Audit Standard / 2026.2

Rule explorer: Audit Standard 2026.2

Every check that defines technical readiness in MaxiMarket Audit Standard 2026.2, exactly as the audit applies it. Open a rule to see what it checks, why it matters, how to fix it, where its authority comes from and how much it counts.

Superseded. This is an earlier Audit Standard version, kept unchanged so audits saved under it keep their meaning. New audits use the current Audit Standard 2026.4.

Guides by topic: technical SEO audit rules, AI readiness, structured data and ecommerce product data.

Version
2026.2
Status
Superseded
Published
2026-09-26
Rules
86
Scored
67
Observations
33

Authority levels

Official search-engine requirement
A search engine documents it as required for a specific outcome, such as Google eligibility.
Strongest external authority
Open standard / Schema.org
Defined by an open standard or vocabulary: HTML, WCAG, IETF RFCs, Schema.org, Sitemaps, Open Graph.
Official platform recommendation
Recommended in official platform documentation, such as Google Search Central or an AI platform.
Accepted best practice
Widely accepted practice with a cited source, but no official requirement.
MaxiMarket recommendation
MaxiMarket’s own advice. Never presented as a search engine or platform requirement.
MaxiMarket methodology

Filter

Showing 23 rules and 0 observations.

Rules

Rules pass or fail. A failed rule becomes a finding in your report; scored rules also count toward the Technical Score.

Canonicalization

SEO-CANONICAL-003Official search-engine requirement · RequiredCanonical link is in the headDocumentWarning when failedWeight 2Technical SearchAI Discovery
What this checks
Whether every rel=canonical link element is inside the document head.
Why it matters
Google accepts rel=canonical only in the head section of the HTML.
How to fix
Move the canonical link element into <head>, before any content that ends the head.
Expected
All canonical link elements are in <head>.
Applies to
Pages with at least one rel=canonical link element.
Authority
Official search-engine requirement · RequiredGoogle canonicalization requirement.
Technical Score
Weight 2 of 3A canonical outside the head is ignored by Google.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Follows the HTML parsing rules for the head: it ends at </head>, <body>, or the first element or text that cannot appear in the head. Reports when a canonical link element appears after that point.
Sources

Links and discoverability

Entity and site identity

SEO-FAVICON-001Official search-engine requirement · RequiredHome page declares a faviconDocumentWarning when failedWeight 1Technical SearchAI DiscoveryMachine Readability
What this checks
A link element with rel icon, shortcut icon, apple-touch-icon or apple-touch-icon-precomposed in the head of the home page.
Why it matters
Google shows a favicon in search results only when the home page declares one this way.
How to fix
Add <link rel="icon" href="/favicon.ico"> (or another supported rel) to the head of the home page.
Expected
At least one such link with an href.
Applies to
Home pages (final URL path "/"); other pages are not applicable.
Authority
Official search-engine requirement · RequiredRequired for a favicon in Google Search results.
Technical Score
Weight 1 of 3Needed for a favicon in results; evaluated on the home page only.
How MaxiMarket detects it
The home page is the page whose final URL path is "/". Reports when its head contains no link element with a non-empty href and rel including icon, apple-touch-icon or apple-touch-icon-precomposed.
Sources
STRUCTURED-WEBSITE-001Official search-engine requirement · RequiredHome page declares WebSite nameStructured dataWarning when failedWeight 1Technical SearchAI DiscoveryMachine Readability
What this checks
WebSite structured data with name and url on the home page.
Why it matters
Google's site-name feature requires WebSite structured data with name and url on the home page to express a preferred site name.
How to fix
Add a WebSite entity with name and url to the home page.
Expected
A top-level WebSite entity with both properties.
Applies to
Home pages (final URL path "/"); other pages are not applicable.
Authority
Official search-engine requirement · RequiredRequired for expressing a site-name preference in Google Search.
Technical Score
Weight 1 of 3Needed only to express a site-name preference; the feature itself is optional.
How MaxiMarket detects it
The home page is the page whose final URL path is "/". Reports when its inspected JSON-LD has no top-level WebSite entity with a non-empty name and url. Not evaluated when JSON-LD inspection hit its limits.
Sources
STRUCTURED-WEBSITE-002Official search-engine requirement · RequiredWebSite url is the canonical home pageStructured dataWarning when failedWeight 1Technical SearchAI DiscoveryMachine Readability
What this checks
The url of the home page's WebSite entity.
Why it matters
Google requires the WebSite url to be the canonical URL of the home page.
How to fix
Set WebSite url to the canonical home page URL.
Expected
The canonical home page URL.
Applies to
Home pages with a top-level WebSite entity that declares url.
Authority
Official search-engine requirement · RequiredRequired for expressing a site-name preference in Google Search.
Technical Score
Weight 1 of 3A wrong WebSite url breaks the site-name declaration.
How MaxiMarket detects it
The home page is the page whose final URL path is "/". Resolves each top-level WebSite url against the final URL and reports when it differs from the canonical home URL (the declared canonical, or the final URL when none is declared), ignoring fragments. Without a declared canonical, a final URL with a query is not known to be canonical, so a different WebSite url is not evaluated.
Sources
STRUCTURED-BREADCRUMB-001Official search-engine requirement · RequiredBreadcrumb items have required propertiesStructured dataWarning when failedWeight 2Technical SearchAI DiscoveryMachine Readability
What this checks
The ListItems of each BreadcrumbList: how many, and their position, name and item.
Why it matters
Google requires these properties for breadcrumb rich results.
How to fix
Give each ListItem a position, a name and an item URL (the last one may omit item), with at least two ListItems.
Expected
At least two ListItems, each with position and name (on the ListItem or on the item Thing), and item on all but the last.
Applies to
Pages with at least one BreadcrumbList entity.
Authority
Official search-engine requirement · RequiredRequired for Google breadcrumb rich results.
Technical Score
Weight 2 of 3Required properties for breadcrumb rich results.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Checks BreadcrumbList entities in the inspected JSON-LD. Reports when itemListElement has fewer than two ListItems, or a ListItem lacks a position, a name (on the ListItem or its item object), or an item (except the ListItem with the highest position).
Sources

HTTP and retrieval

HTTP-STATUS-001Official search-engine requirement · RequiredAudited URL returns HTTP 200IndexingWarning when failedWeight 3Technical SearchAI Discovery
What this checks
The HTTP status of the audited URL after redirects.
Why it matters
Google lists an HTTP 200 response as a minimum technical requirement for Search; 4xx content is treated as not existing.
How to fix
Serve the page with HTTP 200, or fix the URL if the page moved or no longer exists.
Expected
HTTP 200.
Applies to
Every retrieved (available) page. Blocked and unavailable results are reported by page access instead.
Authority
Official search-engine requirement · RequiredGoogle Search minimum technical requirement.
Technical Score
Weight 3 of 3A page that does not return HTTP 200 is not processed as content; every other check describes an error page.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when the final HTTP status of an available page is not 200. Server errors and blocked responses are page-access outcomes (unavailable, blocked) with no findings.
Sources

Crawl control and crawler access

CRAWL-ROBOTSTXT-002Official search-engine requirement · Requiredrobots.txt does not return a server errorIndexingWarning when failedWeight 3Technical SearchAI Discovery
What this checks
The HTTP status of /robots.txt at the final origin.
Why it matters
When robots.txt answers with a server error, Google stops crawling the site for 12 hours and then relies on cached rules for up to 30 days.
How to fix
Make /robots.txt return 200 with its rules, or 404 if the site has none.
Expected
200, or 404/410 when there is intentionally no robots.txt; never 5xx.
Applies to
Every audited origin whose robots.txt request received an HTTP response; network failures, timeouts and throttling (429) are not evaluated.
Authority
Official search-engine requirement · RequiredGoogle Search robots.txt handling.
Technical Score
Weight 3 of 3A robots.txt server error makes Google pause crawling of the whole site.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when the robots.txt request answered 5xx (after at most 5 same-origin redirects). Timeouts, network failures, throttling (429) and other unusable answers are not evaluated.
Sources
CRAWL-ACCESS-001Official search-engine requirement · RequiredAudited URL is not disallowed for GooglebotIndexingWarning when failedNot scoredTechnical SearchAI Discovery
What this checks
RFC 9309 evaluation of robots.txt against the audited URL for the Googlebot product token.
Why it matters
Google lists that Googlebot is not blocked among its technical requirements; a disallowed page cannot be crawled, and Google AI features draw on the same index.
How to fix
Remove or narrow the disallow rules that match this URL for Googlebot (or *), unless the exclusion is intended.
Expected
Allowed, unless excluding the page from Google Search is intended.
Applies to
Every retrieved page whose origin returned robots.txt or 404/410 for it; not evaluated when robots.txt is unavailable, returns a server error or exceeds the inspection limits.
Authority
Official search-engine requirement · RequiredGoogle Search technical requirement.
Technical Score
Not scoredBlocking Googlebot can be intentional, like noindex; MaxiMarket cannot infer intent, so it is reported as a finding but not scored.
How MaxiMarket detects it
One RFC 9309 matcher: the groups naming googlebot (case-insensitive) are combined, otherwise the * groups; the longest matching allow or disallow path wins, allow on ties, with * and $ wildcards. 404/410 robots.txt allows everything. Not evaluated when robots.txt is unavailable, answers 5xx, or exceeds the inspection limits.
Sources

Indexing and snippet directives

INDEX-NOINDEX-001Official search-engine requirement · RequiredIndexing exclusion for all crawlersIndexingInfo when failedNot scoredTechnical SearchAI Discovery
What this checks
Whether a robots meta element named robots, or an X-Robots-Tag directive without a user-agent prefix, declares noindex or none.
Why it matters
When Google sees a noindex rule it drops the page entirely from Google Search results. Excluding a page is often intentional, so this is reported for review with info severity and is never scored. Crawler-specific rules are reported separately as an observation.
How to fix
No change is needed if the page is intentionally kept out of search. If it is intended to appear in search results, remove noindex or none from the robots meta tag and the X-Robots-Tag header.
Expected
Pages intended to appear in search results declare no noindex or none rule for all crawlers; pages intentionally kept out of search may declare one.
Applies to
Every retrieved page.
Authority
Official search-engine requirement · RequiredRequired for the page to remain in Google Search results; intentional exclusion is legitimate.
Technical Score
Not scoredExcluding a page from search is often intentional (carts, account pages); intent cannot be inferred.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when meta name="robots" or an unprefixed X-Robots-Tag directive contains noindex or none. Crawler-named meta elements (for example googlebot) and user-agent-prefixed X-Robots-Tag directives are observation INDEX-NOINDEX-002, not this rule.
Sources
INDEX-SNIPPET-002Official search-engine requirement · Requireddata-nosnippet is used only on supported elementsIndexingWarning when failedWeight 1Technical SearchAI Discovery
What this checks
The elements that carry a data-nosnippet attribute.
Why it matters
Google honors data-nosnippet only on span, div and section elements; elsewhere the text stays eligible for snippets and AI features.
How to fix
Move data-nosnippet to a span, div or section that wraps the text.
Expected
Only span, div and section elements carry data-nosnippet.
Applies to
Pages with at least one element carrying data-nosnippet.
Authority
Official search-engine requirement · RequiredGoogle Search snippet control.
Technical Score
Weight 1 of 3Misplaced data-nosnippet silently fails, but only affects snippet control of the marked text.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when an HTML element other than span, div or section has a data-nosnippet attribute.
Sources

Ratings and reviews

STRUCTURED-RATING-001Official search-engine requirement · RequiredAggregateRating has required propertiesStructured dataWarning when failedWeight 2Technical SearchAI DiscoveryCommerceMachine Readability
What this checks
ratingValue and ratingCount or reviewCount on each AggregateRating.
Why it matters
Google requires these properties for review snippets.
How to fix
Add ratingValue and ratingCount (or reviewCount) to each AggregateRating.
Expected
Every AggregateRating has ratingValue and at least one of ratingCount or reviewCount.
Applies to
Pages with at least one AggregateRating entity.
Authority
Official search-engine requirement · RequiredRequired for Google review snippets.
Technical Score
Weight 2 of 3Required properties for review snippets.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Checks AggregateRating entities (and subtypes) found in the inspected JSON-LD. Reports when one lacks a non-empty ratingValue or has neither ratingCount nor reviewCount.
Sources
STRUCTURED-RATING-002Official search-engine requirement · RequiredReview has required propertiesStructured dataWarning when failedWeight 2Technical SearchAI DiscoveryCommerceMachine Readability
What this checks
author, reviewRating.ratingValue and, for reviews not nested in the reviewed item, itemReviewed.
Why it matters
Google requires these properties for review snippets.
How to fix
Add author, reviewRating.ratingValue and (for standalone reviews) itemReviewed to each Review.
Expected
Every Review has an author and a reviewRating with ratingValue; top-level reviews also name itemReviewed.
Applies to
Pages with at least one Review entity.
Authority
Official search-engine requirement · RequiredRequired for Google review snippets.
Technical Score
Weight 2 of 3Required properties for review snippets. Excluded from the score when STRUCTURED-AUTHOR-001 fails, because a nameless author can fail both checks.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Checks Review entities (and subtypes) found in the inspected JSON-LD. Reports when one lacks author, lacks a reviewRating with a non-empty ratingValue, or is a top-level entity without itemReviewed.
Sources

Articles, authorship and dates

STRUCTURED-PAYWALL-001Official search-engine requirement · RequiredDeclared paywall markup is completeStructured dataWarning when failedWeight 2Technical SearchAI DiscoveryMachine Readability
What this checks
For entities with isAccessibleForFree false: hasPart WebPageElement parts with isAccessibleForFree false and a class-only cssSelector.
Why it matters
Google uses paywall markup to tell paywalled content apart from cloaking; it names isAccessibleForFree, hasPart WebPageElement and a class cssSelector.
How to fix
Add hasPart with a WebPageElement whose isAccessibleForFree is false and whose cssSelector is a class selector, such as .paywall.
Expected
At least one such part, and every declared part uses a class selector.
Applies to
Pages whose structured data declares isAccessibleForFree false on an entity.
Authority
Official search-engine requirement · RequiredRequired by Google for paywalled content markup.
Technical Score
Weight 2 of 3Incomplete paywall markup risks paywalled content being treated as cloaking.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when an entity declares isAccessibleForFree false (boolean or the string "false") and has no hasPart WebPageElement (or subtype) with isAccessibleForFree false and a cssSelector made only of class selectors, or declares a WebPageElement part whose cssSelector is not class-only. Whether content is actually gated is not observable.
Sources

Product and Offer data

STRUCTURED-PRODUCT-001Official search-engine requirement · RequiredProduct has a nameProductWarning when failedWeight 3Technical SearchAI DiscoveryCommerceMachine Readability
What this checks
Whether each inspected Product entity has a usable name.
Why it matters
Google lists name as required for both Product snippets and merchant listings; items missing required properties are not eligible for rich results.
How to fix
Add a "name" property with the product name to each Product entity.
Expected
Every Product entity has a non-empty name.
Applies to
Pages with at least one fully inspected Product entity; not applicable otherwise.
Authority
Official search-engine requirement · RequiredRequired for Google Product snippet and merchant listing rich result eligibility.
Technical Score
Weight 3 of 3A Product name is required for every product rich result.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when at least one fully inspected Product entity (at most 20) has no non-empty string name.
Sources
STRUCTURED-PRODUCT-002Official search-engine requirement · RequiredProduct has an offer (merchant listings)ProductWarning when failedNot scoredTechnical SearchAI DiscoveryCommerceMachine Readability
What this checks
Whether each inspected Product entity has a recognizable Offer or AggregateOffer.
Why it matters
Google requires offers for merchant listings. The separate Product-snippet requirement (offers, review or aggregate rating) is STRUCTURED-PRODUCT-008.
How to fix
Add an "offers" property with an Offer (or AggregateOffer for multiple sellers) to each Product entity.
Expected
Every Product entity has an offers property containing an Offer or AggregateOffer.
Applies to
Pages with at least one fully inspected Product entity; not applicable otherwise. Merchant-listing requirement.
Authority
Official search-engine requirement · RequiredRequired for Google merchant listing eligibility.
Technical Score
Not scoredMerchant listings apply only to pages where the product can be bought, which MaxiMarket cannot infer; Product-snippet eligibility is scored by STRUCTURED-PRODUCT-008.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when at least one fully inspected Product entity has no offers value whose @type is Offer or AggregateOffer. Reviews and ratings are not considered.
Sources
STRUCTURED-PRODUCT-008Official search-engine requirement · RequiredProduct has an offer, review or aggregate rating (Product snippets)ProductWarning when failedWeight 2Technical SearchAI DiscoveryCommerceMachine Readability
What this checks
Whether each inspected Product entity has at least one of offers, review or aggregateRating.
Why it matters
Google requires one of offers, review or aggregateRating for Product snippets; items missing required properties are not eligible for rich results.
How to fix
Add an "offers" Offer, a "review" Review or an "aggregateRating" AggregateRating to each Product entity.
Expected
Every Product entity has an Offer or AggregateOffer, a Review, or an AggregateRating.
Applies to
Pages with at least one fully inspected Product entity; not applicable otherwise. Product-snippet requirement.
Authority
Official search-engine requirement · RequiredRequired for Google Product snippet eligibility.
Technical Score
Weight 2 of 3One of offers, review or rating is required for Product snippets.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when at least one fully inspected Product entity (at most 20) has none of: an offers value typed Offer or AggregateOffer, a review object (typed Review or untyped), or an aggregateRating object (typed AggregateRating or untyped).
Sources
STRUCTURED-PRODUCT-003Official search-engine requirement · RequiredProduct has an imageProductWarning when failedWeight 2Technical SearchAI DiscoveryCommerceMachine Readability
What this checks
Whether each inspected Product entity has a usable image.
Why it matters
Google lists image as required for merchant listings.
How to fix
Add an "image" property with the URL of a product photo to each Product entity.
Expected
Every Product entity has an image URL or ImageObject.
Applies to
Pages with at least one fully inspected Product entity; not applicable otherwise.
Authority
Official search-engine requirement · RequiredRequired for Google merchant listing eligibility.
Technical Score
Weight 2 of 3An image is required for merchant listings.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when at least one fully inspected Product entity has no non-empty image string, array item or ImageObject. Image URLs are not fetched or validated.
Sources
STRUCTURED-PRODUCT-009Official search-engine requirement · RequiredProductGroup declares a name and a group identifierProductWarning when failedWeight 2Technical SearchAI DiscoveryCommerceMachine Readability
What this checks
ProductGroup name, and a product group identifier as productGroupID or as inProductGroupWithID on its variants.
Why it matters
Google requires a ProductGroup name, and each product group needs a unique ID given by productGroupID or by inProductGroupWithID on its variants.
How to fix
Add name and productGroupID to the ProductGroup.
Expected
A name and a group identifier.
Applies to
Pages with at least one ProductGroup entity.
Authority
Official search-engine requirement · RequiredRequired for Google product variant support.
Technical Score
Weight 2 of 3A ProductGroup without a name or group ID is not usable for variants.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Checks ProductGroup entities in the inspected JSON-LD. Reports when one has no non-empty name, or has no productGroupID while none of its variants (hasVariant Products, or Products whose isVariantOf is the group) declares inProductGroupWithID.
Sources
STRUCTURED-PRODUCT-010Official search-engine requirement · RequiredVariant group identifiers matchProductWarning when failedWeight 2Technical SearchAI DiscoveryCommerceMachine Readability
What this checks
inProductGroupWithID of each variant against productGroupID of its ProductGroup.
Why it matters
Google requires the two identifiers to match when both are provided.
How to fix
Use the same identifier in productGroupID and in every variant's inProductGroupWithID.
Expected
Equal values.
Applies to
Pages where a ProductGroup declares productGroupID and at least one of its variants declares inProductGroupWithID.
Authority
Official search-engine requirement · RequiredRequired for Google product variant support.
Technical Score
Weight 2 of 3Mismatched group identifiers break the variant relationship.
How MaxiMarket detects it
For ProductGroups with productGroupID, reports when a linked variant (hasVariant, or isVariantOf the group) declares a different inProductGroupWithID (compared after trimming whitespace).
Sources
STRUCTURED-OFFER-001Official search-engine requirement · RequiredOffer has a priceOfferWarning when failedWeight 3Technical SearchAI DiscoveryCommerceMachine Readability
What this checks
Whether each inspected Offer has a price or a priceSpecification price.
Why it matters
Google lists price (or priceSpecification.price) as required on Offer for both Product snippets and merchant listings.
How to fix
Add a "price" property with the current offer price to each Offer.
Expected
Every Offer has a price (or priceSpecification.price).
Applies to
Pages with at least one inspected Offer linked from a fully inspected Product.
Authority
Official search-engine requirement · RequiredRequired for Google Product snippet and merchant listing eligibility.
Technical Score
Weight 3 of 3A price is required for every Offer.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when at least one inspected Offer linked from a fully inspected Product has neither a non-empty direct price nor a priceSpecification (object or array) with a non-empty price.
Sources
STRUCTURED-OFFER-002Official search-engine requirement · RequiredAggregateOffer has a lowPriceOfferWarning when failedWeight 3Technical SearchAI DiscoveryCommerceMachine Readability
What this checks
Whether each inspected AggregateOffer has a direct lowPrice.
Why it matters
Google lists lowPrice as required on AggregateOffer for Product snippets.
How to fix
Add a "lowPrice" property with the lowest available offer price to each AggregateOffer.
Expected
Every AggregateOffer has a lowPrice.
Applies to
Pages with at least one inspected AggregateOffer linked from a fully inspected Product.
Authority
Official search-engine requirement · RequiredRequired for Google Product snippet eligibility when AggregateOffer is used; merchant listings require Offer instead.
Technical Score
Weight 3 of 3lowPrice is the required price of an AggregateOffer.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when at least one inspected AggregateOffer linked from a fully inspected Product has no non-empty direct lowPrice.
Sources
STRUCTURED-OFFER-003Official search-engine requirement · RequiredOffer states its price currencyOfferWarning when failedWeight 2Technical SearchAI DiscoveryCommerceMachine Readability
What this checks
Whether each inspected Offer or AggregateOffer states a valid ISO 4217 currency code.
Why it matters
Google requires priceCurrency on Offer for merchant listings and on AggregateOffer for Product snippets; for Offer in Product snippets it is recommended.
How to fix
Add a "priceCurrency" property with the ISO 4217 currency code, such as "EUR", to each Offer and AggregateOffer.
Expected
Every Offer and AggregateOffer has a priceCurrency that is a current ISO 4217 alphabetic code, such as EUR.
Applies to
Pages with at least one inspected Offer or AggregateOffer linked from a fully inspected Product.
Authority
Official search-engine requirement · RequiredRequired for Google merchant listings (Offer) and Product snippets (AggregateOffer); recommended for Offer in Product snippets.
Technical Score
Weight 2 of 3A valid currency is required to interpret the price.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when at least one inspected Offer or AggregateOffer linked from a fully inspected Product has no priceCurrency that exactly matches an alphabetic code in ISO 4217 List One (the dated copy recorded in the audit package). For Offer, priceSpecification.priceCurrency is also accepted. Matching is case-sensitive after trimming whitespace.
Sources