All 150 hints checked by the Audisto Crawler

The Audisto Crawler checks websites against a list of common mistakes and issues. Here you find a full list of all hints that the Audisto Crawler checks automatically on each crawl of a website.

Table Of Content

Hints

<a> has both href and onclick attributes
If a link with an href attribute and an onclick attribute is found, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<a> has malformed href
If a malformed href is found, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<a> has no content
If a link without content is found, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<a> has no href attribute
If a link without an href attribute is found, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<a> href attribute has leading or trailing whitespace characters
If a leading or trailing whitespace gets dicovered in an HTML anchor tag, the linking URL gets flagged with this hint.
<a> href is empty
If a link with an empty href attribute or an href that contains only whitespace is found, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<a> link contains user and password
An anchor’s href contains user and password, such as http://user:password@example.com.
<a> link uses a websocket protocol
An anchor’s href uses a websocket protocol (either ws: or wss:).
<a> link uses an unknown protocol
An anchor’s href uses a protocol that is unknown to our crawler.
<a> link uses data: protocol
An anchor’s href uses the data: protocol.
<a> link uses file: protocol
An anchor’s href uses the file: protocol, which is used to open files on the user’s computer.
<a> link uses ftp: protocol
An anchor’s href uses the ftp: protocol to link to an FTP server.
<a> link uses javascript: protocol
An anchor’s href uses the javascript: protocol, which may execute arbitrary JavaScript code.
<a> link uses mailto: protocol
An anchor’s href uses the mailto: protocol.
<a> link uses sftp: protocol
An anchor’s href uses the sftp: protocol to link to an SFTP server.
<a> linking relative to base
If links are found, that are relative to the base, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<a> links to fragment by name attribute on non-anchor
The anchor contains a fragment link, but the target is defined by a name attribute and is not an anchor itself.
<a> links to fragment by name attribute, not id
The anchor contains a fragment link, like “#top”, but the target is defined by a name attribute.
<a> links to fragment only
The anchor tag contains a fragment-only link target, like “#top”.
<a> links to fragment only, but <base> points to another URL
<a> links to fragment only, while there is a <base> pointing to another URL
<a> links to fragment that was not found
The anchor contains a fragment link, like “#top”, but there was no corresponding id or name attribute found in the document.
<a> more than 100 links
If more than 100 unique links are found, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<a> no outgoing internal links
If the HTML contains no internal links, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<a> no target=_blank to external
An anchor tag with target=_blank was not found in a hyperlink to an external domain.
<a> no target=_blank to your other domains
An anchor tag with target=_blank was not found in a hyperlink to other domains that you included in your crawl.
<a> target=_blank to external
An anchor tag with target=_blank was found in a hyperlink to an external domain.
<a> target=_blank to same domain
An anchor tag with target=_blank was found in a hyperlink to the same domain.
<a> target=_blank to your other domains
An anchor tag with target=_blank was found in a hyperlink to other domains that you included in your crawl.
<base> contains malformed or empty href
A <base> tag was found, but its href attribute contains an invalid URL, or a URL that is neither HTTP nor HTTPS.
<base> found
If a base is set in the HTML, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<base> found more than once and differs
More than one <base> directive are found with a differing href attribute value.
<base> href contains a path only
The <base> tag’s href attribute contains a path, not an absolute URL.
<base> is same as URL
A <base> tag was found, but it points to the same URL, thereby rendering itself useless.
<base> occurs more than once
More than one <base> tag was found.
<base> points to other URL
A <base> tag was found and it points to another URL.
<form> POST to HTTPS from HTTP
The form posts to an HTTPS URL, but resides on an HTTP URL.
<form> Unsafe GET to HTTP from HTTPS
A form uses the GET method and submits itself to an HTTP URL, but resides on a HTTPS URL.
<form> Unsafe POST to HTTP from HTTPS
A form uses the POST method and submits itself to a HTTP URL, but resides on an HTTPS URL.
<form> method is GET
If a form using the GET method is found, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<frameset> found
If a <frameset> is found, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<frameset> found, but <noframes> missing
A <frameset> was found, but a <noframes> is missing.
<h1> and <h2> not found
If no h1 and h2 headings are found, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<h1> not found
If the HTML does not have an h1 heading, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<h1> occurs more than once
If more than one <h1> tag is found, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<h1>-<h6> chain broken
If the HTML contains a broken <h1>-<h6> chain, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<html> contains more than 1500 nodes
The HTML of a page has an excessive DOM size of more than 1.500 nodes.
<html> contains too many uncommon non-printable characters
The HTML documents contains too many uncommon non-printable characters, and not all of them will be shown in live analysis.
<html> contains uncommon non-printable characters
If uncommon non-printable characters are detected, the URL of the document containing the character is flagged.
<html> contains unencoded Left-To-Right-Mark or Right-To-Left-Mark
A Left-To-Right or Right-To-Left-Mark was found, but it is not encoded as HTML entity.
<html> contains unencoded joiner chars
A zero-width joiner or zero-width non-joiner was found, but it is not encoded as HTML entity.
<html> contains unencoded soft hyphen (SHY)
A soft hyphen was found, but it is not encoded as HTML entity.
<html> is more than 100 KB in size
If a document is more than 100 KB in size, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<html> starts with BOM
There is a unicode byte order mark (BOM) at the top of the HTML.
<iframe> found
If an iframe is found, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<img> alt attribute exists but empty
If an image with an empty alt attribute is found, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<img> has no alt attribute
If an image without an alt attribute is found, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<img> has no width and/or height attribute
If an image without a width or height attribute is found, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<link rel=canonical> URL is not absolute
If the canonical element specifies a URL relative to the document’s URL, the document’s URL is flagged with this hint.
<link rel=canonical> contains malformed or empty href
This hint identifies all occurrences of canonical elements that contain an invalid target URL.
<link rel=canonical> found
A canonical element has been found, either as a <link> tag with rel=“canonical” or an according link header.
<link rel=canonical> found outside <head>
A canonical element was placed outside of the <head> section and so search engines will ignore it.
<link rel=canonical> found twice
More than one canonical element was found, either as a <link> tag with rel=“canonical” or an according link header.
<link rel=canonical> found twice and differs
More than one canonical element has been found, either as a <link> tag with rel=“canonical” or an according Link header. Additionally, they specify different targets.
<link rel=canonical> not found
A canonical element has not been found: neither a <link> tag with rel=“canonical” nor an according link header. This may be intended.
<link rel=canonical> points to other URL
If the canonical element is found and it points to a different URL, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<link rel=canonical> points to same URL
If the canonical element is found and points to the same URL, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<link> found outside <head>
A <link> tag was placed outside of the <head> section where it may have no effect.
<meta description> missing or empty
If the meta description is missing or empty, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<meta description> occurs more than once
If a meta description is found more than once in the HTML, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<meta description> too long for Google snippet
If the meta description is too long to be displayed in search result snippets, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<meta keywords> found
If the HTML contains meta keywords, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<meta language> found
<meta name=language> was found. Use the lang-attribute in the <html> tag instead.
<meta refresh> found
If a meta refresh is found, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<meta> found outside <head>
A <meta> tag was placed outside of the <head> section, where it may have no effect.
<script> loaded multiple files from local domain
If multiple JavaScript files from the crawled domain are loaded, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<script> more than 3 KB within HTML
If more than 3 KB of JavaScript is found within the HTML, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<title> found outside <head>
A <title> tag was placed outside of the <head> section, where it may have no effect.
<title> missing or empty
If the <title> tag is missing, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<title> occurs more than once
If the <title> tag is found more than once, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<title> short or single word
If the title of a document has less than 10 characters or if it is only a single word, the URL is flagged with this hint.
<title> too long for Google snippet
If the title of a document is too long to be displayed in search result snippets, the URL is flagged with this hint.
CSS <style> content larger than 0.5 KB
If more than 0.5 KB of CSS is found within <style> tags, the URL is flagged with this hint.
CSS <style> found
If CSS is found within a <style> tag, the URL is flagged with this hint.
CSS loaded multiple files from local domain
If multiple CSS files from the domain of the crawl are loaded by the URL, it is flagged with this hint.
CSS style attribute found
If CSS is found as a style attribute, the URL is flagged with this hint.
Charset: Charset set in HTTP Content-Type header and in document differ.
Both the document and the HTTP Content-Type header specify a charset, but these are not identical.
Charset: Invalid charset in Content-Type HTTP header
The Content-Type HTTP header specifies an invalid charset.
Charset: Not set
There is no charset set, neither in the Content-Type HTTP header, nor in the document, e.g. through a <meta> tag.
Charset: Not set in Content-Type HTTP header
The Content-Type HTTP header does not specify a charset.
Charset: Not set in document
There is no charset set in the document, e.g. through a <meta> tag.
Compression not enabled
Content compression was not enabled, or the gzip/deflate compression is not supported by the server.
Content-Security-Policy HTTP header missing
If the Content-Security-Policy HTTP header is missing, the URL is flagged with this hint.
Cookies send over insecure connection
A cookies send over an insecure connection was found.
Cookies set with secure flag over insecure connection
A secure cookies send over an insecure connection was found.
Cookies set without secure flag
If cookies are set without using the secure flag, the URL is flagged with this hint.
Duplicate id attributes
The same ID was assigned to several elements.
Hreflang: Found
<link> tag with hreflang attribute was found
Hreflang: Language tags in HTML and hreflang self link differ
<link> tag with hreflang attribute points to current URL, but the language is different than the one set in the HTML.
Hreflang: Self link found, but document has no language
<link> tag with hreflang attribute points to current URL, but the document itself has no language set.
Hreflang: Self link missing
<link> tags with hreflang-attribute were found, but none of them points to the current URL.
Hreflang: URL empty or malformed
<link> tag with hreflang attribute was found, but the URL it points to is invalid.
Hreflang: URL is not absolute
If the hreflang element specifies a URL relative to the current URL, it is flagged with this hint.
Language: Content-Language http-equiv meta element found
A Content-Language declaration was found as http-equiv meta element
Language: Invalid
Language found does follow some basic rules for language tags.
Language: Not set on document
No proper language definition was found for the HTML document.
Language: Set multiple times and differs
The document language was set multiple times and differs.
Linked as a resource
The element was linked to as a resource, like an image, a CSS file, a script, or the source of a frame.
Linking: Follow link to a so far no-follow URL
A follow link was found, linking to a URL that was previously linked “nofollow” only.
Linking: nofollow link to a follow URL
A link with rel=“nofollow” was found, linking to a URL that was previously linked “follow”.
Linking: nofollow link to network URL
A nofollow links to a URL within the scope of the crawl (network) was found.
Linking: nofollow linking revoked later on
A URL that has been linked nofollow has later (i.e. on the same or a deeper level) been linked to as follow.
Links: Non-standard rel attribute value found
The rel attribute has a value without predefined meaning
Redirect Chains: 2nd level
This hint shows redirects that point to a redirect target, making it the first element in a redirect chain.
Redirect Chains: 3rd level
This report highlights all elements on the 3rd level in a redirect chain.
Redirect Chains: 4th level
This report highlights all elements on the 4th level in a redirect chain.
Redirect Chains: 5th level or higher
This report highlights all elements on the 5th level in a redirect chain.
Redirect Loops: Redirect loop starts here
This URL is the first element in a redirect loop. A redirect loop is a chain of redirects that ultimately redirects to this URL again.
Redirect: 1st level
This hint identifies redirects that have internal links on the site.
Redirect: Host change
A redirect is forwarding the user to another host.
Redirect: Location URL is not HTTP or HTTPS
Redirect leads to a URL that is neither HTTP nor HTTPS
Redirect: Non-ASCII Characters in Location URL
Only printable ASCII characters are allowed in HTTP header values and redirect location URLs.
Redirect: Protocol change
A redirect changes the protocol from HTTP to HTTPS or vice versa.
Redirect: To external URL
Redirect leads to a URL that is not within the crawled domain(s).
Robots: Directive probably misspelled
A directive which is likely a misspelling of the robots meta tag was found.
Robots: Directives Missing
No robots meta tag or X-Robots-Tag header directive was found.
Robots: Specified more than once
Robots directives are specified more than once. If a document contains more than one robots definition, it will be flagged.
Robots: follow
The URL is set to “follow” by a robots directive, either by the robots meta tag or the X-Robots-Tag header.
Robots: index
The URL is set to “index” by all robots directives, either by the robots meta tag or the X-Robots-Tag header.
Robots: nofollow
The webpage is set to “nofollow” by a robots directive, either by the robots meta tag or the X-Robots-Tag header.
Robots: nofollow differs across specifications
There is more than one source for robots, either a robots meta tag or a X-Robots-Tag header, and at least one specifies “nofollow” while another does not.
Robots: noindex
The URL is set to “noindex” by a robots directive, either with the robots meta tag or the X-Robots-Tag header.
Robots: noindex differs across specifications
There is more than one source for robots directives, either a robots meta tag or a X-Robots-Tag header, and at least one specifies “noindex” while another does not.
Safe HTTPS webpage loads unsafe resource
If an HTTPS webpage contains an unsafe resource that is loaded using HTTP, it is flagged with this hint.
Strict-Transport-Security HTTP header has short duration
If a Strict-Transport-Security header is set to a short duration, the URL is flagged with this hint.
Strict-Transport-Security HTTP header is invalid
If a Strict-Transport-Security HTTP header is not properly defined, the URL is flagged with this hint.
Strict-Transport-Security HTTP header missing
If a Strict-Transport-Security HTTP header is missing, the URL is flagged with this hint.
Strict-Transport-Security HTTP header sent more than once
If a Strict-Transport-Security HTTP header is sent more than once, the URL is flagged with this hint.
URL contains escaped characters in path
If the URL contains escaped characters (non-ascii) in the path, it is flagged with this hint.
URL has & in path
If the URL has an ampersand (&) in the path, this hint in triggered.
URL has // in path
If the URL contains two consecutive slashes, it is flagged with this hint.
URL has 3 or more query parameters
If the URL contains a query string with 3 or more parameters, it is flagged with this hint.
URL has ? in query
If the URL has a question mark (?) in the query, this hint in triggered.
URL has more than 115 characters
If the URL is more than 115 characters long, it is flagged with this hint.
URL has non-ascii, non-lowercase elements in path
If the URL contains escaped characters or non-lowercase characters, the URL is flagged with this hint.
URL has non-lowercase elements in path
If the URL contains non-lowercase characters, it is flagged with this hint.
URL has query
If the URL contains a query string, it is flagged with this hint.
URL has repetitive elements in path
If the URL contains repeating elements like /foo/foo/ or /foo/bar/foo/bar/ in the path, it triggers this hint.
URL has repetitive parameters in the query
If the URL contains repeating parameters like ?a=1&a=1 or ?b=1&b=2 in query, it triggers this hint.
URL has repetitive parameters in the query, values differ
If the URL contains repeating parameters in the query, and the values are different, like ?a=1&a=2, it triggers this hint.
URL too long for some browsers
If a URL longer than 2,000 characters is encountered, it is flagged with this hint, since some browsers are unable to handle URLs of this size.

More Hints