Public Audit Report

www.nytimes.com

https://www.nytimes.com/
Scanned on May 2, 2026
62
Overall
C
67
SEO
68/101 passed
63
AEO
32/51 passed
52
GEO
30/58 passed
130
Passed
80
Failed
210
Total Checks
Needs Work
Rating

Quick Wins — Top 5 Issues to Fix

SEO — 67/100 (33 issues)

Failed Checks (33)

  • ✗Title length: 66 characters (too long, keep under 60)meta
  • ✗Description length: 267 chars (too long)meta
  • ✗No theme-color meta tag — improves mobile browser appearancemeta
  • ✗Title-H1 alignment: 25% word overlap — title and H1 should share key termscontent
  • ✗39% long sentences (>20 words) — break up for readabilitycontent
  • ✗3 of 25 images missing ALT text (88% have it)content
  • ✗25 images missing width/height — causes layout shift (CLS)content
  • ✗14 of 25 images use legacy formats (JPG/PNG/GIF) — convert to WebP/AVIF for 25-50% smaller filescontent
  • ✗Missing og:site_name — helps brand recognition in sharessocial
  • ✗Missing twitter:card meta tagsocial
  • ✗Missing twitter:titlesocial
  • ✗Missing twitter:descriptionsocial
  • ✗Missing twitter:imagesocial
  • ✗Text-to-HTML ratio: 0.9% — too code-heavy, add more contenttechnical
  • ✗Inline CSS: 58.2 KB — too much, move to external stylesheetperformance
  • ✗Inline JS: 537.5 KB — too much, use external scriptsperformance
  • ✗1 render-blocking scripts — add defer or async attributeperformance
  • ✗No font preload/preconnect — add for faster renderingperformance
  • ✗No About page link detected — add for credibilitytrust
  • ✗No /sitemap.xml found — create one for better crawlingtechnical
  • ✗2 of 5 internal links are brokencontent
  • ✗No Web App Manifest — add for installability and modern web signalstechnical
  • ✗20 ad elements — excessive ads (ranking penalty risk)content
  • ✗Only 1 first-person pronouns — add personal experience (E-E-A-T)content
  • ✗No max-image-preview:large — add to robots meta for Google Discovermeta
  • ✗No Referrer-Policy header — may leak URL datasecurity
  • ✗210 links on page — exceeds 100 limit, may dilute link equitycontent
  • ✗DOM size: ~2671 elements — exceeds 1500, may slow renderingperformance
  • ✗1 render-blocking script(s) in head — add defer or asyncperformance
  • ✗3 duplicate ID(s) found: "elections2026brand" (3x), "100000009942400" (2x), "100000009780651" (2x) — must be unique per HTML specaccessibility
  • ✗1 iframe(s) without sandbox attribute — security risksecurity
  • ✗No IndexNow integration — add for instant Bing/Yandex indexing on content changestechnical
  • ✗8 of 12 H2 sections have < 50 words — add more content or merge thin sectionscontent

Passed Checks (68)

  • ✓Title tag found: "The New York Times - Breaking News, US News, World News and ..."meta
  • ✓Meta description found (267 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
  • ✓meta keywords tag found — deprecated since 2009, Google ignores it. Remove to keep HTML cleanmeta
  • ✓Single H1 tag foundcontent
  • ✓12 H2 tags foundcontent
  • ✓Heading hierarchy is correctcontent
  • ✓1071 words on page (good content depth)content
  • ✓Readability: 45 (moderate — aim for 60+)content
  • ✓JS-based lazy loading detectedcontent
  • ✓177 internal links foundcontent
  • ✓21 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
  • ✓HTTPS enabledtechnical
  • ✓Canonical tag foundtechnical
  • ✓Canonical tag is self-referencing (correct)technical
  • ✓Favicon foundtechnical
  • ✓Apple touch icon foundtechnical
  • ✓Compression: gziptechnical
  • ✓URL length: 24 chars (good)technical
  • ✓URL uses hyphens or no separators (good)technical
  • ✓9 hreflang tags found (multi-language)technical
  • ✓No deprecated HTML tags foundtechnical
  • ✓Cache-Control: s-maxage=30,no-cacheperformance
  • ✓HSTS header present — enforces HTTPSsecurity
  • ✓X-Content-Type-Options: nosniffsecurity
  • ✓Content-Security-Policy header presentsecurity
  • ✓Contact page/email link foundtrust
  • ✓Privacy Policy link foundtrust
  • ✓Terms of Service link foundtrust
  • ✓Author byline foundtrust
  • ✓2 JSON-LD schema block(s) foundschema
  • ✓Schema types: WebSite, NewsMediaOrganizationschema
  • ✓<!DOCTYPE html> declaredtechnical
  • ✓No mixed content — all resources use HTTPStechnical
  • ✓All 2 JSON-LD block(s) have valid syntaxschema
  • ✓Viewport includes width=device-width (responsive)meta
  • ✓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
  • ✓1% nofollow links (1/198) — good link equity flowcontent
  • ✓OG image uses absolute URL (correct)social
  • ✓All 1 target="_blank" links have rel="noopener"security
  • ✓2 resource hint(s) (dns-prefetch/preconnect) — faster loadingperformance
  • ✓All schema types have required propertiesschema
  • ✓All 9 hreflang codes are valid ISO 639-1technical
  • ✓hreflang x-default found — proper language fallbacktechnical
  • ✓236% responsive images (srcset/picture)content
  • ✓Permissions-Policy header presentsecurity
  • ✓H1 length: 28 characters (optimal)content
  • ✓Title and meta description are different (good)meta
  • ✓OG URL matches canonical URL (consistent)social
  • ✓Viewport allows zoom (good for accessibility)accessibility
  • ✓No snippet blocking detected (good — content is fully accessible)technical
  • ✓3 third-party script domain(s) (acceptable)performance
  • ✓ARIA landmarks present: main, navaccessibility
  • ✓All 0 form input(s) have labels or aria-labelsaccessibility
  • ✓1 feed(s) discovered (RSS) — aids content discoverytechnical
AEO — 63/100 (19 issues)

Failed Checks (19)

  • ✗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 concise answer paragraphs detected — add short summaries after headingsstructure
  • ✗Few key-value patterns — use "**Label:** value" format for AIstructure
  • ✗No date information — AI prefers fresh, dated contentcitation
  • ✗No source citations — reference studies and data for authoritycitation
  • ✗Only 0 concise answer paragraph(s) after headings — add 2+ short summaries (40-200 chars) right after H2/H3 tagscitation
  • ✗No Speakable schema — add for voice assistant optimizationvoice
  • ✗First paragraph too short for AI snippetsvoice
  • ✗Avg 24 words/sentence — simplify for AI and voicevoice
  • ✗Pronoun density: 0.7% — 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 /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
  • ✗Statistics lack source references — attribute data to boost AI trustcitation
  • ✗No <details>/<summary> elements — use for expandable Q&A contentstructure

Passed Checks (32)

  • ✓Structured data found — AI can understand your contentdiscoverability
  • ✓1071 words in HTML — good content for AI parsingdiscoverability
  • ✓Clean URL structurediscoverability
  • ✓5 semantic HTML5 elements founddiscoverability
  • ✓45 content sections — well-structured for AIdiscoverability
  • ✓Description + OG description both present — clear topic signalsdiscoverability
  • ✓113 named entities found — helps AI understand contextdiscoverability
  • ✓177 internal links — good topic cluster signaldiscoverability
  • ✓Question-style headings found — ideal for AI snippetsstructure
  • ✓19 lists found — structured content for AIstructure
  • ✓Step-by-step content detected — AI loves procedural answersstructure
  • ✓61% short sentences — easy for AI to extractstructure
  • ✓100% concise paragraphs — scannable for AIstructure
  • ✓Avg 307 words/section — sufficient depthstructure
  • ✓Author information found — builds E-E-A-Tcitation
  • ✓Statistics and data found in content — highly citablecitation
  • ✓Organization schema found — AI can identify your brandcitation
  • ✓4/5 E-E-A-T signals presentcitation
  • ✓21 external links — references authoritative sourcescitation
  • ✓Content references 2026/2025 — fresh contentcitation
  • ✓Topic focus: 100% — title keywords found in contentcitation
  • ✓12 conversational words — good for AI summariesvoice
  • ✓SearchAction schema found — sitelinks search box enabledvoice
  • ✓Active voice dominant (7% passive) — AI-friendlyvoice
  • ✓18 H2/H3 headings — good content structure for AIvoice
  • ✓No AI-blocking robots directives — AI crawlers can access contentdiscoverability
  • ✓Freshness signal found (Last-Modified header or dateModified)citation
  • ✓AI crawlers allowed in robots.txt (4/4 explicitly listed)discoverability
  • ✓7 sameAs social links in schema — strong brand signal for AIcitation
  • ✓Content updated within 90 days — fresh content gets 3.2x more AI citationscitation
  • ✓Table of Contents detected — helps AI navigate long contentstructure
  • ✓Video found but no VideoObject schema — add for AI video discoverydiscoverability
GEO — 52/100 (28 issues)

Failed Checks (28)

  • ✗Few question headings — add Q&A headings for AI Overviewoverview
  • ✗Title and H1 don't align — confusing for AI topic matchingoverview
  • ✗14% optimal paragraphs — aim for 20-80 words per paragraphoverview
  • ✗No author schema — add for AI trust signalsauthority
  • ✗No source citations — reference studies and data for authorityauthority
  • ✗Only 1/5 trust signals — add reviews, certificationsauthority
  • ✗Incomplete brand identity — add og:site_name + Organization schemaauthority
  • ✗No original data signals — "our research shows..." boosts AI citationauthority
  • ✗No examples or case studies — add real-world examplesauthority
  • ✗Few industry terms — use relevant jargon for topical authorityauthority
  • ✗No links to authoritative sources — cite Google, Schema.org, etc.authority
  • ✗No FAQ Schema — add for Google rich results + AI Overviewformat
  • ✗No HowTo Schema — add for step-by-step rich resultsformat
  • ✗No comparison content — add vs. sections for AI recommendationsformat
  • ✗No summary section — add Key Takeaways or TL;DR for AIformat
  • ✗3 images missing ALT textformat
  • ✗No BreadcrumbList schema — add for better AI contextformat
  • ✗Only 2/6 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
  • ✗Page size: 756 KB — very large, may slow AI crawlingtechnical
  • ✗Only 2 Schema type(s) — add more for AI contexttechnical
  • ✗Only 1 data points — add 5+ statistics for +30-40% AI visibility (Princeton study)authority
  • ✗Author lacks credentials — anonymous content is a GEO penaltyauthority
  • ✗Only 2/6 question types — add What, Why, How headingsoverview

Passed Checks (30)

  • ✓Definition-style content found — featured snippet candidateoverview
  • ✓Content freshness signals detectedoverview
  • ✓Comprehensive content (1071 words, 12 sections)overview
  • ✓Step-by-step content detected — AI Overview friendlyoverview
  • ✓2-level heading hierarchy — deep content structureoverview
  • ✓Expert quotes or testimonials found — authority signalauthority
  • ✓10 unique external domains — diverse sourcesauthority
  • ✓Data visualization elements found (tables/charts)format
  • ✓Both ordered and unordered lists used — content varietyformat
  • ✓Actionable advice found — AI prefers practical contentformat
  • ✓3 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
  • ✓142 contextual links — good cross-referencingsemantic
  • ✓Content categorization found — clear topic classificationsemantic
  • ✓Mobile-friendly (viewport set)technical
  • ✓HTTPS secure — trusted by AI systemstechnical
  • ✓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
  • ✓4 ARIA landmarks found — good accessibility for AItechnical
  • ✓All image ALT texts are descriptive (>5 chars)format
  • ✓1071 words — sufficient depth for AI analysisoverview
  • ✓First 200 words contain topic keywords — AI extracts primarily from the startoverview
  • ✓Definition + list combo — strong featured snippet candidateoverview
  • ✓No snippet restrictions — AI can freely extract content (good)technical
  • ✓Link anchor texts are descriptive — good AI context signalsemantic
  • ✓16 image caption(s) found — helps AI understand visual contentformat
  • ✓5 authoritative sameAs links (Wikipedia, LinkedIn, etc.) — strong Knowledge Graph signalauthority

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