How We Calculate Your Score
TrustScan analyzes multiple aspects of your website to provide a comprehensive health score. Here's how we evaluate and grade your site.
Score Overview
Your TrustScan health score starts at 100 points and deductions are applied based on issues found. Each issue type has a specific weight based on its impact on compliance, accessibility, and user experience.
Detailed Scoring Breakdown
Accessibility (WCAG)
WCAG accessibility issues are weighted by conformance level. Level A issues (essential) have the highest impact.
| Severity | WCAG Level | Deduction | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Critical | Level A | -23 pts | Missing alt text on images |
| Critical | Level AA | -18 pts | Insufficient color contrast |
| Warning | Level A | -8 pts | Missing form labels |
| Info | Level AAA | -1 pt | Enhanced contrast recommendation |
Compliance (GDPR & CCPA)
Privacy violations carry heavy weights due to potential legal consequences. GDPR violations have a 1.3x multiplier due to stricter enforcement.
| Severity | Regulation | Deduction | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Critical | GDPR | -26 pts | Missing cookie consent banner |
| Critical | CCPA | -22 pts | Missing "Do Not Sell" link |
| Warning | GDPR | -10 pts | Privacy policy missing sections |
Broken Links
Broken links hurt SEO and user experience. We apply diminishing returns after 10 broken links to prevent excessive penalties.
Industry-Calibrated Grading
Grade thresholds are calibrated by industry. Regulated industries like healthcare and fintech have stricter requirements.
| Grade | Default | E-commerce | Healthcare | Fintech |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A+ | 92+ | 88+ | 95+ | 94+ |
| A | 85-91 | 82-87 | 90-94 | 88-93 |
| B+ | 78-84 | 75-81 | 85-89 | 82-87 |
| F | < 50 | < 48 | < 60 | < 58 |
Grade Scale
Your overall health score is converted to a letter grade for easy understanding:
What We Analyze
Your health score is calculated from multiple categories, each weighted based on its impact on user experience and business outcomes:
Page Speed
20%How fast your pages load. We measure First Contentful Paint (FCP), Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Time to Interactive (TTI), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). Fast sites rank better and convert more visitors.
SEO
15%Search engine optimization factors including meta titles, descriptions, heading structure (H1 tags), and duplicate content issues. Good SEO helps your site get discovered.
Broken Links
15%We crawl your site to find links that lead to 404 errors or server errors. Broken links frustrate visitors and hurt your SEO rankings.
SSL & Security
15%We check your SSL certificate validity, expiration date, and security headers. A secure site builds trust and is required for modern browsers.
Accessibility
10%Images with missing alt text, broken media files, and other accessibility issues. Accessible sites reach more users and may be legally required.
Grammar & Content
10%Spelling mistakes, grammar issues, and content quality problems. Professional content builds credibility with visitors.
AI Readiness
10%How well AI systems like ChatGPT and Google AI can understand and reference your content. Includes llms.txt, sitemap, and structured data.
Compliance
5%GDPR/CCPA compliance, privacy policy, cookie consent, and legal pages. Essential for operating legally in different regions.
How the Score is Calculated
1. Category Scores: Each category is scored from 0-100 based on the issues found. No issues = 100, critical issues = significant deductions.
2. Weighted Average: Category scores are combined using the weights above to produce your overall health score.
3. Issue Severity: Critical issues (broken SSL, many 404s) have a larger impact than warnings (missing alt text, minor SEO issues).
4. Page Coverage: We scan up to 50 pages on your site to get a representative sample of your website's health.
Tips to Improve Your Score
- •Fix critical issues first — broken links and SSL problems have the biggest impact
- •Optimize images — compress large images and add alt text
- •Improve page speed — use caching, minimize JavaScript, optimize fonts
- •Add missing meta tags — unique titles and descriptions for each page
- •Re-scan regularly — catch new issues as your site changes