Audit Standard / 2026.3

Rule explorer: Audit Standard 2026.3

Every check that defines technical readiness in MaxiMarket Audit Standard 2026.3, 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Superseded.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: 2026.3
Status: Superseded
Published: 2026-09-30
Rules: 92
Scored: 72
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 17 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.

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: Define a favicon to show in search results — Google Search Central, verified 2026-09-26

SEO-FAVICON-002Official search-engine requirement · RequiredFavicon meets size and access requirementsDocumentWarning when failedWeight 1Technical SearchMachine Readability

What this checks: The first declared favicon: dimensions, shape and whether Googlebot-Image may crawl it.
Why it matters: Google shows a favicon only when it is square, at least 8x8 pixels and crawlable by Googlebot-Image.
How to fix: Use a square favicon of at least 48x48 pixels and allow Googlebot-Image to crawl it.

Expected: A square image of at least 8x8 pixels (more than 48x48 recommended) that robots.txt allows for Googlebot-Image.
Applies to: Home pages that declare a favicon.
Authority: Official search-engine requirement · RequiredRequired for a favicon in Google Search results.
Technical Score: Weight 1 of 3A favicon that does not meet the requirements is not shown.
How MaxiMarket detects it: One bounded request for the favicon (up to 256 KiB, same destination checks as the audit) and, for another origin, its robots.txt. Dimensions are read from PNG, GIF, JPEG, WebP, BMP and ICO headers (the largest ICO entry). Reports when the favicon returns 4xx, is not square, is smaller than 8x8, or robots.txt disallows it for Googlebot-Image (falling back to Googlebot groups, then *). SVG favicons, unreadable formats and unavailable responses are not evaluated.
Sources: Define a favicon to show in search results — Google Search Central, verified 2026-09-26

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: Provide a site name to Google Search — Google Search Central, verified 2026-09-26

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: Provide a site name to Google Search — Google Search Central, verified 2026-09-26

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: Review snippet structured data — Google Search Central, verified 2026-09-26

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: Review snippet structured data — Google Search Central, verified 2026-09-26

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: Subscription and paywalled content structured data — Google Search Central, verified 2026-09-26

Spam policies for Google web search — Google Search Central, verified 2026-09-26

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: Product snippet structured data — Google Search Central, verified 2026-09-26

Merchant listing structured data — Google Search Central, verified 2026-09-26

General structured data guidelines — Google Search Central, verified 2026-09-26

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: Merchant listing structured data — Google Search Central, verified 2026-09-26

General structured data guidelines — Google Search Central, verified 2026-09-26

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: Product snippet structured data — Google Search Central, verified 2026-09-26

General structured data guidelines — Google Search Central, verified 2026-09-26

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: Merchant listing structured data — Google Search Central, verified 2026-09-26

General structured data guidelines — Google Search Central, verified 2026-09-26

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: Product variant structured data — Google Search Central, verified 2026-09-26

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: Product variant structured data — Google Search Central, verified 2026-09-26

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: Product snippet structured data — Google Search Central, verified 2026-09-26

Merchant listing structured data — Google Search Central, verified 2026-09-26

General structured data guidelines — Google Search Central, verified 2026-09-26

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: Product snippet structured data — Google Search Central, verified 2026-09-26

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: Merchant listing structured data — Google Search Central, verified 2026-09-26

Product snippet structured data — Google Search Central, verified 2026-09-26

Schema.org Offer — Schema.org, verified 2026-09-26

ISO 4217 currency code lists — SIX (ISO 4217 Maintenance Agency), verified 2026-09-26