← AnswerReady scanner

Methodology, API, and evidence

AnswerReady rubric 2026-08-22.1 is a 100-point model. A score is emitted only when every criterion has source evidence and the point total can be recomputed. Score and coverage are separate: skipped, not applicable, unavailable, and error outcomes reduce coverage without being counted as passes or failures.

Scoring rubric

Pass earns the full weight, warn earns half, and fail earns zero. Skipped, not applicable, unavailable, and error outcomes are excluded from the score denominator and lower coverage instead. Category weights are derived from the registered criteria and total 100.

AI Discovery

25 points

Public files and policies that let answer engines discover the site.

  • llms.txt is available

    A concise, root-level content map gives answer engines an explicit discovery surface.

    6 pt
  • llms-full.txt is available

    A bounded full-text companion gives agents richer context without scraping the entire site.

    3 pt
  • AI crawler policy is explicit

    Explicit crawler rules are more trustworthy than assuming access from an absent policy.

    5 pt
  • MCP discovery manifest is valid

    A valid MCP manifest advertises real, agent-operable capabilities.

    3 pt
  • Agent policy is published

    A machine-readable agent policy defines safe public and protected behavior.

    3 pt
  • AgentReady full test suite is verified

    A second, purpose-built scanner provides independent evidence for agent discovery and safe operation.

    5 pt

Crawlability

20 points

Signals that let crawlers safely find, select, and index canonical pages.

  • robots.txt is available

    robots.txt is the baseline crawl-policy surface.

    4 pt
  • XML sitemap is available

    A valid sitemap provides bounded, explicit URL discovery.

    6 pt
  • robots.txt references the sitemap

    The reference joins crawl policy and URL discovery.

    2 pt
  • Canonical URL is declared

    Canonical selection reduces duplicate and conflicting source identities.

    4 pt
  • Page is indexable

    A page cannot be cited consistently if page-level policy blocks indexing.

    4 pt

Structured Meaning

18 points

Machine-readable semantics used for entities, previews, and API discovery.

  • JSON-LD is syntactically valid

    Valid JSON-LD is the strongest page-level machine-readable entity signal.

    5 pt
  • JSON-LD identifies useful entity types

    Typed entities are more useful than syntactically valid but untyped graphs.

    3 pt
  • JSON-LD has complete, linked entities

    Parseable markup still needs schema.org context, typed entities, core properties, and stable identifiers to be dependable.

    4 pt
  • Open Graph metadata is complete

    Stable title, description, image, and type metadata improve source previews.

    4 pt
  • Social card metadata is available

    A card declaration supports consistent previews across secondary discovery channels.

    1 pt
  • Machine-readable API schema is available

    OpenAPI or MCP discovery lets agents verify available operations instead of guessing.

    1 pt

Answer Quality & Trust

23 points

Content, attribution, and freshness signals that support defensible citations.

  • Title is descriptive

    A concise title establishes the page's primary answer context.

    4 pt
  • Description summarizes the page

    A useful description provides a compact statement of intent and scope.

    4 pt
  • A single primary heading is present

    One clear H1 gives parsers a stable primary topic.

    3 pt
  • Content has useful depth

    Substantive visible text is more likely to contain answerable, citable detail.

    4 pt
  • Content exposes answer structure

    Question headings, lists, tables, and FAQ markup make answer units easier to extract.

    3 pt
  • Authorship or publisher is attributable

    Attribution supports provenance and confidence in a citation.

    3 pt
  • Claims link to supporting sources

    Outbound source links provide inspectable provenance for factual claims.

    1 pt
  • Freshness is machine-readable

    Published or modified dates help engines reason about time-sensitive claims.

    1 pt

Reach & UX

14 points

Syndication, locale, transport, mobile, and response-time readiness.

  • Document language is declared

    Language metadata improves parsing, accessibility, and locale selection.

    2 pt
  • RSS or Atom feed is available

    Feeds provide durable, incremental discovery for changing content.

    3 pt
  • Mobile viewport is configured

    Mobile usability affects both readers and mobile-first indexing.

    1 pt
  • Primary HTML responds promptly

    Fast server response improves crawl efficiency and user access.

    5 pt
  • Final page uses HTTPS

    Secure transport is a baseline trust and integrity requirement.

    3 pt

External PlatPhorm validation

Insights and SitemapOps inputs are schema-validated before transmission. Responses must be successful JSON, remain inside a 4 MB bound, and pass the adapter schema. Otherwise the lens is marked degraded and contributes no claimed external score.

Schema quality and PlatPhorm compliance

JSON-LD quality checks parseability, schema.org context, typed entities, core properties for known entity types, and stable absolute identifiers. PlatPhormNews targets also receive a separate public read-only contract assessment for standard routes, health envelopes, discovery, OpenAPI and shared auth, trust, MCP ping, trace state, Vercel metadata state, and secret hygiene. Network-only checks do not change the general readiness score and are not applied to external sites.

API, MCP, feeds, and discovery

OpenAPI is available as YAML or JSON. MCP metadata and the JSON-RPC transport are public read-only surfaces.