# BeaverCheck Audit Report — https://duckduckgo.com

**Date:** May 25, 2026  
**URL:** https://duckduckgo.com  
**Overall Grade:** B (85/100)  
**Report:** https://beavercheck.com/results/25999a15-a198-49c6-900b-67e62571d036

## Top Findings

1. **[CRITICAL]** 'unsafe-eval' found in script source — Security > Content Security Policy
2. **[CRITICAL]** 'unsafe-inline' found in script source — Security > Content Security Policy
3. **[CRITICAL]** Soft 404: server returns HTTP 200 for non-existent pages — Accessibility > 404 Error Page
4. **[WARNING]** /phpinfo.php is publicly accessible — Security > Information Leakage
5. **[WARNING]** 119 HTTP requests — consider bundling or reducing — Performance > Page Weight Budget

---

## Lighthouse Scores

| Category | Score |
|----------|-------|
| Performance | 63 |
| Accessibility | 91 |
| Best Practices | 96 |
| SEO | 92 |

---

## Security

### Security Headers (B — 75/100)

*6 of 10 headers properly configured*

- **[WARNING]** HSTS is missing includeSubDomains — Without includeSubDomains, subdomains can still be accessed over HTTP.
- **[PASS]** X-Content-Type-Options is properly configured
- **[PASS]** X-Frame-Options is properly configured
- **[WARNING]** Referrer-Policy has a weak value
- **[PASS]** Permissions-Policy is set
- **[PASS]** Content-Security-Policy is present
- **[WARNING]** Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy header is missing — COOP isolates your browsing context, preventing cross-origin side-channel attacks. Set to 'same-origin'.
- **[WARNING]** Cross-Origin-Embedder-Policy header is missing — COEP prevents loading cross-origin resources without explicit permission. Required for SharedArrayBuffer and high-resolution timers.
- **[PASS]** X-Powered-By header is not present
- **[PASS]** Server header is present without version info
- **[INFO]** Domain is not in the Chrome HSTS preload list (status: unknown) — Submit your domain to hstspreload.org to close the trust-on-first-use gap. Requires a preload-ready HSTS header (max-age=31536000+, includeSubDomains, preload).

### Content Security Policy (C — 55/100)

*6 of 10 CSP checks passed*

- **[INFO]** Raw CSP policy
- **[PASS]** default-src directive is set
- **[CRITICAL]** 'unsafe-inline' found in script source — 'unsafe-inline' allows inline <script> tags, defeating CSP against XSS. Remove it and use nonces or hashes instead.
- **[CRITICAL]** 'unsafe-eval' found in script source — 'unsafe-eval' allows eval() and similar functions, enabling code injection. Remove it.
- **[PASS]** No wildcard in script source
- **[PASS]** object-src is set to 'none'
- **[PASS]** base-uri is properly restricted
- **[PASS]** frame-ancestors directive is set
- **[PASS]** form-action directive is set
- **[INFO]** upgrade-insecure-requests is not set — This directive upgrades HTTP resources to HTTPS automatically, preventing mixed content.

### TLS & Certificates (A+ — 100/100)

*TLS 1.3, 8 checks passed*

- **[PASS]** TLS 1.3 is used
- **[PASS]** Strong cipher suite is used
- **[INFO]** HTTP/2 is not negotiated — HTTP/2 provides multiplexing and header compression for better performance.
- **[PASS]** OCSP stapling enabled
- **[PASS]** Certificate is valid (expires in 178 days)
- **[PASS]** Certificate chain has 3 certificates
- **[PASS]** Certificate uses modern signature algorithm
- **[PASS]** Certificate covers 2 domain(s)
- **[PASS]** Certificate is issued by a trusted CA

### Cookie Security (A+ — 100/100)

*No cookies set — no cookie security risks*

- **[PASS]** No cookies set — no cookie security risks

### Cookie Hygiene (A+ — 100/100)

*No cookies set -- cookie-hygiene check is N/A*

- **[PASS]** No cookies set

### WAF / Bot Protection (B — 75/100)

*No WAF detected via response headers*

- **[INFO]** No WAF detected — Response headers don't match any known WAF or bot-management product. Sites exposed to abuse (login, signup, payment) typically benefit from a WAF such as Cloudflare, Akamai, AWS WAF, or Imperva.

### security.txt (B — 70/100)

*Vulnerability disclosure policy*

- **[PASS]** security.txt found
- **[WARNING]** security.txt: Missing required 'Contact' field
- **[WARNING]** security.txt: Missing required 'Expires' field (RFC 9116)

### Cross-Origin Tab Safety (D — 60/100)

*22 of 68 new-tab link(s) missing rel=noopener*

- **[WARNING]** 22 link(s) open in a new tab without rel=noopener — Without rel="noopener", the destination tab can navigate the original tab via window.opener -- a reverse-tabnabbing phishing primitive. Modern browsers default to noopener since Chrome 88 / Firefox 79 / Safari 12.1, but explicit rel="noopener noreferrer" remains the documented best practice for older browsers, in-app webviews, and security scanners.

### CSP Inline-Style Readiness (B — 90/100)

*8 inline style attribute(s) detected*

- **[INFO]** 8 inline style attribute(s) detected — Each `style=""` attribute forces `style-src 'unsafe-inline'` in any Content-Security-Policy, which negates most of CSP's XSS-mitigation value. 8 inline style(s) is low. Affected element types include: span, div, h1. Move styles to a stylesheet; use CSS custom properties for runtime-dynamic values; or adopt a nonce/hash CSP policy. Most teams take the stylesheet path because it's also a maintainability win.

### Trusted Types (XSS Sink Hardening) (B — 95/100)

*Trusted Types not enabled*

- **[INFO]** Trusted Types not enabled — Trusted Types (CSP3) is a Chrome 83+ defense that requires DOM-XSS sinks (innerHTML, document.write, eval, ...) to receive a typed-and-sanitized value rather than a raw string. Adding `Content-Security-Policy: require-trusted-types-for 'script'; trusted-types default` neutralizes most DOM-XSS even when a payload reaches a sink. Adoption is currently ~0.1% of pages so this is informational; a roll-out usually starts in report-only mode.

### Bot Challenge Detection (A+ — 100/100)

*Scan reached real page content (no bot-protection interstitial)*

- **[PASS]** No bot-protection interstitial detected -- the rest of the report reflects the real page

### Soft-404 Detection (A+ — 100/100)

*No soft-404 patterns detected in page title or headings*

- **[PASS]** No soft-404 patterns detected in page title or headings

### Empty Page Detection (A+ — 100/100)

*Page has substantive body text and no placeholder / template-leak signals*

- **[PASS]** Page has substantive body text and no placeholder / template-leak signals

### Geo-Restriction Detection (A+ — 100/100)

*No geo-restriction signals detected -- scan reached the page from an allowed region*

- **[PASS]** No geo-restriction detected

### Maintenance Mode Detection (A+ — 100/100)

*No maintenance-mode signals detected -- scan reached a normal page*

- **[PASS]** No maintenance-mode signals detected

### Subresource Integrity Adoption (A+ — 100/100)

*Page has no third-party scripts or stylesheets -- SRI not applicable*

- **[PASS]** No third-party scripts or stylesheets to protect with SRI

### CORS Depth (A+ — 100/100)

*No CORS response headers -- the resource is same-origin-only by browser default*

- **[PASS]** No CORS response headers -- the resource is same-origin-only by browser default

### Permissions-Policy Granularity (F — 35/100)

*0% high-risk feature coverage (0/10)*

- **[WARNING]** Permissions-Policy covers 0/10 high-risk features (0%) — The Permissions-Policy header explicitly declares policies for 0/10 high-risk features.

Covered: 

Not declared (default-allow): camera, microphone, geolocation, payment, usb, serial, midi, accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer

The non-declared features fall back to their spec-default policy (usually `self`), which means an XSS-injected or compromised iframe could request them. For features the page genuinely doesn't use, declare `feature=()` to fully close them.

### Referrer-Policy Strictness (B — 80/100)

*Referrer-Policy is `origin` (moderate -- origin always, never path)*

- **[INFO]** Referrer-Policy: `origin` -- moderate -- origin always, never path — Sends only the origin on EVERY request (same-origin and cross-origin). Loses the ability to track specific landing pages via Referer; gains uniform privacy. Weaker privacy than `strict-origin` because origin still leaks on HTTPS-to-HTTP.

### Source Map Exposure (A+ — 100/100)

*No source maps accessible (probed 10 candidate URL(s))*

- **[PASS]** No source maps accessible across 10 probed candidate(s)

### HTML Version Disclosure (A+ — 100/100)

*No software-version disclosures in HTML*

- **[PASS]** No software-version disclosures in HTML

### Open Redirect Surface (A+ — 100/100)

*No redirect-shaped query parameters in DOM links*

- **[PASS]** No redirect-shaped query parameters in DOM links

### Auth Security (A+ — 100/100)

*Page is not a login form -- auth-security checks are N/A*

- **[PASS]** Page does not appear to be a login form

### Subdomain Inventory Exposure (A+ — 100/100)

*No risky subdomain names in certificate SANs*

- **[PASS]** No risky subdomain names in certificate SANs

---

## Advanced Security

### Subresource Integrity (A+ — 100/100)

*No external resources*

- **[PASS]** No external resources to protect

### JS Library Vulnerabilities (A+ — 100/100)

*No known vulnerabilities*

- **[PASS]** No known JavaScript library vulnerabilities detected

### Information Leakage (A — 85/100)

*Potential exposures found*

- **[WARNING]** /phpinfo.php is publicly accessible — Debug or admin endpoint is accessible. This may expose server internals or provide attack vectors.
- **[INFO]** No security.txt found — Consider adding a security.txt at /.well-known/security.txt.

### Email Security (A+ — 100/100)

*DMARC: reject, SPF: -all, DKIM, TLS-RPT*

- **[PASS]** DMARC policy is reject — strongest protection
- **[PASS]** SPF ends in -all (hard fail) — strongest setting
- **[PASS]** DKIM configured (selectors: selector1, s1)
- **[INFO]** MTA-STS not configured — MTA-STS forces inbound mail to use TLS, preventing downgrade attacks. Requires both a TXT record at _mta-sts.<domain> and a policy file at https://mta-sts.<domain>/.well-known/mta-sts.txt.
- **[PASS]** TLS-RPT configured
- **[INFO]** BIMI not configured — BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) lets supporting clients (Gmail, Apple Mail, Yahoo) display your verified logo next to your messages. Optional but raises trust signals. Requires DMARC at p=quarantine or p=reject to be honored.

### API Surface (A+ — 100/100)

*No API specs or GraphQL introspection found (probed 11 candidate path(s))*

- **[PASS]** No API specs or GraphQL introspection found (probed 11 path(s))

### Permissions-Policy (C — 65/100)

*1 directives, 5 missing*

- **[PASS]** interest-cohort=() — blocked for all origins
- **[INFO]** camera not restricted — Consider adding camera=() to block camera access from embedded content.
- **[INFO]** microphone not restricted — Consider adding microphone=() to block microphone access from embedded content.
- **[INFO]** geolocation not restricted — Consider adding geolocation=() to block geolocation access from embedded content.
- **[INFO]** payment not restricted — Consider adding payment=() to block payment access from embedded content.
- **[INFO]** usb not restricted — Consider adding usb=() to block usb access from embedded content.

### CORS Configuration (B — 80/100)

*No CORS headers*

- **[PASS]** No CORS headers present — secure default

---

## Performance

### Page Weight Budget (D — 45/100)

*2.4 MB transferred, 119 requests*

- **[INFO]** Page weighs 4.9 MB (2.4 MB transferred)
- **[WARNING]** Images are 1.1 MB — compress or use modern formats — Convert images to WebP/AVIF and resize to display dimensions to reduce transfer size.
- **[WARNING]** JavaScript is 915 KB — consider code splitting or lazy loading — Large JavaScript bundles delay interactivity. Split code by route or defer non-critical scripts.
- **[INFO]** Fonts are 218 KB — consider subsetting or using system fonts — Subset fonts to include only used characters, or switch to system font stacks.
- **[WARNING]** 119 HTTP requests — consider bundling or reducing — Each request adds latency. Bundle small files, use sprites, or eliminate unnecessary requests.
- **[INFO]** Estimated 0.50 g CO2 per page load

### Third-Party Impact (A+ — 100/100)

*0% third-party, 0 ms blocking*

- **[INFO]** Third-party code accounts for 0% of page weight (5.7 KiB of 2.4 MiB)
- **[PASS]** Third-party blocking time is low (0 ms)

### Text Compression (A+ — 100/100)

*All text resources are compressed*

- **[PASS]** All text resources are compressed

### Image Optimization (C — 60/100)

*38 images, 0 KB saveable*

- **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/static-assets/image/pages/a... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS.
- **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/static-assets/image/pages/a... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS.
- **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/static-assets/image/pages/a... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS.
- **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/static-assets/image/pages/a... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS.
- **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/static-assets/image/pages/a... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS.
- **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/static-assets/image/pages/a... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS.
- **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/static-assets/image/pages/a... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS.
- **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/_next/static/media/google-p... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS.
- **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/static-assets/image/pages/a... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS.
- **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/static-assets/image/pages/a... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS.
- **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/static-assets/image/pages/a... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS.

### JS Execution Cost (F — 20/100)

*4611ms total JS execution*

- **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/_next/static/chunks/framewo...: 2595ms CPU time
- **[WARNING]** Unattributable: 630ms CPU time
- **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/: 437ms CPU time
- **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/_next/static/chunks/pages/%...: 374ms CPU time
- **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/_next/static/chunks/pages/_...: 272ms CPU time

### Font Loading (A+ — 100/100)

*5 fonts (218 KB)*

- **[INFO]** 5 font(s) use font-display: swap (FOUT risk but functional)

### JS Bundles (C — 60/100)

*38 scripts, 277 KB unused*

- **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/_next/static/chunks/5035-eb...: 61 KB unused (86%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.
- **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/_next/static/chunks/5203-41...: 54 KB unused (90%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.
- **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/_next/static/chunks/7458-55...: 33 KB unused (41%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.
- **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/_next/static/chunks/7864-96...: 31 KB unused (89%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.
- **[WARNING]** https://duckduckgo.com/_next/static/chunks/pages/_...: 29 KB unused (30%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.
- **[INFO]** Total unused JavaScript: 277 KB

### Resource Caching (A+ — 100/100)

*All resources properly cached*

- **[PASS]** No caching issues found

### Critical Rendering Path (A+ — 100/100)

*No render-blocking resources*

- **[PASS]** No render-blocking resources detected

### Resource Hints (A+ — 95/100)

*28 hints, 0 missing preconnects*

- **[INFO]** 3 URL(s) appear in multiple hints — The same href shouldn't appear in multiple hint rels -- one wins, the others are wasted markup and may confuse cache behavior. Sample: /country.json (preconnect+preload), /static-assets/image/pages/app/dax-thumbs-up-light.svg (preload+preload), /static-assets/image/pages/app/dax-thumbs-up-dark.svg (preload+preload).
- **[PASS]** Page uses 28 resource hint(s)

### HTTP/3 (QUIC) (B — 75/100)

*HTTP/3 not advertised*

- **[INFO]** HTTP/3 (QUIC) is not advertised — HTTP/3 isn't advertised via Alt-Svc and the worker didn't negotiate h3. HTTP/3 reduces handshake latency (1-RTT instead of 2-3 RTTs) and is more resilient on lossy connections. Most modern CDNs (Cloudflare, Fastly, AWS CloudFront, Google Cloud CDN) support HTTP/3 with a single config switch -- consider enabling for mobile-heavy workloads.

### Compression Algorithm (A+ — 100/100)

*Main response uses brotli*

- **[PASS]** Main HTML response uses brotli (Content-Encoding: br) — Brotli is the best text-compression algorithm for general use, ~20% smaller than gzip on average (40% on smaller files). Modern browsers all support it.

### LCP Image Preload (A+ — 100/100)

*LCP preload audit not available*

- **[PASS]** LCP image preload audit not available for this scan

### Main HTML Cache-Control (A+ — 100/100)

*Main HTML uses no-cache -- safe revalidate-on-request policy*

- **[PASS]** Main HTML uses no-cache -- safe revalidate-on-request policy

### Server-Timing Observability (B — 85/100)

*No Server-Timing header found*

- **[INFO]** No Server-Timing header found — Server-Timing exposes backend timing breakdowns to browser DevTools (e.g., `db: 45ms; render: 120ms; cache: 2ms`). Useful for diagnosing slow pages without backend log access. Most modern frameworks (Next.js, Cloudflare Workers, Fastly) emit it automatically; absence on a managed platform usually means telemetry headers are stripped at the edge.

### Server Response Intelligence (A+ — 100/100)

*2 server-response signal(s) detected*

- **[PASS]** `Vary` header declared: Accept-Encoding — The page declares a `Vary` header, telling downstream caches which request headers the response varies on. Critical for content-negotiated responses (compression, language, cookies, device class).
- **[PASS]** `ETag` present -- conditional GET supported

### Page Weight Inventory (C — 55/100)

*119 resources · 2.4 MB · 277 KB savings available*

- **[WARNING]** Page weight 2.4 MB exceeds 1 MB target by 1.4 MB
- **[INFO]** ~277 KB of savings available
- **[INFO]** 32 third-party resources (0% of weight)

### Render-Blocking Resources (A+ — 100/100)

*No render-blocking resources detected*

- **[PASS]** No render-blocking resources detected in <head>

### Third-Party Resources (A+ — 100/100)

*No third-party resources detected*


### JavaScript Blocking (A — 90/100)

*1 JS blocking issue(s) detected*

- **[WARNING]** Total JS execution time is 4.6 s -- over the 3.5s budget — Total JavaScript execution (parse + compile + run) across all scripts exceeds 3.5 seconds. On low-end devices that becomes 7-15+ seconds and shows up directly in TBT and INP. Reduce by: tree-shaking unused dependencies, code-splitting (dynamic `import()`), removing or deferring third-party tracking, and replacing heavy frameworks where they're not needed.

### CSS Performance Depth (A — 88/100)

*1 CSS depth issue(s) detected*

- **[WARNING]** 9 render-blocking stylesheet(s) -- recommended: <=3 — Each `<link rel="stylesheet">` without a non-blocking `media` attribute holds up the first paint. Browsers download all of them before painting any content. Consolidate into 1-2 critical-path stylesheets; defer non-critical CSS via `<link rel="stylesheet" media="print" onload="this.media='all'">` or via the loadCSS pattern; inline above-the-fold CSS in `<style>` to short-circuit the request entirely.

---

## Content Quality

### Links (A — 95/100)

*185 links checked, 184 healthy, 1 broken*

- **[WARNING]** 184 of 185 links are healthy
- **[CRITICAL]** Broken link: https://duckduckgo.com/cloudflare-radar-report — Found in <a href>. Returns HTTP 403.

### Mixed Content (A+ — 100/100)

*No mixed content detected — all resources use HTTPS.*

- **[PASS]** No mixed content detected — all resources use HTTPS

### Open Graph (A+ — 100/100)

*Open Graph tags are well configured for social sharing.*


### Open Graph / Twitter Card Depth (A+ — 100/100)

*OG image dimensions and Twitter card configuration look healthy*

- **[PASS]** OG/Twitter Card depth is clean -- dimensions, card type, and inheritance all valid

### Structured Data (C — 40/100)

*No structured data (JSON-LD) found.*

- **[INFO]** No structured data (JSON-LD) found — Adding structured data helps search engines understand your content and can enable rich results.

### Rich Results Eligibility (C — 75/100)

*No JSON-LD found -- no rich-result eligibility*

- **[INFO]** No JSON-LD structured data on the page — No `<script type="application/ld+json">` blocks found. Without structured data, search engines fall back to inferring page meaning from raw HTML -- which works but doesn't unlock SERP features (rich snippets, knowledge panel, FAQ accordion, breadcrumb trail). Adding even basic JSON-LD (Organization for the site identity, BreadcrumbList for navigation context) is a low-effort SEO win.

### Image Optimization (F — 40/100)

*6 issues found across 67 images*

- **[WARNING]** 9 images significantly larger than display size — Resizing to display dimensions could save approximately 32 KB.
- **[WARNING]** 51 images missing explicit width/height — Images without dimensions cause layout shifts (CLS). Set explicit width and height attributes.
- **[INFO]** 66 below-fold images missing loading="lazy" — Lazy loading defers below-fold images, reducing initial page weight.
- **[WARNING]** All 23 images use legacy formats (JPEG/PNG/GIF) — WebP offers 25-35% smaller files than JPEG. Use <picture> with <source type="image/webp"> for modern format support.
- **[INFO]** 3 image(s) wider than 400px without srcset (no responsive serving) — These images deliver the same asset to every viewport (mobile, tablet, retina). Adding srcset / <picture> lets the browser pick a viewport-appropriate variant and typically saves 40-70% of bytes on mobile. Sample: https://duckduckgo.com/static-assets/image/pages/app/feature-take-control-light.png, https://duckduckgo.com/static-assets/image/pages/app/feature-cookie-popups-light.png, https://duckduckgo.com/static-assets/image/pages/app/feature-data-protection-light.png.
- **[INFO]** 1 image(s) rendered at a different aspect ratio than the source — The displayed dimensions distort the source -- CSS is forcing the image into a container at the wrong ratio, producing visible stretching or squashing. Either crop the source to match or use object-fit: cover (and accept the crop). Sample: data:.

### Autoplay Media (A+ — 100/100)

*No autoplay media on the page*

- **[PASS]** No autoplay media on the page

---

## Infrastructure

### DNS Records (A+ — 95/100)

*1 A records, 4 ms lookup*

- **[PASS]** Resolves to 1 IPv4 address(es)
- **[INFO]** Single A record — no DNS redundancy — Multiple A records provide failover if one server goes down.
- **[INFO]** No IPv6 (AAAA) records
- **[PASS]** 8 nameserver(s) configured
- **[PASS]** 1 mail exchanger(s) configured
- **[PASS]** SPF record present in TXT
- **[PASS]** DNS resolution time: 4 ms

### Subdomain Takeover (A+ — 100/100)

*No subdomain takeover risk detected*

- **[PASS]** No CNAME record present

### DNSSEC (B — 80/100)

*Unsigned (DNSSEC not deployed)*

- **[INFO]** DNSSEC is not deployed — The zone is not DNSSEC-signed. Users on validating resolvers (Cloudflare 1.1.1.1, Quad9 9.9.9.9, growing default in mobile resolvers) get no protection against DNS spoofing for this domain. Most registrars now offer DNSSEC at a single click; consider enabling it for sites where authenticity matters (banking, healthcare, government).

### CAA Records (A — 90/100)

*issue: digicert.com, letsencrypt.org*

- **[PASS]** CAA issue tag present — authorized CA(s): digicert.com, letsencrypt.org
- **[INFO]** No CAA iodef tag — won't be notified of failed issuance attempts — Add `0 iodef "mailto:security@example.com"` to receive notifications when a CA refuses issuance because it doesn't match your CAA policy. Useful signal for detecting issuance attempts by unauthorized CAs.

### Reverse DNS (C — 60/100)

*0/1 IPs match cert SAN*

- **[INFO]** PTR lookup failed for 20.43.161.105: lookup 20.43.161.105: no such host — No reverse DNS record set for this IP. Common on bare cloud-VM IPs without provider-side PTR; not a security issue.

### Multi-Resolver DNS Speed (A+ — 100/100)

*Mean 1ms across 3 resolvers (spread 0ms)*

- **[PASS]** Cloudflare: 1ms
- **[PASS]** Google: 1ms
- **[PASS]** Quad9: 1ms

### Redirect Chain (A+ — 100/100)

*No redirects — direct access*

- **[PASS]** No redirects — direct access

### IPv6 Readiness (C — 60/100)

*No IPv6 support*

- **[INFO]** No IPv6 (AAAA) records found — IPv6 support is increasingly important for global accessibility. About 40% of internet users have IPv6 connectivity.

### Crawlability (A+ — 100/100)

*robots.txt present, sitemap with 26 URLs*

- **[PASS]** robots.txt is present
- **[PASS]** sitemap.xml is present
- **[PASS]** sitemap.xml is valid XML
- **[PASS]** sitemap.xml contains 26 entries
- **[PASS]** robots.txt references sitemap

### URL Variants (B — 75/100)

*www/non-www, trailing slash, HTTP→HTTPS*

- **[PASS]** www/non-www redirect configured correctly (preferred: non-www)
- **[CRITICAL]** HTTP version does not redirect to HTTPS

### Domain Intelligence (A+ — 100/100)

*duckduckgo.com — via NameCheap, Inc., 18 years, 9 months old, hosted on Microsoft Azure*

- **[PASS]** Domain registered until Jun 23, 2027 (1 years, 1 months remaining)
- **[INFO]** DNSSEC is not enabled — DNSSEC protects against DNS spoofing attacks. While not required, enabling DNSSEC adds an additional layer of security. Contact your DNS provider to enable it.
- **[PASS]** Registrar: NameCheap, Inc.
- **[WARNING]** Registrar lock is NOT enabled — The domain can be transferred without an unlock step. Enable registrar lock (clientTransferProhibited) in your registrar's control panel to protect against unauthorized or accidental transfers.
- **[PASS]** Hosting: Microsoft Azure

---

## Compliance

### WCAG Compliance (A+ — 100/100)

*No testable criteria*


### Cookie Consent & Privacy (A+ — 100/100)

*privacy policy found*

- **[PASS]** Privacy policy link found
- **[PASS]** Terms of service link found
- **[INFO]** No cookie consent banner detected
- **[INFO]** This is an automated check, not legal advice — BeaverCheck detects technical indicators of consent management. This does not constitute a legal compliance assessment. Consult a privacy professional for GDPR/CCPA compliance.

### Consent UX Depth (A+ — 100/100)

*No consent-UX depth issues detected*

- **[PASS]** No consent-UX depth issues detected

### Tracker Inventory (A+ — 100/100)

*No known trackers detected on this page*

- **[PASS]** No known trackers detected on this page

### Language & i18n (A — 90/100)

*Lang attribute present*

- **[PASS]** <html lang> attribute is present
- **[PASS]** <html lang> value is valid
- **[INFO]** No Content-Language HTTP header
- **[INFO]** Language signals are inconsistent — The <html lang> attribute and Content-Language header should agree.

### Hreflang Configuration (A+ — 100/100)

*All 38 hreflang tag(s) look correct*

- **[PASS]** All 38 hreflang tag(s) look correct

### Internationalization Extras (A+ — 100/100)

*No additional i18n signals detected*

- **[PASS]** No additional i18n signals detected

### Readability & Typography (A+ — 100/100)

*Font sizes and tap targets checked*


### Viewport Configuration (A+ — 100/100)

*Viewport properly configured*

- **[PASS]** Viewport meta tag is present
- **[PASS]** width=device-width is set
- **[PASS]** User zooming is allowed

### Accessibility Statement (B — 70/100)

*No accessibility statement detected*

- **[WARNING]** No accessibility statement detected — Sites are increasingly expected to publish an accessibility statement. Required by EU Web Accessibility Directive 2016/2102 for public-sector bodies; recommended best practice elsewhere. Common URLs: /accessibility, /accessibility-statement, /a11y.

### GDPR Article 13 Disclosures (F — 25/100)

*0 / 8 Art. 13 categories matched in homepage body*

- **[WARNING]** GDPR Article 13 disclosure coverage: 0 / 8 categories — Scanned the homepage body text AND the linked /privacy page for GDPR Article 13 disclosures. Matched 0 of 8 categories: . Missing: Data Protection Officer contact (where applicable), Data retention period, Data subject rights (access, erasure, rectification, etc.), Identity / contact details of the data controller, International data transfers, Legal basis for processing, Recipients of personal data, Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. Note: only the FIRST same-origin privacy-policy link is followed; deeper sub-pages (e.g. /legal/data-subject-rights) are not fetched.

### Third-Party Trackers (A+ — 95/100)

*2 trackers detected*

- **[INFO]** 2 third-party trackers detected — Found 2 analytics, 0 advertising, 0 marketing, 0 tag manager, 0 session-replay, 0 heatmap trackers.

### Cookie & Tracker Inventory (A+ — 100/100)

*0 cookies · 2 trackers · 0 pre-consent*

- **[INFO]** 2 third-party tracker(s) detected on page

### Tracking Pixel Inventory (A+ — 100/100)

*No tracking pixels detected*

- **[PASS]** No tracking pixels detected

### Browser Fingerprinting (A+ — 100/100)

*No browser-fingerprinting libraries detected*

- **[PASS]** No browser-fingerprinting libraries detected

### Cross-Site Cookies (SameSite=None) (A+ — 100/100)

*No cookies on the page*

- **[PASS]** No cookies set on the page response

### Beacon Tracking (sendBeacon) (B — 90/100)

*2 sendBeacon call site(s) in inline scripts*

- **[INFO]** 2 navigator.sendBeacon call site(s) in inline scripts — navigator.sendBeacon() fires fire-and-forget POSTs in the background after page-unload -- typically used for last-second analytics (read-time, scroll depth, exit-intent). Ad-blockers' XHR/fetch interception often misses them (different API path); DevTools shows beacon requests typed as "ping" instead of "fetch", which is easy to overlook in privacy reviews. Audit each call site: what data is being sent? Is the recipient disclosed in the privacy policy? Is the call gated behind cookie-banner consent? Does the user have a way to opt out of the page-unload tracking specifically (separate from in-session analytics)? Detection is limited to inline scripts -- beacons in external SDKs aren't visible to this static scan.

---

## Legal

### Legal Page Ecosystem (C — 60/100)

*2 of 7 expected legal pages detected*

- **[PASS]** Privacy Policy detected — Found at https://duckduckgo.com/privacy.
- **[PASS]** Terms of Service detected — Found at /terms, linked from footer.
- **[INFO]** Cookie Policy not detected — No link matching common Cookie Policy URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Cookie Policy, especially those collecting user data.
- **[INFO]** Accessibility Statement not detected — No link matching common Accessibility Statement URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Accessibility Statement, especially those collecting user data.
- **[INFO]** DMCA / Copyright Notice not detected — No link matching common DMCA / Copyright Notice URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a DMCA / Copyright Notice, especially those collecting user data.
- **[INFO]** Refund / Returns Policy not detected — No link matching common Refund / Returns Policy URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Refund / Returns Policy, especially those collecting user data.
- **[INFO]** Acceptable Use Policy not detected — No link matching common Acceptable Use Policy URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Acceptable Use Policy, especially those collecting user data.

### Copyright Notice (A+ — 100/100)

*© 2026 DuckDuckGo Protection*

- **[PASS]** Copyright notice is up to date — Copyright notice is up to date: © 2026 DuckDuckGo Protection
- **[PASS]** Copyright holder: DuckDuckGo Protection

### Regulatory Indicators

*1 regulatory indicator(s) detected*

- **[INFO]** This is a technical scan, not a legal assessment — BeaverCheck detects technical indicators that may suggest regulatory relevance. This is not a compliance audit and should not be relied upon for legal decisions. Consult qualified legal counsel for compliance assessments.
- **[INFO]** GDPR indicators detected (strong confidence) — Indicators suggesting GDPR may be relevant: Text mentions: data protection; Privacy policy page found. EU General Data Protection Regulation — governs collection and processing of personal data of EU residents.

### Third-Party Data Sharing

*0 third-party service(s) detected*

- **[INFO]** Data inventory for transparency purposes — This inventory identifies third-party services that receive data from your site visitors. Under regulations like GDPR (Article 30), maintaining records of data processing activities is commonly considered a best practice. This automated scan provides a starting point — it may not capture all data flows.
- **[INFO]** No recognized third-party data-sharing services detected — This page does not appear to load external tracking, analytics, or advertising scripts.

### Compliance Badges (B — 70/100)

*1 compliance badge(s) detected*

- **[PASS]** TRUSTe / TrustArc badge detected — Found via body text: 'truste'. Note: the presence of a badge does not verify the certification is current or valid.

---

## Availability

### CDN & Delivery (D — 50/100)

*No CDN detected*

- **[WARNING]** No CDN detected — A CDN can significantly improve load times for users around the world by caching content at edge nodes closer to them.

### HTTP Caching (B — 75/100)

*no-cache*

- **[PASS]** Cache-Control header is set
- **[PASS]** ETag present — enables conditional (304) responses

### Operational Status Page (B — 80/100)

*No status page link detected*

- **[INFO]** No operational status page link detected — Status pages communicate planned maintenance and incidents to users -- a hallmark of operationally-mature services. Most SaaS teams publish one via Atlassian Statuspage, Instatus, BetterUptime, or a self-hosted Cachet. Smaller sites legitimately don't need one; flagged as Info, not a failure.

### Transport Security (A — 90/100)

*HTTP/3, HSTS, and TLS version analysis*

- **[INFO]** HTTP/3 (QUIC) not advertised — HTTP/3 eliminates head-of-line blocking. If your CDN supports it, consider enabling it.
- **[PASS]** HSTS enabled (base policy)
- **[INFO]** HSTS missing includeSubDomains — Without includeSubDomains, HSTS only protects the exact domain.
- **[PASS]** TLS 1.3 in use (fastest handshake, 1-RTT)

### Health Check Endpoint (A+ — 100/100)

*Health endpoint at https://duckduckgo.com/health (HTTP 200)*

- **[PASS]** Public health endpoint at https://duckduckgo.com/health

### CDN Cache Observability (B — 85/100)

*No CDN cache-status headers in the response*

- **[INFO]** No CDN cache-status headers in the response — Without an X-Cache / CF-Cache-Status / X-Vercel-Cache / Age header, you can't tell from outside whether a request hit the cache or went to origin. Operationally important: enables debugging stale-content reports and verifying cache rules. Most managed CDN platforms emit at least one of these by default; absence often means the platform's diagnostic headers are stripped at an upstream proxy.

---

## Accessibility

### Landmark Structure (C — 65/100)

*7 landmarks*

- **[PASS]** <main> landmark present
- **[WARNING]** Multiple <main> landmarks (2 found) — A page should have only one <main> landmark.
- **[PASS]** 2 <nav> landmark(s) found
- **[WARNING]** 2 of 2 <nav> elements are unlabeled — Multiple navigations need aria-label to distinguish them for screen readers.
- **[WARNING]** Skip navigation link is missing (WCAG 2.4.1) — Add a skip link as the first focusable element so keyboard users can bypass repeated navigation.
- **[PASS]** Search landmark present

### Heading Hierarchy (B — 75/100)

*16 headings, 1 skip(s)*

- **[WARNING]** Multiple H1 headings (2 found) — A page should have only one H1. Multiple H1s dilute the document outline.
- **[WARNING]** Heading level skipped: H3 → H6 (missing H4) — Skipping heading levels breaks the document outline. Screen readers may interpret missing levels as structural errors.

### Heading Text Quality (A+ — 100/100)

*All 16 heading(s) have substantive, well-formed text*

- **[PASS]** Heading text quality is clean -- no placeholder, length, or styling issues

### Alt Text Quality (A+ — 100/100)

*All 67 images OK*

- **[PASS]** 32 decorative image(s) correctly marked
- **[PASS]** 35 image(s) with good alt text

### Form Accessibility (A+ — 100/100)

*All 1 controls labeled*

- **[PASS]** 1 control(s) properly labeled

### Link & Button Quality (C — 68/100)

*8 issue(s) across 101 links and 31 buttons*

- **[WARNING]** 8 link(s) with generic text — Generic link text like 'click here' doesn't describe the destination.
- **[WARNING]** 61 link(s) open in new tab without warning — Add '(opens in new tab)' to link text or aria-label.
- **[PASS]** 32 link(s) with descriptive text

### Form Input Types (A+ — 95/100)

*1 input(s) using type=text where a specific type would help*

- **[INFO]** Input "q" should use type="search" (currently type="text") — Field name "q" suggests type="search". Wrong type loses mobile keyboard hints, browser autofill, and free format validation. Change to <input type="search">.

### Form Input Quality (A+ — 100/100)

*1 form control(s) checked, no input-semantic issues*

- **[PASS]** All form input semantics look correct

### Mobile Keyboard & Autofill (A+ — 100/100)

*No autofill-eligible form controls*

- **[PASS]** No autofill-eligible form controls (no name/email/tel/address fields)

### Document Language (A+ — 100/100)

*Lang attribute set to "en-US"*

- **[PASS]** <html lang="en-US"> is set and valid

### Tabindex Anti-Patterns (B — 80/100)

*0 positive, 4 -1-on-focusable*

- **[INFO]** tabindex="-1" on naturally-focusable <input> — tabindex="-1" removes an element from the keyboard tab order. Naturally-focusable elements (links, buttons, form controls) become unreachable for keyboard users. (Common false-positive: hidden honeypot fields. Verify the element is genuinely interactive before removing the tabindex.)
- **[INFO]** tabindex="-1" on naturally-focusable <button> — tabindex="-1" removes an element from the keyboard tab order. Naturally-focusable elements (links, buttons, form controls) become unreachable for keyboard users. (Common false-positive: hidden honeypot fields. Verify the element is genuinely interactive before removing the tabindex.)
- **[INFO]** tabindex="-1" on naturally-focusable <input> — tabindex="-1" removes an element from the keyboard tab order. Naturally-focusable elements (links, buttons, form controls) become unreachable for keyboard users. (Common false-positive: hidden honeypot fields. Verify the element is genuinely interactive before removing the tabindex.)
- **[INFO]** tabindex="-1" on naturally-focusable <button> — tabindex="-1" removes an element from the keyboard tab order. Naturally-focusable elements (links, buttons, form controls) become unreachable for keyboard users. (Common false-positive: hidden honeypot fields. Verify the element is genuinely interactive before removing the tabindex.)

### Iframe Accessibility (A+ — 100/100)

*No iframes on this page*

- **[PASS]** No iframes on this page

### Tap Target Adequacy (A+ — 100/100)

*All tap targets meet WCAG 2.5.5/2.5.8 sizing*

- **[PASS]** All tap targets meet WCAG 2.5.5 (44x44px) sizing

### Mobile-Readable Font Sizes (B — 90/100)

*99% of visible text renders at >= 12 CSS px (1 below threshold)*

- **[INFO]** 1 text node(s) render below 12 CSS pixels on mobile — Mobile browsers default the root font-size to 16 px; text below ~ 12 px (75% of root) is hard to read without zooming. WCAG 1.4.4 (Resize Text) requires the page to support 200% zoom without loss of functionality -- which most layouts handle, but small base text still costs readability and conversion. Audit which selectors set sizes below 12 px (often footers, fine print, table cells) and bump them to 14-16 px or use rem units that scale with user preferences. Examples: <span> 10.4px ("Search Privately").

---

## UX

### 404 Error Page (F — 20/100)

*Soft 404 detected*

- **[CRITICAL]** Soft 404: server returns HTTP 200 for non-existent pages — The server returns HTTP 200 for a path that does not exist. Search engines will index these pages, diluting your real content. Configure your server to return a proper 404 status code for missing pages.

### Favicon & Branding (B — 80/100)

*12 icon(s) detected*

- **[PASS]** favicon.ico present at site root
- **[PASS]** HTML icon links detected
- **[PASS]** Apple touch icon present
- **[PASS]** Multiple icon sizes detected

### Web Manifest (B — 75/100)

*PWA-ready*

- **[PASS]** Meets PWA install criteria
- **[PASS]** Name present: DuckDuckGo
- **[PASS]** 192x192 icon present
- **[PASS]** Display mode: standalone

### PWA Depth (A — 90/100)

*2 PWA signal(s) surfaced*

- **[INFO]** Manifest has no maskable icon — Android 12+ Adaptive Icons crop non-maskable icons to a circle or squircle -- frequently hiding important parts of the logo. Add at least one icon entry with `"purpose": "maskable"` (or `"any maskable"`) and a maskable-aware design (16% safe-zone padding around the inner mark).
- **[INFO]** Manifest is missing `theme_color` — Without `theme_color`, the install prompt and Android status bar fall back to a generic tint instead of your brand color. Add a hex color (e.g. `"theme_color": "#0066cc"`); for richer support, mirror it via `<meta name="theme-color" content="#0066cc">` so non-installed browsers also pick it up.

### Dark Mode Support (B — 80/100)

*Dark mode detected*

- **[PASS]** color-scheme meta tag present — The site declares support for light and dark color schemes via <meta name='color-scheme'>.
- **[PASS]** prefers-color-scheme CSS detected in inline styles
- **[INFO]** Detection limited to meta tags and inline styles — External CSS files may contain prefers-color-scheme rules not visible to this scan.

### Print Stylesheet (D — 40/100)

*No print styles*

- **[INFO]** No print-specific styles detected — When users print this page, they get the screen layout including navigation and non-essential elements. Add @media print rules to hide navigation and optimize layout for paper.

### Navigation UX (F — 35/100)

*1 navigation pattern(s)*

- **[PASS]** Search functionality detected
- **[PASS]** 2 navigation landmark(s) detected

### Mobile UX Depth (A+ — 97/100)

*1 mobile-depth signal(s) detected*

- **[INFO]** No `<meta name="theme-color">` -- browser chrome falls back to default — Without `theme-color`, Android Chrome's status bar and iOS Safari's toolbar fall back to a generic gray. Adding a single hex color in `<meta name="theme-color" content="#0066cc">` tints them to your brand color across all mobile browsers.

---

## SEO

### Canonical URL (A+ — 100/100)

*Properly configured*

- **[PASS]** Canonical tag present
- **[PASS]** Canonical is self-referencing
- **[PASS]** Canonical matches final URL after redirects
- **[PASS]** Canonical target returns 200

### Meta Tags (A+ — 100/100)

*Title optimized*

- **[PASS]** Page title is set
- **[PASS]** Title length (48 chars) is optimal
- **[PASS]** Meta description length (133 chars) is optimal
- **[PASS]** Title and H1 are well-aligned

### Title Style Depth (A+ — 100/100)

*Title style is clean -- consistent separator, no stale year, no keyword stuffing*

- **[PASS]** Title style is clean

### Content Depth (A — 85/100)

*2232 words, Fairly Difficult*

- **[PASS]** Page has 2232 words — good depth for search engines
- **[INFO]** Text-to-HTML ratio is 3% — Very low ratio suggests heavy framework overhead or boilerplate.
- **[INFO]** Reading level: Fairly Difficult (grade 10)

### Internal Links (A — 90/100)

*57 internal, 44 external*

- **[PASS]** 57 internal links (56%)
- **[PASS]** 92% of links use descriptive anchor text
- **[INFO]** 57 internal / 44 external links
- **[WARNING]** 7 internal links use generic anchor text

### Image SEO (A+ — 100/100)

*67 images, 67 descriptive filenames*

- **[PASS]** All images have descriptive filenames

### Hreflang

*0 hreflang tags*


### Hreflang URL Quality (A+ — 100/100)

*No hreflang tags on the page*

- **[PASS]** No hreflang tags on the page

### Hreflang Completeness (A+ — 100/100)

*No hreflang tags on this page -- check is N/A (single-language site or unannotated)*

- **[PASS]** No hreflang tags found -- completeness check is N/A

### Sitemap Freshness (B — 80/100)

*Sitemap updated within the last year*

- **[INFO]** Newest sitemap lastmod is 3 months ago -- stale beyond 90 days — No URL in the sitemap has been updated in the last 90 days. The sitemap is technically valid but signals to crawlers that the site isn't actively changing.

### Sitemap × Robots Consistency (A+ — 100/100)

*No sitemap-vs-robots conflicts in the URL sample*

- **[PASS]** All 5 sampled sitemap URLs are crawlable per robots.txt

### Sitemap Hygiene (A+ — 100/100)

*Sitemap structure / size look healthy (26 URLs, 5 KB)*

- **[PASS]** Sitemap structure / size look healthy (26 URLs)

### Markup Quality (A+ — 100/100)

*No markup-quality issues detected*

- **[PASS]** No markup-quality issues detected

---

## Sustainability

### CO2 Per Page Load (B — 70/100)

*0.67g CO2 per view*

- **[INFO]** 0.67g CO2 per page view — This page transfers 2.4 MB, producing an estimated 0.67g of CO2 per visit using the Sustainable Web Design model (v4). Breakdown: data center 0.12g, network 0.12g, end-user device 0.43g.
- **[INFO]** At 10,000 monthly views: 80.6 kg CO2/year — With 10,000 page views per month, this page would generate approximately 80.6 kg of CO2 annually — equivalent to charging 10071 smartphones.

### Green Hosting (D — 40/100)

*Not green*

- **[INFO]** No confirmed renewable energy commitment detected — Consider providers like Cloudflare, Google Cloud, or Vercel that match 100% of their energy use with renewables.
- **[INFO]** Green hosting status based on known provider commitments — Green hosting detection uses a curated database of provider renewable energy commitments. This is not a real-time verification. For authoritative checks, visit thegreenwebfoundation.org.

### Repeat Visit Weight (A+ — 100/100)

*98% cached*

- **[PASS]** 98% reduction on repeat visits — Returning visitors download only 43 KB (vs 2427 KB first visit). 118 of 119 resources are served from browser cache, saving 0.66g CO2 per repeat visit.
- **[INFO]** Repeat visit: 0.01g CO2 (first visit: 0.67g)

### Carbon Budget (D — 50/100)

*52th percentile*

- **[WARNING]** 0.67g CO2 — above the median website (0.60g) — Heavier than an estimated 48% of websites. Reducing page weight, optimizing images, and removing unused JavaScript would lower the carbon footprint. See the Performance tab.
- **[INFO]** Estimated 52th percentile — Compared to: top 10% = 0.20g, target = 0.50g, median = 0.60g per page view.

### Transfer Efficiency (B — 80/100)

*89% efficient*

- **[INFO]** Transfer efficiency: 89% — An estimated 276 KB (11%) could be eliminated: 0 KB via better compression, 0 KB via modern image formats, 276 KB of unused JavaScript. This wasted data produces 0.08g of unnecessary CO2 per page view.

### Web Font Weight Variants (B — 90/100)

*No detectable Google Fonts weights*

- **[INFO]** No detectable Google Fonts weights — The analyzer detects font weights via Google Fonts URL parameters (~70% of font-using sites). Self-hosted fonts and non-Google CDN fonts aren't visible to URL-based detection. If you self-host fonts, manually audit how many @font-face weights you ship -- 2-3 weights per family is typically enough; 5+ is usually unused payload.

---

---

*Generated by [BeaverCheck](https://beavercheck.com) — https://beavercheck.com/results/25999a15-a198-49c6-900b-67e62571d036*