Rules Reference
All 262 audit rules organized by score group and category
squirrelscan includes 262 rules across 21 categories, plus opt-in cloud gap analysis. Every category rolls up into one of four score groups: SEO, Performance, Security, and Agents. These are the four scores you see on reports and in the dashboard, alongside the overall health score.
Most rules run locally for free. A handful of cloud rules use AI analysis, full filter lists, or live search data - they require login and are skipped when you’re not logged in. Cloud rules carry a notice banner on their doc pages.
SEO
Search visibility: crawling, indexing, content, markup, and accessibility. SEO group overview →
Robots.txt, sitemaps, and crawl directives (18 rules)
Essential meta tags and page structure for search engines (13 rules)
Internal and external link health and structure (14 rules)
Text quality, readability, and content structure (12 rules)
Structured data and rich snippet eligibility (10 rules)
Image optimization and accessibility (15 rules)
Open Graph and social sharing metadata (4 rules)
Accessibility for users with disabilities (59 rules)
Mobile-friendliness and responsive design (6 rules)
URL structure, length, and formatting (8 rules)
Language declarations and multi-region support (2 rules)
Experience, expertise, authority, trust signals (15 rules)
Local business schema and NAP consistency (3 rules)
Video content markup and accessibility (3 rules)
Tracking and measurement implementation (2 rules)
Keyword and content gaps backed by live search data (2 rules, opt-in)
Performance
Page speed and loading behavior. Performance group overview →
Security
Transport security, compromise signals, compliance, and blocked content.
Signs of compromise: injected pages, phishing kits, malware, SEO spam (9 rules)
HTTPS, headers, and safe link practices (16 rules)
Privacy policy and legal compliance signals (4 rules)
Content, links, and trackers blocked by ad blockers and privacy filters (3 rules)
Agents
Agent Experience (AX): whether AI agents can read, reach, discover, and act on your site: a first-class score alongside SEO, Performance, and Security, not an afterthought. Covers five pillars: readable (no-JS content, token weight, Markdown), reachable (crawler access, behavioral blocking), discoverable (llms.txt, AGENTS.md, agent manifests), declared (Content-Signal, noai, RSL licensing), and actionable (API/OAuth discovery, pay-per-crawl).
Configuration
Enable/Disable Rules
Use glob patterns in squirrel.toml:
[rules]
# Enable specific rules or categories
enable = ["*"] # all rules (default)
# Disable specific rules
disable = [
"ax/*", "ai/*", # disable all Agent Experience rules
"content/word-count", # disable specific rule
]
Rule Options
Some rules have configurable options:
[rules."core/meta-title"]
min_length = 30
max_length = 75
[rules."content/word-count"]
min_words = 300
See individual rule pages for available options.
