Methodology
The complete checklist
33 checks in five groups. Nothing is hidden: this page is generated from the same list the scanner runs.
How points work
Pass = full marks · Improve = half marks · Fix = none. Checks that don’t apply (shipping policy on a non-shop, say) are left out.
Overall score
Score · The share of applicable weight earned, out of 100 — overall and per group, so you can see where the gaps are.
Blocking issues
Blockers · The issues reviewers most often stop at. A failed blocker caps the verdict at “Needs work”, whatever the number says.
Business identity
A real postal address is published
Blockerweight 9
Why it matters
Payment providers, ad platforms and startup programmes commonly look for a verifiable street address on the public site — it is the single most useful trust signal.
How to fix
Put your full postal address (street, city, state/region, postcode, country) in the footer so it appears on every page, and repeat it on the Contact page.
A working phone number is published
Importantweight 6
Why it matters
A reachable phone number is one of the few signals that a business is real and can be contacted.
How to fix
Add a phone number in the footer and on the Contact page, and make it a tap-to-call link (tel:).
A business email address is published
Importantweight 5
Why it matters
A contact email — ideally on your own domain — lets reviewers and customers confirm there is a real business behind the site.
How to fix
Publish an email address on your own domain (for example info@yourdomain.com) on the Contact page and in the footer.
Email addresses are readable by crawlers
Importantweight 3
Why it matters
Cloudflare’s “Email Address Obfuscation” rewrites addresses to “[email protected]”, which automated reviewers read literally — the contact email effectively disappears.
How to fix
In Cloudflare: Scrape Shield → Email Address Obfuscation → Off (then purge cache). Or show the address as plain text.
A Contact page with more than one way to reach you
Importantweight 5
Why it matters
Reviewers expect a dedicated contact page. One channel alone (just a form) is weaker than a form plus email, phone or address.
How to fix
Create /contact with your address, phone, email and (optionally) a form, and link it from the header or footer.
An About page that explains who is behind the site
Importantweight 3
Why it matters
An About page with real substance is how reviewers judge whether a real team and purpose exist.
How to fix
Add /about describing what the business does, who runs it, and where it is based (at least a few paragraphs).
A named person or LinkedIn profile (optional, strengthens trust)
Minorweight 2
Why it matters
A named founder or officer with a LinkedIn profile ties the business to a verifiable person. It is above the usual minimum, but it helps.
How to fix
On the About or Contact page, name the founder/officer with their title and link their LinkedIn profile.
Legal & policies
Privacy policy page
Blockerweight 8
Why it matters
Nearly every payment, ad and app programme requires a privacy policy, and reviewers open it directly.
How to fix
Publish a privacy policy at /privacy-policy that describes what you collect and why, and link it from the footer of every page.
Terms of service / terms and conditions page
Importantweight 6
Why it matters
Terms define the relationship with customers and are checked alongside the privacy policy.
How to fix
Publish terms at /terms (or /terms-of-service) and link them from the footer.
Legal pages have real substance
Importantweight 5
Why it matters
One-paragraph or copied boilerplate policies are a common reason reviewers distrust a site.
How to fix
Write policies specific to your business (what you collect, who processes payments, how to contact you). Aim for several hundred words each.
Policies name the business and how to reach it
Importantweight 2
Why it matters
Policies that say who operates the site — with a way to contact them — read as accountable rather than generic.
How to fix
Open your terms and privacy policy with a sentence naming the business, its address and contact email.
Refund / returns policy
Importantweight 3 · shops only
Why it matters
For a store, a clear refund and returns policy is a standard requirement for payment approval and reduces chargebacks.
How to fix
Publish a refund/returns policy (window, conditions, how to request) and link it in the footer and at checkout.
Cancellation / refund terms stated
Minorweight 2 · software only
Why it matters
Subscription businesses are expected to say how cancellation and refunds work.
How to fix
State cancellation and refund terms in your terms page or a dedicated refund policy.
Shipping / delivery policy
Importantweight 2 · shops only
Why it matters
Shops that ship physical goods are expected to explain delivery times and costs.
How to fix
Publish a shipping policy (regions, timing, costs) and link it in the footer.
Reachability & indexing
Loads securely over HTTPS
Blockerweight 4
Why it matters
Reviewers, payment providers and browsers treat a site without working HTTPS as untrustworthy or unreachable.
How to fix
Install a certificate (Let’s Encrypt is free), serve the homepage over HTTPS and redirect HTTP to it.
Certificate is valid and not about to expire
Importantweight 2
Why it matters
An expired or mismatched certificate shows browser warnings and makes automated review fail outright.
How to fix
Renew or reissue the certificate for the exact hostname and enable auto-renewal.
HTTP redirects to HTTPS
Minorweight 1
Why it matters
Visitors and crawlers who start from http:// should land on the secure version, not a duplicate.
How to fix
Add a permanent (301/308) redirect from http:// to https:// at the server or CDN.
Not blocked from search and review crawlers
Blockerweight 4
Why it matters
A noindex tag or a blanket robots.txt block tells reviewers and search engines to ignore the site.
How to fix
Remove noindex meta tags and X-Robots-Tag headers, and make sure robots.txt does not contain “Disallow: /” for all agents.
robots.txt is present and sensible
Minorweight 2
Why it matters
Automated reviewers request robots.txt first. A missing or malformed file is not fatal but is a needless red flag.
How to fix
Serve a plain-text robots.txt with at least “User-agent: *” and your sitemap line.
Sitemap is present and its URLs work
Minorweight 2
Why it matters
A sitemap helps crawlers find your pages; URLs in it that return errors look like a neglected site.
How to fix
Publish /sitemap.xml, list it in robots.txt, and remove or fix any URL that does not return 200.
Site integrity
Unknown URLs return a real 404
Importantweight 3
Why it matters
If any made-up URL answers 200 (a “soft 404”), crawlers cannot tell real pages from empty ones and treat the site as low quality.
How to fix
Configure the server or app to return HTTP 404 (not 200 or a redirect to the homepage) for pages that do not exist.
Internal links work
Importantweight 4
Why it matters
Broken links in the navigation or footer — especially legal pages — are read as an unfinished or abandoned site.
How to fix
Fix or remove the broken links listed, and check that every footer link leads to a real page.
Homepage images load
Minorweight 2
Why it matters
Missing images (often caused by spaces or special characters in filenames) make the site look broken.
How to fix
Rename image files to plain ASCII without spaces, re-upload, and update every reference.
No placeholder or template content
Importantweight 4
Why it matters
Lorem ipsum, “Your Company”, “Coming soon” or default WordPress text tells a reviewer the site is not finished.
How to fix
Replace every placeholder with real content, or remove the page. Delete unused demo pages and posts.
Crawlers are not challenged or blocked
Importantweight 2
Why it matters
If a firewall, CDN challenge or bot rule blocks crawlers, an automated review may see an error page instead of your site.
How to fix
Allow well-behaved crawlers in your firewall/CDN (e.g. Cloudflare Bot Fight / Browser Integrity settings) and re-test.
Consistency & technical trust
Address is the same everywhere it appears
Importantweight 4
Why it matters
Conflicting addresses between pages are a classic reason identity checks fail.
How to fix
Use one address, exactly the same, in the footer, contact page, legal pages and structured data.
Phone and email are the same everywhere
Importantweight 3
Why it matters
Different phone numbers or emails on different pages look careless — or like two different businesses.
How to fix
Pick one phone number and one contact email and use them on every page and in your policies.
Business name is consistent
Minorweight 2
Why it matters
The name in the title, footer and legal pages should match, and match the domain closely enough to recognise.
How to fix
Use the same business name in the page title, footer copyright line, About page and policies.
Structured business data (JSON-LD)
Minorweight 2
Why it matters
An Organization block with address and contact details gives machines the same facts humans see. Broken blocks are worse than none.
How to fix
Add a valid schema.org Organization JSON-LD block with name, url, address, telephone and email; validate it.
Page basics: title, description, language, viewport, favicon
Minorweight 2
Why it matters
Missing basics make a site look auto-generated or unfinished.
How to fix
Add a descriptive <title> and meta description, set <html lang>, include the viewport meta tag, and provide a favicon.
Copyright year is current
Minorweight 1
Why it matters
A footer stuck on an old year suggests nobody maintains the site.
How to fix
Use a dynamic year in the footer.
No insecure (http://) resources on secure pages
Minorweight 1
Why it matters
Mixed content triggers browser warnings and can block images or scripts.
How to fix
Change http:// asset URLs to https:// (or protocol-relative).
What this is not
Signozi does not know the private rules of any payment provider, ad platform or programme, does not contact them, and cannot predict their decision. It measures things visible on your public site that reviewers commonly look at. Heuristics such as address detection can be wrong — every finding shows its evidence so you can judge for yourself.
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