What the Store Health Checker looks at

A Shopify website audit is only useful if you can see why each result is what it is. This checker reads the public storefront the way a browser first receives it, then runs a fixed set of checks in four groups. Every check shows what was observed, why it may matter and what to change.

  • SEO. The page title and meta description, the canonical address, one clear H1 and an orderly heading structure, whether the page can be indexed (meta robots, the X-Robots-Tag header and robots.txt), structured data, image alt text, Open Graph tags for sharing, and a small sample of internal links checked for errors.
  • Store experience. The mobile viewport, visible contact information, links to the shipping and returns policies, one product page sampled for price, images, description and an add-to-cart button, a reachable cart, store search, and basic accessibility such as labelled form fields and named buttons.
  • Technical. HTTPS, the redirect from http:// to https://, the status code, the redirect chain, the HSTS header and basic security headers, robots.txt, the XML sitemap and the size of the HTML document.
  • Performance. Lighthouse scores for mobile and desktop and the Core Web Vitals (Largest Contentful Paint, Cumulative Layout Shift and Interaction to Next Paint), measured with Google PageSpeed Insights when it is available for the analysis. Real-user field data appears only when Google has it for the page or the site.

How the score works

Each check has a weight. A pass counts in full, a warning counts half and a fail counts nothing. A category score is the weighted share of its evaluated checks that pass, out of 100, and the overall score is the same calculation across every evaluated check.

The important part is what is left out. If something could not be observed, the check is marked not evaluated and is excluded from the score instead of being counted as a failure. That happens when a theme draws an element with JavaScript after the page loads, when a page could not be fetched, or when performance could not be measured. Not-evaluated checks are listed separately, so you always know what the score does and does not cover. When performance is not measured, there is no performance score at all, rather than an estimate.

What this ecommerce store health check cannot see

It works on public pages only. It cannot see your sales, revenue, profit, traffic, conversion rate, customers or analytics, and it never estimates them. It reads a handful of pages, not the whole site, and it respects the store's robots.txt. If a site shows a bot check or blocks automated requests, the check stops and tells you so; it does not try to get around it.

Using the results

Start with the top recommendations, which are ordered by priority. Then work through the checklist, fixing failures before warnings. Run the check again after you publish changes: results are reused for a few hours so repeated checks are fast, and the report shows when the analysis was made.

Questions

Does it work on stores that are not on Shopify?

Yes. Most checks apply to any online store. The platform is identified from public evidence, and Shopify-specific details are used only when the store runs on Shopify.

Why is something I can see on my store marked not evaluated?

Because it is not in the HTML the server sends. Many themes and apps draw content with JavaScript, and an element the checker cannot observe is never reported as missing.

Do I need to connect my store?

No. There is no sign-up and no store connection. The checker reads only what any visitor's browser can see.

Worked examples

Illustrative figures, not benchmarks.

A missing shipping link

Illustrative: the audit finds no shipping policy link on the home page. It shows the check as failed, explains why shoppers look for it, and lists the fix.

Reviews drawn by a script

Illustrative: a review widget loads after the page. The audit cannot see it in the HTML, so the check is marked not evaluated and stays out of the score.

A noindex left from launch

Illustrative: a page still carries noindex from before launch. It is a high-priority failure, because that page cannot appear in search.

Common mistakes

  • Chasing a perfect score instead of fixing high-priority items first.
  • Testing only the home page: audit a product page too.
  • Installing a speed app before finding what is slow.
  • Reading a low score as a sales forecast. It is not one.

Questions

Which stores can this Shopify store checker read?

Any public store, on Shopify or not, unless its robots.txt or a bot check says no.

Do I need to install an app?

No. It reads public pages from outside the store, and changes nothing.

How often should I run it?

After theme changes, new apps or a redesign.