Frequently asked questions
Everything people ask before and after a scan, grouped by topic. If your question isn't here, ask us or email info@focalscore.com — a person answers, usually within a business day.
The scan
Why use FocalScore instead of Lighthouse, Screaming Frog or Ahrefs?
Those tools each answer one question well, and none of them answers the one that decides whether a website earns money. Lighthouse scores the speed and accessibility of a single page. Screaming Frog crawls technical SEO. Ahrefs tracks keywords and backlinks. None of them tells you whether your homepage explains what you actually sell, whether a buyer would trust you enough to enquire, or whether ChatGPT can describe your business correctly when someone asks it for a recommendation. FocalScore runs up to 395 checks across all three — convert, rank, and AI readiness — and writes every finding for the person who owns the site rather than the analyst reading it. It also measures AI visibility rather than guessing at it: the paid report puts real buyer questions to an assistant and records whether you were cited, and who was cited instead. And when a check cannot gather its evidence it says “not run” instead of inventing a verdict, so nothing in your report is made up.
What does “AI readiness” actually mean?
It's whether AI assistants like ChatGPT and Perplexity can access and understand your site — AI-crawler permissions, whether your content loads without JavaScript, and structured data. If they can't read you, they can't recommend you when a buyer asks them for options.
Can I trust an automated grade?
The score comes from the checks that apply to your site — up to 395, across 9 weighted categories. Most are measurements, like homepage load time, missing page titles, broken links and AI-crawler rules. A handful, such as whether your homepage says plainly what you do, are judged by an AI model, and those say so. Every finding shows the evidence behind it. It's a prioritized starting point, not a verdict on your business: a low score flags fixable issues, and every finding links to exactly what to change.
Do I need to be technical?
No. Findings are written for business owners, ranked by impact, and easy to hand to whoever builds your site.
How many pages does a scan read?
Up to 25. The scan starts at your homepage and follows your own links, one page at a time. That is enough to grade a small-business site and to show the pattern of what is wrong across it, but it is not a full crawl: on a large site, pages beyond the first 25 are not read.
What do I need to give you to see the full report?
Nothing to see your score: it appears when the scan finishes, with no account and no card. To unlock the complete page-by-page report, enter your email address and confirm it with the one-time code we send you. That is the whole signup.
How many free scans can I run?
2 per person in any 24 hours, counted by both network address and browser, so the scan can stay free for everyone. If the same site was scanned in the last few hours, you are shown that result rather than a fresh scan.
Can I scan a site that isn’t mine?
Our terms ask you to scan sites you own or are authorised to audit: your own, a client’s, or one you have permission to review. The scan reads only public pages, the ones any visitor can open.
Why did my score change when I scanned again?
Some measurements come from live services — Google’s speed test above all — and vary a little from run to run, so the same site can score slightly differently on different days.
The AI Advanced Report
What's in the paid AI report that the free one isn't?
The free report tells you what's technically broken and how to fix it. The AI report adds judgment: whether a real buyer would convert, page-by-page messaging rewrites, how ChatGPT describes your business, and an industry landing-page review.
Which AI assistants does it ask?
The report supports ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude. It puts real questions a buyer would ask to the assistants it is connected to, and records whether your business was cited — and who was cited instead.
How many extra checks does it score?
23 that the free report does not: 13 judged from your page copy — pricing clarity, proof behind your claims and more — 1 from how AI assistants describe you, and 9 measured from AI assistants and Google, your reviews and Maps position among them.
Will FocalScore make ChatGPT recommend my business?
No, and nobody can promise that. FocalScore measures: whether AI assistants can read your site and, in the paid report, whether they mention you when a buyer asks. Then it tells you exactly what to fix. What an assistant says is up to the assistant.
Can I buy the AI report without scanning first?
No. The report is written about one scanned site, so you buy it from that site’s results: run the free scan, and the offer is on your report. If your site’s bot protection turned our scanner away, there is nothing to build on, so the AI report is not offered for that scan.
Pricing and refunds
Is it really free?
Yes — your score and the full page-by-page report (with every fix) are free after a quick signup, no card required. You only pay if you want the AI Advanced Report ($49) for the strategic layer.
Is the $49 AI report a subscription?
No. It is a one-time payment of $49 for the site you scanned. Nothing renews and nothing is charged again.
What if the AI report isn't useful?
There's a 30-day money-back guarantee on the AI Advanced Report. If it doesn't help, you don't pay.
How do I get a refund?
Use the Request a refund button under the report; it is there for 30 days after you buy, and you don’t have to give a reason. Your first refund request is approved automatically. You can also email us within the 30 days and we’ll refund it for you. The money goes back through Stripe to the card that paid, which usually takes 7–14 working days to reach your statement.
Why the $19/mo Monitor?
SEO rules and AI answers change constantly, and sites quietly break — a redirect, an expired certificate, a new page blocked to crawlers. Monitor will re-audit your site every month and track how AI assistants describe you over time. It isn't open for subscriptions yet: we'll take payment for monthly re-audits once they run reliably, not before. Until then, a free re-scan any time shows you where you stand.
How do the monthly plans bill, and how do I cancel?
Monitor ($19 a month) and Agency ($99 a month) are month-to-month subscriptions. Cancel at any time and you won’t be charged again; the month already paid for is not refunded. Monitor isn’t open for subscriptions yet.
How do you take payment?
Through Stripe. Your card details go to Stripe, not to us: we never see or store your card number.
Privacy and data
What do you collect when I scan?
The address you scan and the public pages we read to build the report; your email address if you sign up for the full report; and, to stop abuse of the free scan, your IP address with the country it belongs to and the kind of device, operating system and browser you used.
Do you sell my data?
No. We do not sell your data, and your email address and sign-in are not shared.
Is my report private?
A scan describes a public website, so it isn’t private the way your account is: anyone can scan the same site, and for a few hours after a scan a new request for that site is answered with the same result. Your email address and your sign-in are yours alone.
Does my site’s content go to an AI company?
Yes, the public text of the pages we scan. A handful of checks on every scan — not only in the paid report — send that text to an AI model (OpenAI) to judge, and the AI report is written the same way.
Do you use cookies or tracking?
Three cookies of ours keep the service working: your sign-in, a browser identifier for the free-scan cap, and your answer to the cookie question. None is for advertising. The Meta Pixel loads only if you choose Allow. Our own visit statistics set no cookie and store no IP address.
How do I get my data deleted?
Email info@focalscore.com and say so; you don’t have to give a reason. Scans, reports, your email address and contact messages are kept until you ask. Visit statistics are deleted automatically 13 months after each visit.
Agencies
What does the Agency plan include?
For $99 a month: up to 25 client sites, any of which you can re-scan on demand; one dashboard with every site’s score; and white-label reports and PDFs under your own brand. Every site gets the same scan and the same checks as the public tool.
Will my clients see the FocalScore name?
No. You set a brand name and an accent colour once, and both are carried onto every report and every PDF for your sites. There is no “powered by” line and nothing pointing back at us.
How do I start an Agency plan?
Run a free scan of any site to create your account, then upgrade to Agency from your report. There is nothing to install and no contract: it is billed monthly and cancelled from the same dashboard.
Can I pass reports on to my clients?
Yes, on the Agency plan — that is what it is for. Outside it, our terms ask you not to resell or redistribute reports.
Technical and support
Does it work with WordPress, Shopify, Squarespace or Wix?
It works with every website, on any platform. The scan reads your live pages the way a visitor and a search engine do, so there is nothing to install and no plugin to keep updated — a Shopify store, a Squarespace site and a hand-written HTML page are all scanned the same way. WordPress goes one step further: connect your site with an application password and FocalScore can apply a batch of the fixes for you rather than only describing them. Other platforms get the same fixes as ready-to-paste snippets, with the exact file or setting named.
What is FocalScoreBot?
Our scanner. It visits a site only when someone asks us to check it, identifies itself in its user agent, and reads your robots.txt before it crawls, staying out of paths your User-agent: * group disallows.
Will the scan change anything on my site?
No. It reads; it does not take part. No form is submitted, no account is made and nothing is ordered. On an online shop it may add one item to a cart that belongs only to its own throwaway session, and it empties that cart before it leaves.
What if my site blocks the scanner?
Then the report says so and shows no score, rather than grading the block page as if it were your site. Ask whoever runs your firewall or CDN to allow requests whose user agent contains FocalScoreBot, then scan again — and if it is still blocked, email us and we’ll help.
How do I get help, and how quickly will someone answer?
Email info@focalscore.com or use the contact form, and a person — not a bot — replies within one business day. There is no support tier and no upsell: the same address answers whether you are on the free report or the agency plan. If something in your report looks wrong, say so and include the link; a finding that is wrong is a bug in the product and gets treated as one.