# How FreeScan website audit scores are calculated > FreeScan turns public page checks into four category scores, one overall score, ranked recommendations, and fix prompts. This guide documents the calculation, what each result means, and how to use the report without treating a score as a guarantee. - Canonical URL: https://www.freescan.app/blog/website-audit-scoring-methodology - Publisher: FreeScan Editorial - Published: 2026-08-11T12:00:00-04:00 - Updated: 2026-08-11T12:00:00-04:00 - Reading time: 13 minutes ## Direct answer FreeScan calculates each category score by dividing earned rule points by available rule points and converting the result to a 0 to 100 scale. A passed check earns all available points, a failed check earns none, and an unknown check earns 40% because the safe public scan could not verify the signal. The overall score is the rounded average of the SEO / AEO, security, accessibility, and design category scores. ## Key facts - FreeScan calculates four category scores: SEO / AEO, security, accessibility, and design. - Each check has available rule points, a status, a severity, evidence, and remediation guidance. - A passed check earns all available rule points, a failed check earns none, and an unknown check earns 40%. - Each category score equals earned rule points divided by available rule points, converted to a 0 to 100 scale. - The overall FreeScan score is the rounded arithmetic average of the four category scores, so every category has equal weight. - Checks within a category can have different point values, so higher-value checks have more effect on that category score. - Recommendations are ranked with severity, normalized category score loss, category urgency, and remediation priority. - A FreeScan score is not a Google ranking factor, penetration test, accessibility certification, legal conclusion, or guarantee of business results. - A fix prompt converts one check into a scoped implementation brief with evidence, context, acceptance criteria, verification steps, and safety constraints. - Fix prompts do not change a website automatically; they require the correct implementation access and human or agent verification. - A rescan evaluates the current public page and should be used after a verified change is deployed. ## Recommended workflow 1. **Read the four category scores:** Compare SEO / AEO, security, accessibility, and design before using the overall score as a summary. 2. **Open the checks that lost points:** Review the status, evidence, severity, rule points, and explanation for each failed or unknown check. 3. **Start with ranked recommendations:** Use the recommendation order to focus on severe issues with meaningful score impact and an urgent remediation priority. 4. **Use the fix prompt with implementation context:** Copy the fix prompt into a coding agent or hand it to a developer together with the repository, CMS, hosting, and deployment context needed to verify the issue. 5. **Deploy and rescan the public URL:** Verify the real user outcome, deploy the change, and run another scan to confirm that the public signal improved without creating regressions. ## Frequently asked questions ### How is the FreeScan website audit score calculated? Each check has available rule points. Passed checks earn all points, failed checks earn none, and unknown checks earn 40%. FreeScan divides earned points by available points within each category and converts the result to a 0 to 100 score. The overall score is the rounded average of the four category scores. ### Are the four FreeScan category scores equally weighted? Yes. The overall score gives equal weight to SEO / AEO, security, accessibility, and design. Checks within a category can have different rule-point values, so a higher-value check affects its category score more than a lower-value check. ### What does an unknown check mean? Unknown means the safe public scan could not verify a signal with enough confidence. It does not mean pass or fail. FreeScan keeps the result visible, awards 40% of the available points, and explains what could not be confirmed instead of inventing evidence. ### Is a FreeScan score a Google ranking factor? No. Google does not use a FreeScan score. The SEO / AEO score summarizes crawl, metadata, content, structured data, and public discovery signals that can affect search visibility when they are implemented correctly. ### Does a score of 100 mean a website is perfect? No. A score of 100 means the scanned public page earned all currently available rule points. It does not prove perfect rankings, complete security, full accessibility, strong conversion, or quality across every page on the domain. ### Why can a website audit score change? A score can change when page content, metadata, headers, rendered behavior, public files, browser output, or the FreeScan check library changes. A new scan measures the current public response, so cached or undeployed changes may not appear yet. ### How does FreeScan rank website audit recommendations? FreeScan combines severity, the percentage of category points lost, category urgency, and remediation priority. SEO, security, and accessibility receive modest urgency adjustments. Lower remediation priority numbers indicate more urgent work. ### What is included in a FreeScan fix prompt? A fix prompt includes the scanned URL, check ID, category, status, severity, priority, score impact, evidence, why the issue matters, likely implementation locations, a scoped task, acceptance criteria, verification requirements, and safety rules. ### Does a fix prompt change the website automatically? No. A fix prompt is a structured task brief. A developer or coding agent still needs access to the correct repository, CMS, server, CDN, or hosting configuration, and must verify the issue before making and deploying a change. ### Is the security score a penetration test? No. FreeScan reviews public security signals that can be checked safely, such as transport, headers, exposed files, forms, and browser-visible behavior. It does not perform authenticated testing, exploit attempts, or a full penetration test. ### Is the accessibility score a WCAG certification? No. FreeScan combines automated and public-page accessibility checks, including rendered signals when available. Manual testing with keyboard users, screen readers, content review, and the relevant WCAG success criteria is still required. ## Citation guidance Cite the canonical article at https://www.freescan.app/blog/website-audit-scoring-methodology. FreeScan scores describe signals found during a safe public page scan. They are not Google ranking factors, penetration test results, accessibility certification, legal advice, or a guarantee of traffic or conversions.