Audit

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Superseded.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Superseded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 60 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.

Document metadata

SEO-CHARSET-001Open standard / Schema.org · RequiredCharacter encoding is declared once, as UTF-8DocumentWarning when failedWeight 2Technical SearchAI DiscoveryMachine Readability
What this checks
The meta charset elements: how many there are and their value.
Why it matters
HTML allows at most one meta charset element and only the value utf-8; a wrong or conflicting declaration can garble text for every consumer.
How to fix
Keep a single <meta charset="utf-8"> and serve the document as UTF-8.
Expected
At most one meta charset, with the value utf-8.
Applies to
Pages with at least one meta charset element.
Authority
Open standard / Schema.org · RequiredHTML Standard, for pages that declare meta charset.
Technical Score
Weight 2 of 3A wrong or conflicting encoding declaration can garble the text for every consumer.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when there is more than one meta element with a charset attribute, or its value is not utf-8 (ASCII case-insensitive, surrounding whitespace ignored). Pages without meta charset are not applicable.
Sources
SEO-LANGUAGE-001Open standard / Schema.org · RequiredPage language is declaredDocumentWarning when failedWeight 2Technical SearchAI DiscoveryMachine Readability
What this checks
Whether the root html element has a non-empty lang attribute.
Why it matters
WCAG requires the default human language of a page to be programmatically determinable, and the HTML Standard encourages a lang attribute on the root element for speech synthesis and translation tools.
How to fix
Add a lang attribute with the page language to the <html> element.
Expected
The root <html> element declares the page language, such as lang="en".
Applies to
Every retrieved page.
Authority
Open standard / Schema.org · RequiredRequired for WCAG 2.2 Level A conformance (Success Criterion 3.1.1); the HTML Standard encourages the lang attribute.
Technical Score
Weight 2 of 3A WCAG Level A requirement for every page.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when the first html element has no lang attribute or an empty one. The language value is not validated.
Sources
SEO-LANGUAGE-002Open standard / Schema.org · RequiredPage language is a well-formed BCP 47 tagDocumentWarning when failedWeight 1AI DiscoveryMachine Readability
What this checks
Whether the html lang value conforms to the BCP 47 (RFC 5646) language tag syntax.
Why it matters
HTML requires the lang value to be a valid BCP 47 language tag; a malformed tag cannot identify the language for assistive technology or language processing.
How to fix
Use a BCP 47 language tag, such as en, en-GB or zh-Hant.
Expected
The lang value is a valid BCP 47 language tag, such as en or de-CH.
Applies to
Pages whose html element has a non-empty lang attribute.
Authority
Open standard / Schema.org · RequiredRequired by the HTML Standard for the lang attribute.
Technical Score
Weight 1 of 3A malformed lang value is declared but unusable; it only applies when lang is present.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when a non-empty lang value is not well-formed under the RFC 5646 ABNF (language, script, region, variant, extension and private-use subtags, private-use tags and the listed grandfathered tags), case-insensitively. Subtags are not checked against the IANA registry, so a well-formed but unregistered tag passes.
Sources

Canonicalization

SEO-CANONICAL-001Official platform recommendation · RecommendedCanonical URL is declaredDocumentWarning when failedWeight 1Technical SearchAI Discovery
What this checks
Whether the returned HTML declares a rel="canonical" link.
Why it matters
Google treats rel="canonical" as a strong canonicalization signal. Declaring one is optional: without it, Google selects a canonical URL itself.
How to fix
Add <link rel="canonical" href="..."> with the absolute preferred URL of this page.
Expected
The page declares a <link rel="canonical"> pointing to its preferred URL.
Applies to
Every retrieved page.
Authority
Official platform recommendation · RecommendedGoogle encourages canonical declarations but states that none of the methods are required.
Technical Score
Weight 1 of 3Google treats an explicit canonical as optional; declaring one is a helpful signal.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when the returned HTML has no link element whose rel includes canonical, or the first such link has an empty href. The target is neither validated nor fetched.
Sources
SEO-CANONICAL-002Open standard / Schema.org · RequiredOnly one canonical is declaredDocumentWarning when failedWeight 2Technical SearchAI Discovery
What this checks
The number of rel=canonical link elements, and of canonical entries in HTTP Link headers.
Why it matters
RFC 6596 asks for a single canonical; when several are declared, Google may ignore them.
How to fix
Keep a single rel=canonical link element (and at most one canonical Link header).
Expected
At most one canonical per method.
Applies to
Pages that declare at least one canonical, in a link element or an HTTP Link header.
Authority
Open standard / Schema.org · RequiredRFC 6596 and Google canonicalization guidance.
Technical Score
Weight 2 of 3Several canonical declarations may make search engines ignore all of them.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when the HTML contains more than one link element whose rel includes canonical, or the HTTP Link headers contain more than one rel=canonical entry. Disagreement between the two methods is SEO-CANONICAL-008.
Sources
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
SEO-CANONICAL-004Official platform recommendation · RecommendedCanonical URL is absoluteDocumentInfo when failedNot scoredTechnical SearchAI Discovery
What this checks
Whether the declared canonical href is an absolute URL.
Why it matters
Google recommends absolute rather than relative paths for rel="canonical". RFC 6596 allows relative references, so a relative canonical is not invalid.
How to fix
Use the full URL, such as https://www.example.com/page, in the canonical link.
Expected
The canonical link uses an absolute URL, including the scheme.
Applies to
Pages that declare a non-empty canonical URL.
Authority
Official platform recommendation · RecommendedGoogle canonicalization recommendation; relative canonicals are valid under RFC 6596.
Technical Score
Not scoredRelative canonicals are valid under RFC 6596 and resolve correctly; Google's preference for absolute URLs is advisory only.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when the first canonical href does not start with a URL scheme (for example /page, page or //host/page).
Sources
SEO-CANONICAL-005Official platform recommendation · RecommendedCanonical URL has no fragmentDocumentWarning when failedWeight 1Technical SearchAI Discovery
What this checks
Whether the declared canonical URL includes a fragment.
Why it matters
Google advises against specifying URL fragments as canonical URLs.
How to fix
Remove the #fragment from the canonical URL.
Expected
The canonical URL has no #fragment.
Applies to
Pages that declare a non-empty canonical URL.
Authority
Official platform recommendation · RecommendedGoogle canonicalization recommendation.
Technical Score
Weight 1 of 3Google advises against fragment canonicals; the fragment is normally dropped, so the effect is limited.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when the first canonical href contains a # character.
Sources
SEO-CANONICAL-008Official platform recommendation · RecommendedCanonical signals agree across methodsDocumentWarning when failedWeight 2Technical SearchAI Discovery
What this checks
Whether the canonical in the HTTP Link header and in the HTML link element point to the same URL.
Why it matters
Google asks not to specify different canonical URLs through different techniques.
How to fix
Declare the same canonical URL in the Link header and the link element, or use only one method.
Expected
The same canonical URL in every method.
Applies to
Pages that declare a canonical both in an HTTP Link header and in a link element.
Authority
Official platform recommendation · RecommendedGoogle canonicalization recommendation.
Technical Score
Weight 2 of 3Conflicting canonicals across methods may make search engines ignore both.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Resolves the first canonical Link header entry and the first canonical link element against the final URL, ignoring fragments, and reports when they differ. Sitemap inclusion is not compared.
Sources
SEO-CANONICAL-006Open standard / Schema.org · RecommendedCanonical target is directly retrievableDocumentWarning when failedWeight 2Technical SearchAI Discovery
What this checks
The HTTP status of the canonical URL when it differs from the final URL.
Why it matters
RFC 6596 advises against canonical targets that redirect or return an error, and Google wants canonical URLs that are accessible and indexable.
How to fix
Point the canonical at the final, directly reachable URL of the preferred page.
Expected
HTTP 200 without a redirect.
Applies to
Pages whose declared canonical resolves to a different URL than the final URL.
Authority
Open standard / Schema.org · RecommendedRFC 6596 and Google canonicalization guidance.
Technical Score
Weight 2 of 3A canonical that redirects or errors points search engines at a URL they cannot use.
How MaxiMarket detects it
One bounded request to the canonical URL through the same destination checks as the audit (public HTTP(S) destinations only, no redirects followed, 5-second limit). Reports a redirect status or a 4xx. Server errors, throttling, timeouts and refused destinations are not evaluated.
Sources
SEO-CANONICAL-007Open standard / Schema.org · RecommendedCanonical target does not declare another canonicalDocumentWarning when failedWeight 1Technical SearchAI Discovery
What this checks
The canonical declared by the canonical target page.
Why it matters
RFC 6596 advises against chains of canonical designations; search engines may ignore a chained canonical.
How to fix
Point the canonical directly at the final preferred URL.
Expected
The target is its own canonical, or declares none.
Applies to
Pages whose canonical target was retrieved as HTML with HTTP 200.
Authority
Open standard / Schema.org · RecommendedRFC 6596 guidance.
Technical Score
Weight 1 of 3A chained canonical may be ignored, but the chain usually still reaches the preferred page.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Uses the same request as SEO-CANONICAL-006. When the target answers 200 with HTML (read up to 512 KiB), reports when its first canonical link element resolves to a URL other than the target itself.
Sources

Headings and semantic structure

SEO-HEADING-001MaxiMarket recommendation · MaxiMarket best practicePage has a top-level headingDocumentWarning when failedNot scoredTechnical SearchAI DiscoveryMachine Readability
What this checks
Whether the returned HTML contains at least one h1 element.
Why it matters
A visible top-level heading helps visitors, assistive technology and automated readers identify the page subject. This is a MaxiMarket content-structure recommendation.
How to fix
Mark up the main page heading, such as the product name, as an <h1>.
Expected
The page has an h1 element that names its main content.
Applies to
Every retrieved page. Non-scoring: a MaxiMarket recommendation.
Authority
MaxiMarket recommendation · MaxiMarket best practiceMaxiMarket recommendation. No search engine, standard or platform requires this.
Technical Score
Not scoredA MaxiMarket recommendation; Google says there is no ideal heading structure.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when the returned HTML contains no h1 element. Headings created by client-side JavaScript are visible only in browser-based audits.
Sources

Links and discoverability

Images and media

MEDIA-IMG-ALT-001Open standard / Schema.org · RequiredImages have text alternativesDocumentWarning when failedWeight 2Technical SearchAI DiscoveryMachine Readability
What this checks
img elements without an alt attribute.
Why it matters
WCAG 1.1.1 (Level A) requires a text alternative for non-text content, and Google calls alt text the most important image metadata.
How to fix
Add an alt attribute to every img: a description for meaningful images, alt="" for decorative ones.
Expected
Every img has an alt attribute (empty for decorative images).
Applies to
Pages with at least one img element.
Authority
Open standard / Schema.org · RequiredWCAG 2.2 Level A.
Technical Score
Weight 2 of 3A WCAG Level A requirement; alt text is the main image metadata for search.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when an img element has no alt attribute and no other accessible name or hiding: aria-label, aria-labelledby, role="presentation" or role="none", and aria-hidden="true" are accepted. Alt text quality is not judged.
Sources

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-ORG-001Official platform recommendation · RecommendedHome page describes the organizationStructured dataInfo when failedWeight 1Technical SearchAI DiscoveryMachine Readability
What this checks
Organization structured data (or a subtype, such as OnlineStore) on the home page.
Why it matters
Google recommends Organization structured data on the home page (or an about page) to understand the organization behind the site.
How to fix
Add an Organization (or the most specific subtype) with name, url and logo to the home page.
Expected
At least one top-level Organization entity.
Applies to
Home pages (final URL path "/"); other pages are not applicable.
Authority
Official platform recommendation · RecommendedGoogle Organization structured data recommendation.
Technical Score
Weight 1 of 3Recommended on the home page to identify the organization.
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 entity typed Organization or one of its Schema.org subtypes. Not evaluated when JSON-LD inspection hit its limits.
Sources
STRUCTURED-ORG-002Official platform recommendation · RecommendedOrganization declares name, url and logoStructured dataInfo when failedWeight 1Technical SearchAI DiscoveryMachine Readability
What this checks
name, url and logo on each top-level Organization entity.
Why it matters
Google recommends these core identity properties for Organization structured data (none are required).
How to fix
Add name, url and logo to the Organization.
Expected
All three present.
Applies to
Pages with at least one top-level Organization entity (Organization or a subtype).
Authority
Official platform recommendation · RecommendedGoogle Organization structured data recommendation.
Technical Score
Weight 1 of 3Recommended core identity properties; none is required.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when a top-level entity typed Organization or a subtype lacks a non-empty name, url or logo. Organizations nested in other entities (for example a seller or publisher) are not checked.
Sources
STRUCTURED-ORG-003Official platform recommendation · RecommendedOrganization links its official profilesStructured dataInfo when failedNot scoredAI DiscoveryMachine Readability
What this checks
sameAs on each top-level Organization entity.
Why it matters
sameAs connects the organization to its other official profiles, which helps disambiguate it.
How to fix
Add sameAs with the URLs of the organization's official profiles.
Expected
At least one sameAs URL.
Applies to
Pages with at least one top-level Organization entity (Organization or a subtype).
Authority
Official platform recommendation · RecommendedGoogle Organization structured data recommendation.
Technical Score
Not scoredsameAs is optional disambiguation; its absence is not a technical defect.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when a top-level Organization (or subtype) has no non-empty sameAs value.
Sources
STRUCTURED-ORG-004Official platform recommendation · RecommendedOrganization logo meets minimum sizeStructured dataInfo when failedWeight 1Technical SearchAI DiscoveryMachine Readability
What this checks
The pixel dimensions of the logo of the first top-level Organization.
Why it matters
Google's Organization logo guideline sets a minimum of 112x112 pixels.
How to fix
Use a logo image of at least 112x112 pixels.
Expected
At least 112x112 pixels.
Applies to
Pages with a top-level Organization entity that declares a logo URL.
Authority
Official platform recommendation · RecommendedGoogle Organization structured data recommendation.
Technical Score
Weight 1 of 3A logo below Google's minimum size may not be used.
How MaxiMarket detects it
One bounded request for the logo URL (up to 256 KiB, same destination checks as the audit). Dimensions are read from PNG, GIF, JPEG, WebP and BMP headers. Reports when either dimension is below 112. SVG logos, unreadable formats and unavailable responses are not evaluated.
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
HTTP-REDIRECT-003Official platform recommendation · RecommendedProtocol and host normalization redirects are permanentIndexingWarning when failedWeight 1Technical SearchAI Discovery
What this checks
The status of each redirect on the way to the final URL that changes only the scheme and/or a leading "www." host label.
Why it matters
Google recommends permanent server-side redirects for permanent moves, and treats permanent redirects as a strong canonical signal. Moving to HTTPS or to the preferred host variant is permanent.
How to fix
Answer requests for the other scheme or host variant with a 301 or 308 redirect to the preferred URL.
Expected
Such redirects use 301 or 308.
Applies to
Audited URLs whose redirect chain includes a hop that changes only the scheme and/or a leading "www." host label, keeping path and query; other pages are not applicable.
Authority
Official platform recommendation · RecommendedGoogle redirect recommendation.
Technical Score
Weight 1 of 3A temporary normalization redirect weakens a canonical signal; the page is still reached.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Inspects the redirect hops the fetch followed (up to 5). A hop is a normalization redirect when path and query stay the same and only the scheme changes and/or the host gains or loses a leading "www." label. Reports when such a hop answers 302, 303 or 307. In browser audits the hops come from the navigation's redirect chain.
Sources
HTTP-REDIRECT-004Official platform recommendation · RecommendedPage does not redirect with meta refreshIndexingWarning when failedWeight 1Technical SearchAI Discovery
What this checks
Whether the page declares <meta http-equiv="refresh"> with a URL of another page.
Why it matters
Google recommends server-side redirects; a meta refresh redirect is only seen when the page is retrieved and parsed, and other consumers may not follow it.
How to fix
Replace the meta refresh with a server-side 301 or 308 redirect.
Expected
Redirects are server-side (HTTP 301 or 308 for permanent moves).
Applies to
Every retrieved (available) page.
Authority
Official platform recommendation · RecommendedGoogle redirect recommendation.
Technical Score
Weight 1 of 3A meta refresh still redirects; it is a weaker, slower signal than a server-side redirect.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when a meta http-equiv="refresh" element has a url= value that resolves to a different URL than the page (ignoring fragments). A refresh without a URL (a reload) passes. JavaScript redirects are not detected: they cannot be observed without executing scripts.
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
CRAWL-ACCESS-003Official platform recommendation · RecommendedAudited URL is not disallowed for AI search crawlersIndexingInfo when failedNot scoredAI Discovery
What this checks
RFC 9309 evaluation of robots.txt against the audited URL for the AI search crawlers OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, Meta-WebIndexer and Applebot.
Why it matters
Each vendor documents its own search crawler: OpenAI states that sites opted out of OAI-SearchBot are not shown in ChatGPT search answers, and Perplexity asks sites to allow PerplexityBot to be surfaced. These are platform statements, not search-engine requirements. The crawlers that are disallowed are listed in crawlerAccess.
How to fix
If the page should appear in these AI search products, allow the listed crawlers for this URL in robots.txt. Excluding them is a legitimate choice.
Expected
Allowed for each crawler, unless excluding the page from that product 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 platform recommendation · RecommendedOfficial platform documentation of each vendor's AI search product; reported per crawler and never scored.
Technical Score
Not scoredExcluding an AI search product is a site owner's policy choice.
How MaxiMarket detects it
The CRAWL-ACCESS-001 matcher evaluated per product token. Not evaluated when robots.txt is unavailable, answers 5xx, or exceeds the inspection limits. Bing is not evaluated: it honors a single section and its current documentation is not retrievable.
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-NOINDEX-CANONICAL-001Official platform recommendation · Recommendednoindex is not combined with a canonical URL pointing elsewhereIndexingWarning when failedNot scoredTechnical SearchAI Discovery
What this checks
Whether a page declares noindex for all crawlers and a canonical URL for a different page.
Why it matters
Google does not recommend using noindex to prevent selection of a canonical page within a single site; the two signals conflict.
How to fix
If this page duplicates another, keep the canonical URL and remove noindex. If the page should stay out of search, keep noindex and make the canonical point to the page itself or remove it.
Expected
The page uses one signal: a canonical URL pointing to the preferred page, or noindex.
Applies to
Pages that declare noindex for all crawlers and a non-empty canonical URL; indexable pages and crawler-specific noindex are not applicable.
Authority
Official platform recommendation · RecommendedGoogle canonicalization recommendation.
Technical Score
Not scoredDepends on noindex, an intent-dependent state that is itself not scored.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when INDEX-NOINDEX-001 applies (noindex or none for all crawlers) and the declared canonical, resolved against the final URL and ignoring any fragment, is a different URL. Unparseable canonical values are not applicable.
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

Sitemaps

INDEX-SITEMAP-002Open standard / Schema.org · RequiredSitemap is well-formedIndexingWarning when failedWeight 2Technical SearchAI Discovery
What this checks
Whether each retrieved sitemap is well-formed XML with a urlset or sitemapindex root.
Why it matters
The Sitemaps protocol defines a sitemap as XML beginning with urlset (or sitemapindex for index files); a malformed file cannot be processed as a sitemap.
How to fix
Regenerate the sitemap as well-formed UTF-8 XML following the Sitemaps protocol.
Expected
Each sitemap is a well-formed XML document whose root is urlset or sitemapindex.
Applies to
Origins where at least one sitemap was retrieved.
Authority
Open standard / Schema.org · RequiredRequired by the Sitemaps XML format.
Technical Score
Weight 2 of 3A malformed sitemap cannot be processed at all.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when at least one retrieved sitemap is malformed, has another root element, or contains a DTD or entity declaration, which MaxiMarket rejects for safety. Gzip-compressed sitemaps are not supported and namespaces are not validated.
Sources
INDEX-SITEMAP-007Open standard / Schema.org · RecommendedSitemap lastmod values are valid W3C DatetimeIndexingInfo when failedWeight 1Technical SearchAI Discovery
What this checks
The format of lastmod values in the inspected sitemaps.
Why it matters
The sitemap protocol requires W3C Datetime; Google uses lastmod only when it is consistently accurate, and a malformed value cannot be used.
How to fix
Write lastmod as YYYY-MM-DD or as a full timestamp with a time zone, such as 2026-09-26T08:00:00+00:00.
Expected
W3C Datetime: YYYY, YYYY-MM, YYYY-MM-DD, or a date with hh:mm[:ss[.s]] and a time zone.
Applies to
Retrieved, well-formed sitemaps with at least one lastmod value.
Authority
Open standard / Schema.org · RecommendedSitemaps XML protocol.
Technical Score
Weight 1 of 3Malformed lastmod values are ignored; the URLs are still listed.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when a lastmod of an inspected url or sitemap entry does not match a W3C Datetime form or has an impossible date or time. Whether the dates are accurate is not verifiable and not checked.
Sources

Structured data (general)

STRUCTURED-JSONLD-002Open standard / Schema.org · RequiredJSON-LD blocks parse as JSONStructured dataWarning when failedWeight 2Technical SearchAI DiscoveryMachine Readability
What this checks
Whether each inspected JSON-LD block parses as JSON.
Why it matters
JSON-LD is JSON; a block that cannot be parsed cannot be read as structured data by any consumer.
How to fix
Validate the JSON-LD block and fix syntax errors such as trailing commas, unescaped quotes or unclosed brackets.
Expected
Every JSON-LD block is valid JSON.
Applies to
Pages with at least one JSON-LD block.
Authority
Open standard / Schema.org · RequiredRequired by the JSON-LD 1.1 data format.
Technical Score
Weight 2 of 3An unparseable JSON-LD block loses all the data it contains.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when at least one inspected JSON-LD block fails JSON parsing. Blocks skipped because of size or count limits are not counted as invalid.
Sources
STRUCTURED-JSONLD-003MaxiMarket recommendation · MaxiMarket best practiceJSON-LD declares a usable typeStructured dataWarning when failedNot scoredTechnical SearchAI DiscoveryMachine Readability
What this checks
Whether valid JSON-LD declares at least one usable @type.
Why it matters
Schema.org organizes its vocabulary as types with associated properties, and structured data features are defined per type. MaxiMarket flags untyped JSON-LD because consumers cannot tell what it describes.
How to fix
Add an @type with a Schema.org type name to each entity in the JSON-LD.
Expected
Each structured data entity declares a Schema.org type, such as Product.
Applies to
Pages with at least one valid JSON-LD block.
Authority
MaxiMarket recommendation · MaxiMarket best practiceMaxiMarket recommendation. No search engine, standard or platform requires this.
Technical Score
Not scoredA MaxiMarket recommendation; untyped JSON-LD is not invalid.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when at least one JSON-LD block is valid but no normalized @type name is found within the bounded traversal.
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-ARTICLE-001Official platform recommendation · RecommendedArticle declares headline, image, dates and authorStructured dataInfo when failedWeight 1Technical SearchAI DiscoveryMachine Readability
What this checks
headline, image, datePublished, dateModified and author on each top-level Article entity.
Why it matters
Google recommends these properties for Article structured data (none are required); they describe the article for search features.
How to fix
Add headline, image, datePublished, dateModified and author to the Article.
Expected
All five present.
Applies to
Pages with at least one top-level Article entity (Article or a subtype, such as BlogPosting or NewsArticle).
Authority
Official platform recommendation · RecommendedGoogle Article structured data recommendation.
Technical Score
Weight 1 of 3Recommended properties; Article has no required properties.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when a top-level entity typed Article or a Schema.org subtype (for example BlogPosting or NewsArticle) lacks a non-empty headline, image, datePublished, dateModified or author.
Sources
STRUCTURED-AUTHOR-001Official platform recommendation · RecommendedAuthor entities have a nameStructured dataWarning when failedWeight 1Technical SearchAI DiscoveryMachine Readability
What this checks
The name of each declared author.
Why it matters
Google documents the author name for articles and requires a valid author name for reviews.
How to fix
Give each author a name, for example {"@type": "Person", "name": "…"}.
Expected
Every author is a non-empty name or an entity with one.
Applies to
Pages whose structured data declares at least one author.
Authority
Official platform recommendation · RecommendedGoogle Article and review snippet guidance.
Technical Score
Weight 1 of 3Author names are recommended for articles and required for reviews.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Checks author values in the inspected JSON-LD. A non-empty string, or an object with a non-empty name, passes; an @id reference is resolved within the page. Reports when an author object has no name. Unresolvable references are not evaluated.
Sources
STRUCTURED-DATE-001Official platform recommendation · RecommendedStructured dates use ISO 8601 with time zoneStructured dataWarning when failedWeight 1Technical SearchAI DiscoveryMachine Readability
What this checks
The format of datePublished and dateModified values.
Why it matters
Google asks for ISO 8601 dates and correct time zones; a time without a zone is ambiguous.
How to fix
Use values such as 2026-09-26 or 2026-09-26T08:00:00+02:00.
Expected
An ISO 8601 date, or a date and time with a time zone.
Applies to
Pages whose structured data declares datePublished or dateModified.
Authority
Official platform recommendation · RecommendedGoogle Article and publication date guidance.
Technical Score
Weight 1 of 3Dates in another format or without a time zone may be misread.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when a datePublished or dateModified in the inspected JSON-LD is not an ISO 8601 calendar date (YYYY-MM-DD) or date-time with hours and minutes, or gives a time without Z or an offset.
Sources
STRUCTURED-DATE-002Official platform recommendation · RecommendedDates are plausibleStructured dataWarning when failedWeight 1Technical SearchAI DiscoveryMachine Readability
What this checks
Future datePublished or dateModified values, and dateModified earlier than datePublished.
Why it matters
Google asks not to specify future dates, and a modification before publication is contradictory.
How to fix
Correct the dates or their time zones.
Expected
No future dates, and dateModified not earlier than datePublished.
Applies to
Pages whose structured data declares a datePublished or dateModified in ISO 8601 form.
Authority
Official platform recommendation · RecommendedGoogle publication date guidance.
Technical Score
Weight 1 of 3Implausible dates are recommended against; they do not break parsing.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Compares ISO 8601 values with the audit time and with each other. A date without a time spans that whole day in every time zone, and a time without a zone spans all offsets, so only dates that are in the future (by more than one hour) or out of order under every interpretation are reported.
Sources
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-004Official platform recommendation · RecommendedProduct has a product identifierProductWarning when failedWeight 1Technical SearchAI DiscoveryCommerceMachine Readability
What this checks
Whether each inspected Product entity has a recognized product identifier: GTIN, MPN, SKU or ISBN.
Why it matters
Google recommends GTIN, MPN or SKU identifiers for merchant listings to identify the product.
How to fix
Add the applicable identifier, such as "gtin13", "mpn" or "sku", to each Product entity.
Expected
Every Product entity has a GTIN, MPN, SKU or ISBN.
Applies to
Pages with at least one fully inspected Product entity; not applicable otherwise.
Authority
Official platform recommendation · RecommendedGoogle recommendation for merchant listings.
Technical Score
Weight 1 of 3Identifiers are recommended, not required.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when at least one fully inspected Product entity has none of sku, gtin, gtin8, gtin12, gtin13, gtin14, isbn or mpn with a non-empty value. Identifier formats and check digits are not validated.
Sources
STRUCTURED-PRODUCT-005Official platform recommendation · RecommendedProduct declares a brandProductInfo when failedWeight 1Technical SearchAI DiscoveryCommerceMachine Readability
What this checks
Whether each inspected Product entity has a brand with a name.
Why it matters
Google recommends brand for merchant listings; it identifies the product's maker.
How to fix
Add brand, for example {"@type": "Brand", "name": "…"}.
Expected
Every Product has a brand name.
Applies to
Pages with at least one fully inspected Product entity; not applicable otherwise.
Authority
Official platform recommendation · RecommendedFully inspected Product entities (at most 20 per page).
Technical Score
Weight 1 of 3Brand is a recommended property.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when a fully inspected Product entity has no brand that is a non-empty string or an object with a non-empty name.
Sources
STRUCTURED-PRODUCT-006Official platform recommendation · RecommendedProduct has a descriptionProductInfo when failedWeight 1Technical SearchAI DiscoveryCommerceMachine Readability
What this checks
Whether each inspected Product entity has a description.
Why it matters
Google recommends a description for merchant listings.
How to fix
Add a description to each Product.
Expected
Every Product has a non-empty description.
Applies to
Pages with at least one fully inspected Product entity; not applicable otherwise.
Authority
Official platform recommendation · RecommendedFully inspected Product entities (at most 20 per page).
Technical Score
Weight 1 of 3Description is a recommended property.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when a fully inspected Product entity has no non-empty description string.
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
STRUCTURED-OFFER-004Official platform recommendation · RecommendedOffer states its availabilityOfferWarning when failedWeight 1Technical SearchAI DiscoveryCommerceMachine Readability
What this checks
Whether each inspected Offer states a valid Schema.org availability value.
Why it matters
Google recommends availability on Offer for Product snippets and merchant listings.
How to fix
Add an "availability" property with a Schema.org ItemAvailability value to each Offer.
Expected
Every Offer has an availability that is a Schema.org ItemAvailability value, such as https://schema.org/InStock.
Applies to
Pages with at least one inspected Offer linked from a fully inspected Product.
Authority
Official platform recommendation · RecommendedGoogle recommendation for Product snippets and merchant listings.
Technical Score
Weight 1 of 3Availability is recommended.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when at least one inspected Offer linked from a fully inspected Product has no availability naming an ItemAvailability member, either as a schema.org URL, a bare member name or an @id reference. AggregateOffer is not checked.
Sources
STRUCTURED-OFFER-006Open standard / Schema.org · RecommendedOffer price is machine-readableOfferWarning when failedWeight 2Technical SearchAI DiscoveryCommerceMachine Readability
What this checks
The format of Offer price and priceSpecification.price values, and AggregateOffer lowPrice and highPrice.
Why it matters
Schema.org asks for "." as the decimal separator and for the currency in priceCurrency, not in the price.
How to fix
Write prices such as 1299.00, without currency symbols or thousands separators.
Expected
A number, or a string of digits with an optional "." decimal part.
Applies to
Pages with at least one inspected Offer or AggregateOffer price value linked from a fully inspected Product.
Authority
Open standard / Schema.org · RecommendedSchema.org Offer usage guidance.
Technical Score
Weight 2 of 3A price that is not machine-readable cannot be interpreted reliably.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when an inspected price value (linked from a fully inspected Product) is neither a finite non-negative JSON number nor a string of digits with an optional "." and digits (surrounding whitespace ignored). Missing prices are STRUCTURED-OFFER-001 and -002.
Sources
STRUCTURED-OFFER-008Open standard / Schema.org · RecommendedpriceValidUntil is not in the pastOfferWarning when failedWeight 1Technical SearchAI DiscoveryCommerceMachine Readability
What this checks
priceValidUntil of each inspected Offer against the audit time.
Why it matters
After priceValidUntil the price is by definition no longer available, so the offer information is stale.
How to fix
Update or remove priceValidUntil.
Expected
Absent, or not yet passed.
Applies to
Pages with at least one inspected Offer declaring priceValidUntil.
Authority
Open standard / Schema.org · RecommendedSchema.org Offer definition; Google merchant listing recommendation.
Technical Score
Weight 1 of 3An expired priceValidUntil makes offer data stale.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when an ISO 8601 priceValidUntil has passed in every time zone at the audit time (a date is valid through its whole day). Unparseable values are not evaluated.
Sources

Social metadata

SOCIAL-OG-URL-001Open standard / Schema.org · RequiredOpen Graph URL is presentDocumentInfo when failedNot scoredAI DiscoverySocial Discovery
What this checks
Whether a page that declares Open Graph metadata has a non-empty og:url.
Why it matters
The Open Graph protocol lists og:url among the four properties required for every page, as the canonical URL of the object.
How to fix
Add <meta property="og:url" content="..."> with the canonical URL of the page.
Expected
Pages that use Open Graph declare <meta property="og:url"> with the canonical URL.
Applies to
Pages that declare any well-formed og:* meta property; pages without Open Graph metadata are not applicable.
Authority
Open standard / Schema.org · RequiredOpen Graph protocol, for pages that use Open Graph.
Technical Score
Not scoredShare-preview markup is outside the Technical Score.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Reports when Open Graph inspection is complete, the page declares at least one well-formed og:* meta property, and no og:url has a non-empty value.
Sources
SOCIAL-OG-URL-002Open standard / Schema.org · RecommendedOpen Graph URL matches the canonical URLDocumentInfo when failedNot scoredAI DiscoverySocial Discovery
What this checks
og:url against the declared canonical URL.
Why it matters
The Open Graph protocol defines og:url as the canonical URL; a different value splits the page's identity between share previews and search.
How to fix
Set og:url to the canonical URL.
Expected
The same URL.
Applies to
Pages that use Open Graph and declare both a non-empty og:url and a canonical URL.
Authority
Open standard / Schema.org · RecommendedOpen Graph protocol, for pages that use Open Graph.
Technical Score
Not scoredShare-preview markup is outside the Technical Score.
How MaxiMarket detects it
Resolves the first non-empty og:url and the first canonical against the final URL, ignoring fragments, and reports when they differ.
Sources