Frequently Asked Questions

Audits

How long does an audit take?

URL audits typically complete in 30–90 seconds. Sitemap audits depend on the number of URLs (expect 1–5 minutes for a 100-URL sitemap). GitHub audits take 1–3 minutes. GEO probes take 30–60 seconds per provider queried.

Why did my audit fail?

Common causes: the URL returned a non-200 status code, Lighthouse timed out on a slow page, or the AI analysis hit a timeout. See Troubleshooting for step-by-step diagnosis.

Can I re-run an audit?

Yes. Open any audit and click Re-audit in the top-right menu. The new audit replaces the previous one in the trends history.

What is the difference between URL, sitemap, and competitor audits?

• URL audit — single page, full analysis across all 7 categories.
• Sitemap audit — bulk processing of every URL in a sitemap.xml, with an aggregated overview report.
• Competitor audit — compares your project domain against specified competitor domains across key SEO/GEO signals.

See Audit Types Overview.

Does SitePulse crawl my entire site?

No. SitePulse only audits the URLs you submit explicitly (or those listed in your sitemap.xml). It does not crawl links or discover new pages on its own.

My sitemap has 500 URLs — will SitePulse process all of them?

This depends on your plan limits. Agency plan: up to 500 URLs per sitemap audit. Free plan: sitemap audits are not available. See Quotas & Limits.

Scores & Metrics

Why is my GEO score low even though my content is good?

GEO scoring looks at specific signals AI systems use: structured data (Schema.org JSON-LD), citation markers, fact density, and heading structure. Strong prose alone does not guarantee a high GEO score. See GEO Score for the full rubric.

Why does my Performance score differ from Google PageSpeed Insights?

SitePulse uses the same Lighthouse engine as PageSpeed Insights (PSI). Small differences can occur due to network conditions at the time of the audit, PSI's geographic location for the test, and caching state. Results should be directionally consistent.

How is the overall score calculated?

The overall score is a weighted average: Performance 25%, SEO 25%, GEO 25%, Best Practices 10%, Accessibility 10%, Content Quality 5%. A 6th category (Competitor) is displayed separately and not included in the overall score.

Can I change the score weighting?

Not currently. The weighting is fixed across all plans.

My SEO score dropped but I didn't change anything. Why?

External factors can affect Lighthouse SEO scores: changes to how Lighthouse interprets page structure, mobile rendering, or server response headers. Check the SEO score breakdown for which specific checks changed.

AI Features

What AI models does SitePulse use?

By default, SitePulse uses Anthropic Claude for AI analysis and rewrite generation, and falls back to OpenAI when an OpenAI key is configured via BYOK. GitHub audits always use Anthropic (Claude Agent SDK). See BYOK.

Does SitePulse store my page content?

Audit results (scores, metrics, recommendations) are stored. The raw page HTML is fetched at audit time and not stored beyond the audit processing window.

What are personas and do I need them?

Personas are optional target audience descriptions. When configured, they influence rewrite suggestion tone and relevance. If no personas are set, SitePulse generates generic recommendations without persona context. See Personas.

What is a GEO probe?

A GEO probe sends synthetic queries to AI platforms (Perplexity, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) and checks whether your brand or domain appears in the response. This tells you how visible your site is in AI-generated answers. See GEO Visibility.

Integrations

My Webflow connection says "Reconnect" — what happened?

Webflow access tokens are long-lived but can become invalid if you revoked SitePulse's access in Webflow, the Webflow site was deleted, or Webflow revoked the token. Click Reconnect to go through the OAuth flow again. See Webflow OAuth.

Why can't I apply the meta description patch on my WordPress site?

WordPress core REST API does not expose a meta description field. SitePulse supports auto-patching meta descriptions only when a compatible SEO plugin is installed (Yoast SEO, Rank Math, or All in One SEO). See WordPress MCP Adapter.

Does connecting Google Search Console affect my SEO score?

No. GSC data is shown as additional context (impressions, clicks, CTR, position) but does not change your SitePulse SEO score calculation.

Can I connect multiple Google accounts?

GSC connections are per-user, per-project. You can connect a different Google account to each project by disconnecting and reconnecting in Project Settings → Integrations.

Billing & Plans

What happens when I hit my quota?

Soft warning at 80% (banner + header notification). Hard block at 100% — new audits return a "quota exceeded" error. Quotas reset at the start of your next billing period. See Quotas & Limits.

Can I downgrade from Agency to Free?

You can cancel your subscription (takes effect at end of billing period). After cancellation, your account downgrades to the Free plan. See Stripe Checkout & Portal.

Do unused audits roll over to the next month?

No. Quota counters reset at the start of each billing period.

I canceled but my subscription still shows as active. Why?

Cancellations take effect at the end of the current billing period, not immediately. The billing page shows the date when the Free plan begins.

Team & Access

Can I have multiple organizations?

Yes. You can create additional organizations from the org switcher in the sidebar. Each organization has its own projects, subscription, and member list.

What can Members see vs. Admins?

Members can view audits and run new audits. Admins can manage project settings, integrations, billing, and invite new members. Owners have all Admin capabilities plus the ability to delete the organization. See Roles & Permissions.

How do I transfer ownership?

Promote another member to Owner role, then optionally demote yourself to Admin or remove yourself from the organization. There must always be at least one Owner.