schema.org types appear on comparable pages? | Paid Fix Report only - not scored on the free scan |
| Competitive Visibility | Proof signals: reviews, credentials, years in business, sameAs links, and customer stories | Paid Fix Report only - not scored on the free scan |
| Competitive Visibility | Content depth and structure: a clear H1 plus enough crawlable text for answer extraction | Paid Fix Report only - not scored on the free scan |
| Competitive Visibility | Technical access basics: viewport, canonical, and server-rendered HTML risk on the compared pages | Paid Fix Report only - not scored on the free scan |
How a score is calculated
Each pillar score runs from 0 to 100. It is a weighted average of the rules that actually ran in that pillar. Rules with no data, and rules that errored, do not pull the number down. A rule that clearly passes contributes a high score. A limited or failed rule contributes less.
The overall score is a weighted blend of the pillars that are included. Weights vary by business type (local service, SaaS, ecommerce, content, or general) and always sum to 100. On a free scan, Competitive Visibility is marked not_run and excluded from that overall score. Remaining included pillars are renormalized, so a missing competitive check is not a silent zero.
Technical Access is split across depths. On-page HTML can score on the free homepage scan. Crawler reach, sitemap, llms.txt, and live-fetch comparison run at paid Fix Report depth. Competitive Visibility is Fix Report only.
| Surface | What it covers | When it scores |
|---|---|---|
| On-page Technical Access | HTTPS, server-rendered content, viewport, security headers, canonical, and response codes or redirects | Scores on the free homepage scan and in the Fix Report |
| Crawler reach | robots.txt, sitemap, llms.txt, and live-fetch comparison | Paid Fix Report only - not scored on the free scan |
| Competitive Visibility | Comparison against competitor URLs you add | Paid Fix Report only - not scored on the free scan |
The number is an AI search readiness score for the audited pages. It is not a ranking, traffic, or citation forecast. Score recovery estimates in a report are internal score estimates, not a promise that ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews will mention you.
Severity and confidence
Every finding carries a severity and a confidence label. These are the same definitions a Fix Report uses.
| Severity | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Critical | Blocks report trust or major AI/search understanding, or prevents the site from being crawled meaningfully. |
| High | Likely to materially reduce the chance that AI/search systems understand, cite, or recommend the business. |
| Medium | A meaningful improvement opportunity that affects clarity, trust, structured data, or answer readiness. |
| Low | Useful cleanup or minor optimization that should not block report delivery. |
| Info | Context, caveat, or neutral observation that helps explain the audit. |
| Confidence | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Observed | Directly observed in fetched page content, headers, robots.txt, schema, or intake. |
| Assessment | Derived from observed evidence using deterministic rules or reviewer judgment. |
| Not verified | Not checked or not confirmable from available evidence; report copy must say so. |
Score bands
These bands are the same labels a Fix Report uses for overall and pillar scores.
80-100
Strong
Most audited signals are clear, fetchable, and answer-ready.
60-79
Improving
The site has useful foundations but meaningful gaps remain.
0-59
Needs work
Important crawlability, clarity, schema, or proof signals are missing.
How overall weights vary by business type
The paid Fix Report overall score is a weighted blend of the six pillars. On a free scan, Competitive Visibility does not run and is excluded from the overall score; remaining included pillars are renormalized. The map below is the scoring engine's weight table, not a marketing estimate. Weights in the table always sum to 100.
| Pillar | Local service | SaaS | E-commerce | Content | General |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business Clarity | 20 | 20 | 15 | 15 | 20 |
| Answer Readiness | 20 | 20 | 20 | 25 | 20 |
| Technical Access | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| Structured Data | 15 | 10 | 15 | 10 | 10 |
| Trust Signals | 20 | 15 | 15 | 20 | 20 |
| Competitive Visibility | 10 | 20 | 20 | 15 | 15 |
Sample findings
Labeled fictional findings for Cedar & Main Plumbing, the same illustrative plumber used on the sample report page. Fix Report-only examples are labeled. The illustrative overall is 58 / 100, Needs work. That is a sample, not a customer result.
Business Clarity · High
Brand-only title; homepage hero missing alt text
Answer Readiness · High
Homepage lacks a direct-answer opener; no visible FAQ block
Technical Access · High
Selected pages may not expose enough server-rendered content
Technical Access · Medium (Fix Report only)
robots.txt allows AI crawlers; no llms.txt found
Structured Data · High
No LocalBusiness JSON-LD; inner pages missing BreadcrumbList
Trust Signals · Medium
Numbered reviews found; no credential tokens or featured-on listing links
Competitive Visibility · Low (Fix Report only)
A competitor URL you added publishes FAQPage schema you lack
Illustrative examples for Cedar & Main Plumbing, a fictional emergency plumber in Portland. Not a named customer, and not a traffic or citation metric.
Which AI crawlers the audit checks
At paid Fix Report depth, Technical Access has two crawler checks, and they are not the same list. The robots.txt table is the list the scoring engine evaluates for allow/disallow rules. A separate live-fetch comparison then requests the homepage as a smaller set of user-agents. The free scan does not run these crawler checks. On-page Technical Access can still score on that free scan. We do not fetch as every crawler in the robots.txt table, and we do not operate those crawlers.
Crawler roster: robots.txt agents and live fetch
Robots.txt checks
The paid Fix Report reads robots.txt for these user-agents, the same roster the scoring engine uses. Purpose is training, fetch, or both, as the engine records it. Google-Extended is recorded as training by this scoring roster; Google documents both Gemini training and grounding uses. It does not control Google Search. The live Google fetch uses Googlebot.
| Platform | User-agent | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT / OpenAI | GPTBot | training |
| ChatGPT browsing | ChatGPT-User | fetch |
| OpenAI Search | OAI-SearchBot | fetch |
| Anthropic / Claude | ClaudeBot | training |
| Claude per-user fetch | Claude-User | fetch |
| Claude search | Claude-SearchBot | fetch |
| Anthropic (legacy) | anthropic-ai | training |
| Perplexity AI | PerplexityBot | fetch |
| Google Gemini / Bard | Google-Extended | training |
| Apple AI features | Applebot-Extended | training |
| Amazon Alexa / AI | Amazonbot | both |
| ByteDance / Doubao | Bytespider | both |
| Common Crawl | CCBot | training |
| Meta AI | meta-externalagent | both |
| You.com | YouBot | both |
| Cohere | cohere-ai | training |
| Turnitin AI | TurnitinBot | both |
Live fetch comparison
At paid Fix Report depth, live fetch comparison requests the homepage as these user-agents only. It is not a fetch of every crawler in the robots.txt table.
- Googlebot
- OAI-SearchBot
- ChatGPT-User
- PerplexityBot
- Claude-User
- Claude-SearchBot
See the evidence and the retest
Our owned-site audit case study records public-page findings and preview verification. It is a manual content audit, separate from a scored Fix Report, and reports no measured traffic or citation lift. The audit worksheet keeps each observation, owner, edit, and retest together.
Primary sources
Crawler names and purposes come from vendor documentation last reviewed September 13, 2026. Schema checks follow schema.org types. Findings reflect public pages and files available at audit time. Score recovery estimates in a report are internal score estimates, not traffic, ranking, or citation guarantees.
- ChatGPT / OpenAI crawler documentation
- ChatGPT browsing crawler documentation
- OpenAI Search crawler documentation
- Anthropic / Claude crawler documentation
- Perplexity AI crawler documentation
- Google Gemini / Bard crawler documentation
- Apple AI features crawler documentation
- Amazon Alexa / AI crawler documentation
- Common Crawl crawler documentation
- Meta AI crawler documentation
- schema.org
Frequently asked questions
How does Answer Patch score a website?
Answer Patch scores AI search readiness across six pillars with a deterministic rules engine: no AI model in the score. A free scan scores homepage pillars that actually run, including on-page Technical Access. Competitive Visibility, robots.txt, llms.txt, live-fetch, and sitemap checks run at paid Fix Report depth. The overall score is a weighted blend, not a ranking forecast.
Does Technical Access only run on the paid Fix Report?
No. On-page Technical Access can score on the free homepage scan: HTTPS, server-rendered content, viewport, security headers, canonical, and response codes or redirects. Robots.txt, sitemap, llms.txt, and live-fetch comparison run at paid Fix Report depth. Competitive Visibility is Fix Report only.
What does each pillar score mean?
Each pillar score runs from 0 to 100. 80-100 is Strong: Most audited signals are clear, fetchable, and answer-ready. 60-79 is Improving: The site has useful foundations but meaningful gaps remain. 0-59 is Needs work: Important crawlability, clarity, schema, or proof signals are missing.
Is the score produced by an AI model?
No. Baseline findings and pillar scores come from deterministic rules. The same site produces the same baseline findings every time. AI models are used later, in the paid Fix Report, to draft copy-ready edits, and those sections are labeled.
How are pillar weights chosen?
Overall score weights vary by business type (local service, SaaS, ecommerce, content, or general) and always sum to 100. The paid Fix Report uses the full six-pillar map on this page. On a free scan, Competitive Visibility does not run and is excluded from the overall score; remaining included pillars are renormalized.
Which AI crawlers does the audit check?
At paid Fix Report depth, the Technical Access pillar checks robots.txt against the AI crawlers in the robots.txt table on this page, the same list the scoring engine uses. Live fetch comparison is a separate paid check: it requests the homepage as Googlebot, OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, PerplexityBot, Claude-User, and Claude-SearchBot. The free scan does not run these crawler checks. We do not fetch as every crawler in the robots.txt table, and we do not operate those crawlers.
Do the sample findings on this page come from a real business?
No. Sample findings are labeled, fictional examples for Cedar & Main Plumbing, the same illustrative Portland plumber used on the sample report page. Competitive Visibility and crawler findings are Fix Report-only. They are not from a named customer and they do not include invented traffic or citation metrics.
Does a higher score mean ChatGPT will cite my site?
No. Answer Patch does not control how any search engine or AI system ranks, cites, or summarizes a site, and makes no ranking, traffic, or citation promise.
How long does Answer Patch keep a Fix Report?
By default, a paid Fix Report and its share link are retained for 90 days from the date of purchase. Details are on the Data Retention page.
See how your site scores
A free scan scores your homepage, including on-page Technical Access. Robots.txt, llms.txt, live-fetch, sitemap, and competitor checks run in the paid Fix Report. That report is $19 one-time, not a subscription.