Public Audit Report

www.espn.com

https://www.espn.com/
Scanned on May 2, 2026
63
Overall
C
68
SEO
70/103 passed
60
AEO
31/52 passed
57
GEO
33/58 passed
134
Passed
79
Failed
213
Total Checks
Needs Work
Rating

Quick Wins — Top 5 Issues to Fix

SEO — 68/100 (33 issues)

Failed Checks (33)

  • Description length: 111 chars (too short)meta
  • No theme-color meta tag — improves mobile browser appearancemeta
  • No H1 tag foundcontent
  • 46% long sentences (>20 words) — break up for readabilitycontent
  • 23 of 94 images missing ALT text (76% have it)content
  • 94 images missing width/height — causes layout shift (CLS)content
  • Missing twitter:imagesocial
  • Text-to-HTML ratio: 3.2% — too code-heavy, add more contenttechnical
  • Inline JS: 92.8 KB — too much, use external scriptsperformance
  • 4 render-blocking scripts — add defer or async attributeperformance
  • No Strict-Transport-Security headersecurity
  • Missing X-Content-Type-Options headersecurity
  • No Contact page link detected — add for trust signalstrust
  • 14 HTTP resource(s) on HTTPS page — security risktechnical
  • Viewport missing width=device-width — not properly responsivemeta
  • 6 target="_blank" links missing rel="noopener" — security risksecurity
  • 21 ad elements — excessive ads (ranking penalty risk)content
  • Missing hreflang x-default — add fallback for unmatched languagestechnical
  • Only 19% responsive images — add srcset for mobilecontent
  • No max-image-preview:large — add to robots meta for Google Discovermeta
  • Event content found but no Event schema — add for event rich resultsschema
  • Missing X-Frame-Options — clickjacking risksecurity
  • No Referrer-Policy header — may leak URL datasecurity
  • No Permissions-Policy — restrict camera/mic/geo accesssecurity
  • 1 paragraph(s) exceed 150 words — break up for readabilitycontent
  • Viewport disables zoom — bad for accessibility (WCAG 1.4.4)accessibility
  • 189 links on page — exceeds 100 limit, may dilute link equitycontent
  • 3 render-blocking script(s) in head — add defer or asyncperformance
  • Missing ARIA landmarks — add <main>, <nav>, and skip-to-content link for accessibilityaccessibility
  • 34 duplicate ID(s) found: "46064085" (2x), "48475488" (2x), "48485622" (2x) — must be unique per HTML specaccessibility
  • No RSS/Atom feed in <head> — add for content discovery by aggregators and AItechnical
  • No IndexNow integration — add for instant Bing/Yandex indexing on content changestechnical
  • 44 of 48 H2 sections have < 50 words — add more content or merge thin sectionscontent

Passed Checks (70)

  • Title tag found: "ESPN - Serving Sports Fans. Anytime. Anywhere."meta
  • Title length: 46 characters (optimal)meta
  • Meta description found (111 chars)meta
  • Viewport meta tag found (mobile-friendly)meta
  • UTF-8 charset declaredmeta
  • Language attribute set on HTML tagmeta
  • No meta refresh redirect (good)meta
  • No robots meta tag (default: index, follow)meta
  • 48 H2 tags foundcontent
  • Heading hierarchy is correctcontent
  • 1155 words on page (good content depth)content
  • Readability: 54 (moderate — aim for 60+)content
  • JS-based lazy loading detectedcontent
  • 27 of 94 images use legacy formats (JPG/PNG/GIF) — convert to WebP/AVIF for 25-50% smaller filescontent
  • 143 internal links foundcontent
  • 37 external links foundcontent
  • No empty href attributes foundcontent
  • All link texts are descriptive (no "click here" or "read more")content
  • Open Graph title foundsocial
  • Open Graph description foundsocial
  • Open Graph image foundsocial
  • Open Graph URL foundsocial
  • og:type set to "website"social
  • og:site_name: "ESPN.com"social
  • Twitter Card: "summary"social
  • Twitter title foundsocial
  • Twitter description foundsocial
  • HTTPS enabledtechnical
  • Canonical tag foundtechnical
  • Canonical tag is self-referencing (correct)technical
  • Favicon foundtechnical
  • Apple touch icon foundtechnical
  • Compression: gziptechnical
  • URL length: 21 chars (good)technical
  • URL uses hyphens or no separators (good)technical
  • 22 hreflang tags found (multi-language)technical
  • No deprecated HTML tags foundtechnical
  • Inline CSS: 0.0 KB (acceptable)performance
  • Font preload/preconnect found — faster font loadingperformance
  • Cache-Control: max-age=0, must-revalidateperformance
  • Content-Security-Policy header presentsecurity
  • About page link found — builds trust and E-E-A-Ttrust
  • Privacy Policy link foundtrust
  • Terms of Service link foundtrust
  • Author byline found + author in schematrust
  • 2 JSON-LD schema block(s) foundschema
  • Schema types: WebSite, Organizationschema
  • <!DOCTYPE html> declaredtechnical
  • All 2 JSON-LD block(s) have valid syntaxschema
  • robots.txt found and allows crawlingtechnical
  • robots.txt includes Sitemap referencetechnical
  • No AI crawlers blocked in robots.txt — AI search and training can access contenttechnical
  • sitemap.xml found with valid formattechnical
  • Sitemap contains 5 URL(s)technical
  • All 5 checked internal links are workingcontent
  • 0% nofollow links (0/180) — good link equity flowcontent
  • OG image uses absolute URL (correct)social
  • Web App Manifest found (PWA-ready)technical
  • 4 resource hint(s) (dns-prefetch/preconnect) — faster loadingperformance
  • All schema types have required propertiesschema
  • 3 first-person pronouns — some experience showncontent
  • All 22 hreflang codes are valid ISO 639-1technical
  • Organization schema includes logoschema
  • Title and meta description are different (good)meta
  • OG URL matches canonical URL (consistent)social
  • DOM size: ~1246 elements (good)performance
  • No snippet blocking detected (good — content is fully accessible)technical
  • 3 third-party script domain(s) (acceptable)performance
  • All 1 form input(s) have labels or aria-labelsaccessibility
  • No iframes on pagesecurity
AEO — 60/100 (21 issues)

Failed Checks (21)

  • No definition lists (<dl>) — great for term/value pairsdiscoverability
  • No code blocks — add <code>/<pre> for technical contentdiscoverability
  • No FAQ section found — add Q&A content for AI citationstructure
  • No data tables — tables help AI compare and cite datastructure
  • No numbered steps or ordered lists — add for "how to" AI answersstructure
  • Few key-value patterns — use "**Label:** value" format for AIstructure
  • No source citations — reference studies and data for authoritycitation
  • No Speakable schema — add for voice assistant optimizationvoice
  • Avg 26 words/sentence — simplify for AI and voicevoice
  • Pronoun density: 0.5% — add more "you/your" for engagementvoice
  • No summary section — add Key Takeaways for AI extractionvoice
  • Few Q&A blocks — add question headings followed by answer paragraphsvoice
  • No Last-Modified header or dateModified — AI prefers content with freshness signalscitation
  • No /llms.txt found — add one to guide AI crawlers (emerging standard)discoverability
  • Brand name inconsistent — align site name across title, og:site_name, Organization schemacitation
  • Content not updated in 90+ days — stale content loses AI visibilitycitation
  • No Table of Contents — add jump links for AI content navigationstructure
  • No video content — multimedia increases AI engagement and citation ratediscoverability
  • Statistics lack source references — attribute data to boost AI trustcitation
  • No <details>/<summary> elements — use for expandable Q&A contentstructure
  • Brand "ESPN.com" mentioned only 1 time(s) — repeat for entity recognitioncitation

Passed Checks (31)

  • Structured data found — AI can understand your contentdiscoverability
  • 1155 words in HTML — good content for AI parsingdiscoverability
  • Clean URL structurediscoverability
  • 5 semantic HTML5 elements founddiscoverability
  • 55 content sections — well-structured for AIdiscoverability
  • Description + OG description both present — clear topic signalsdiscoverability
  • 80 named entities found — helps AI understand contextdiscoverability
  • 143 internal links — good topic cluster signaldiscoverability
  • Question-style headings found — ideal for AI snippetsstructure
  • 37 lists found — structured content for AIstructure
  • Concise answer paragraphs after headings — great for AI citationstructure
  • 54% short sentences — easy for AI to extractstructure
  • 88% concise paragraphs — scannable for AIstructure
  • Avg 50 words/section — sufficient depthstructure
  • Author information found — builds E-E-A-Tcitation
  • Publication/modification date foundcitation
  • Statistics and data found in content — highly citablecitation
  • Organization schema found — AI can identify your brandcitation
  • 3/5 E-E-A-T signals presentcitation
  • 37 external links — references authoritative sourcescitation
  • Content references 2026/2025 — fresh contentcitation
  • Topic focus: 100% — title keywords found in contentcitation
  • 9 answer-box-ready paragraphs found after headingscitation
  • 10 conversational words — good for AI summariesvoice
  • First paragraph is snippet-ready (20-60 words)voice
  • SearchAction schema found — sitelinks search box enabledvoice
  • Active voice dominant (7% passive) — AI-friendlyvoice
  • 49 H2/H3 headings — good content structure for AIvoice
  • No AI-blocking robots directives — AI crawlers can access contentdiscoverability
  • AI crawlers allowed in robots.txt (2/4 explicitly listed)discoverability
  • 7 sameAs social links in schema — strong brand signal for AIcitation
GEO — 57/100 (25 issues)

Failed Checks (25)

  • Few question headings — add Q&A headings for AI Overviewoverview
  • Title and H1 don't align — confusing for AI topic matchingoverview
  • No step-by-step content — add numbered guides for AIoverview
  • No author schema — add for AI trust signalsauthority
  • No source citations — reference studies and data for authorityauthority
  • No original data signals — "our research shows..." boosts AI citationauthority
  • No expert quotes — add professional opinions for credibilityauthority
  • No examples or case studies — add real-world examplesauthority
  • No FAQ Schema — add for Google rich results + AI Overviewformat
  • No HowTo Schema — add for step-by-step rich resultsformat
  • No summary section — add Key Takeaways or TL;DR for AIformat
  • 23 images missing ALT textformat
  • No BreadcrumbList schema — add for better AI contextformat
  • Only one list type — use both <ul> and <ol> for content varietyformat
  • Only 1/6 formatting types — use bold, lists, tables, quotes, codeformat
  • Single-perspective content — add "on the other hand..." for balanceformat
  • No conclusion — add recommendations or a verdict sectionformat
  • No <time> elements — wrap dates in <time datetime="...">semantic
  • Few data points with units — add specific numbers (e.g., "300+ users")semantic
  • Few sections have subtopics — add H3 subheadings for depthsemantic
  • Only 2 Schema type(s) — add more for AI contexttechnical
  • 3 image(s) with generic/short ALT text — use descriptive textformat
  • First 200 words lack topic keywords — AI may skip your content for extractionoverview
  • Only 0 data points — add 5+ statistics for +30-40% AI visibility (Princeton study)authority
  • Author lacks credentials — anonymous content is a GEO penaltyauthority

Passed Checks (33)

  • Definition-style content found — featured snippet candidateoverview
  • Content freshness signals detectedoverview
  • Comprehensive content (1155 words, 48 sections)overview
  • 2-level heading hierarchy — deep content structureoverview
  • 75% optimal paragraphs (20-80 words) — AI-friendlyoverview
  • 2/5 trust signals foundauthority
  • Brand identity consistent (OG + Schema)authority
  • 4 industry terms used — domain expertise signalauthority
  • 1 links to authoritative sources — boosts credibilityauthority
  • 17 unique external domains — diverse sourcesauthority
  • Comparison content detected — AI loves comparingformat
  • Data visualization elements found (tables/charts)format
  • Actionable advice found — AI prefers practical contentformat
  • 1 entity types in Schema — AI can classify contentsemantic
  • 7/14 semantic HTML5 elements — deep semantic structuresemantic
  • 100% title keywords in first 200 words — good prominencesemantic
  • 73 contextual links — good cross-referencingsemantic
  • Content categorization found — clear topic classificationsemantic
  • Mobile-friendly (viewport set)technical
  • HTTPS secure — trusted by AI systemstechnical
  • Page size: 215 KB — reasonabletechnical
  • Open Graph fully configured (title, description, image)technical
  • Canonical URL set — prevents AI from citing duplicatestechnical
  • Page allows AI indexing (no noindex/nosnippet)technical
  • HTML lang="en" set (add og:locale for completeness)technical
  • 2 ARIA landmarks found — good accessibility for AItechnical
  • 1155 words — sufficient depth for AI analysisoverview
  • Definition + list combo — strong featured snippet candidateoverview
  • No snippet restrictions — AI can freely extract content (good)technical
  • 5/6 question types (5W1H) in headings — comprehensiveoverview
  • Link anchor texts are descriptive — good AI context signalsemantic
  • 1 image caption(s) found — helps AI understand visual contentformat
  • 4 authoritative sameAs links (Wikipedia, LinkedIn, etc.) — strong Knowledge Graph signalauthority

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