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FAQ

Frequently asked questions

About

What is Site Review Scout?
A quick, scored check-up for any business website — speed, mobile-readiness, search (SEO) basics, security, and trust signals — with a plain-English explanation of what to fix. Web designers and agencies also use it to find local businesses whose websites need help.
Who is this for?
Two groups. Small and medium business owners who want to know whether their website is actually helping them win customers. And web designers, agencies and freelancers looking for local businesses that need a better website — or their first one.
What's in a full report vs. the free check?
The free check shows your overall score, key facts, and your top issues with how to fix them. A full report adds every finding (not just the top few), a mobile screenshot, Google PageSpeed scores, and how long it's likely been since the site was updated. Web-design members also get a sales angle for each finding.
How is the score calculated?
Every score comes from deterministic, rule-based checks — TLS, mobile viewport, page speed, CMS freshness, and more. Every point added or subtracted traces back to a named rule; there's no black-box AI score.
Does AI write any of the report?
AI is never used to measure a fact we can check directly. Where AI is used at all, it's for interpretation (like phrasing a suggestion) and is clearly labeled as such — it never invents findings.

For business owners

Is checking my website really free?
Yes. The quick check costs nothing and needs no account — enter your web address and you'll get your score and your top issues in about a minute, each explained in plain English with the steps to fix it.
Do I need to be technical to understand the results?
No. Each issue is written for a business owner, not a developer: what's wrong, why it matters to your customers, roughly how much effort it takes to fix, and the steps. Where a fix is best left to a web designer, we say so.
My site scored low — what should I do?
Start with the "Fix these first" list. Many items are quick changes you, or whoever looks after your site, can make in an afternoon. If you'd rather hand it off, the report works as a ready-made to-do list for a web designer.
Can I check my site again after making changes?
Yes — run the free check again any time to see your new score. If you have an account, re-opening your own past reports is always free.
Why might a web designer contact me about my website?
Web designers and agencies use Site Review Scout to find local businesses whose websites could use help. The business details they see come from open listings data (Overture Maps) — not from you, and not from Google. If you'd prefer your business not to be included, see the opt-out question below.
I want my business or website removed from your data.
We're happy to do that — contact us with your business name or website and we'll process an opt-out. You can also block our crawler with robots.txt; see Our crawler.

For web designers & agencies

How do I find prospects?
Search a local market by ZIP or city, radius and category — searching never uses credits. Free accounts get 3 searches a day and the nearest 30 results of each; buying any credits or a plan makes search unlimited. Results show which businesses have no website, an outdated one, or a solid one, so you can pick up to 20 to audit at once.
How do credits work?
Searching for businesses and triaging results never uses credits (free accounts get 3 searches a day; any credit pack or plan makes it unlimited). Running a full audit costs 1 credit per site. New accounts get 3 free full-report credits on signup.
What is pay as you go?
Buy a pack of 20 credits for $10 any time, with no subscription. If your workspace has an active monthly or annual plan, extra packs are $5 instead.
Can my team share credits?
Yes, on any paid plan or pay-as-you-go: up to 15 members can share one workspace and one credit balance. A free workspace is just you.
What if a site can't be scanned?
You're not charged. Some sites block automated requests or are simply offline — if we can't reach a site, that target doesn't use a credit.
What if I've already audited a site before?
If your workspace audited it before, we show that report at no charge. If another workspace audited it recently, you can get an instant result for 1 credit (no re-crawl). Either way you can always request a brand-new crawl instead.
Can I cancel, or get a refund?
Yes — contact us and we'll take care of it.

Data & privacy

Where does the business data come from?
Local business listings (name, address, category, phone, website) come from the Overture Maps Foundation, an open dataset. It can be incomplete or out of date for any given business — see Data sources for details.
Do you use Google Maps or Google reviews?
No. We don't use the Google Maps Platform, and we don't store ratings or review counts from anywhere. A report links out to Google Maps as a plain hyperlink so you can check reviews yourself, but nothing from that page is ingested or stored.
How long do you keep audit and business data?
Audit findings and business listing data are kept indefinitely so we can show staleness and history over time. Contact messages and account data are kept as long as your account is active.