# BeaverCheck Audit Report — https://merchantcircle.com **Date:** April 22, 2026 **URL:** https://merchantcircle.com **Overall Grade:** C (70/100) **Report:** https://beavercheck.com/results/72e8adbf-a196-447e-b1e9-687f794dd36c ## Top Findings 1. **[CRITICAL]** Content-Security-Policy header is missing — Security > Security Headers 2. **[CRITICAL]** HSTS header is missing — Security > Security Headers 3. **[CRITICAL]** No Content-Security-Policy header found — Security > Content Security Policy 4. **[CRITICAL]** 1 button(s) with no accessible text — Accessibility > Link & Button Quality 5. **[CRITICAL]** No
landmark found — Accessibility > Landmark Structure --- ## Lighthouse Scores | Category | Score | |----------|-------| | Performance | 67 | | Accessibility | 72 | | Best Practices | 100 | | SEO | 92 | --- ## Security ### Security Headers (F — 5/100) *1 of 10 headers properly configured* - **[CRITICAL]** HSTS header is missing — Strict-Transport-Security forces browsers to use HTTPS, preventing downgrade attacks. Add the header with a max-age of at least 1 year. - **[WARNING]** X-Content-Type-Options header is missing — This header prevents MIME-type sniffing, which can lead to XSS attacks. Set it to 'nosniff'. - **[WARNING]** X-Frame-Options header is missing — This header prevents clickjacking by controlling who can embed your page in a frame. Set it to DENY or SAMEORIGIN. - **[WARNING]** Referrer-Policy header is missing — Controls how much referrer information is sent with requests. Set to 'strict-origin-when-cross-origin' or stricter. - **[WARNING]** Permissions-Policy header is missing — Controls which browser features (camera, microphone, geolocation) are allowed. Set it to restrict unused features. - **[CRITICAL]** Content-Security-Policy header is missing — CSP is the most important header for preventing XSS attacks. See the CSP section for detailed analysis. - **[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 - **[WARNING]** Server header reveals version information — The Server header discloses the software version, aiding attackers in targeting known vulnerabilities. Remove the version number. ### Content Security Policy (F — 0/100) *No enforcing CSP policy found* - **[CRITICAL]** No Content-Security-Policy header found — CSP is the most effective defense against XSS attacks. Add a Content-Security-Policy header to restrict resource loading. ### TLS & Certificates (A+ — 100/100) *TLS 1.2, 7 checks passed* - **[PASS]** TLS 1.2 is used - **[INFO]** TLS 1.3 is not negotiated — TLS 1.3 offers improved performance and security. Consider enabling it. - **[PASS]** Strong cipher suite is used - **[INFO]** HTTP/2 is not negotiated — HTTP/2 provides multiplexing and header compression for better performance. - **[PASS]** Certificate is valid (expires in 208 days) - **[PASS]** Certificate chain has 3 certificates - **[PASS]** Certificate uses modern signature algorithm - **[PASS]** Certificate covers 1 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 --- ## Advanced Security ### Subresource Integrity (F — 20/100) *0 of 15 external resources have SRI* - **[WARNING]** External script from connect.facebook.net lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code. - **[WARNING]** External script from apis.google.com lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code. - **[WARNING]** External script from connect.facebook.net lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code. - **[WARNING]** External script from platform.twitter.com lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code. - **[WARNING]** External script from apis.google.com lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code. - **[WARNING]** External script from static3.merchantcircle.com lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code. - **[WARNING]** External script from static4.merchantcircle.com lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code. - **[WARNING]** External script from ajax.googleapis.com lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code. - **[WARNING]** External link from static1.merchantcircle.com lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code. - **[WARNING]** External script from www.googletagmanager.com lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code. - **[WARNING]** External script from ssl.google-analytics.com lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code. - **[WARNING]** External script from cdn.cookielaw.org lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code. - **[WARNING]** External script from cdn.mouseflow.com lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code. - **[WARNING]** External script from static.hotjar.com lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code. - **[WARNING]** External link from fonts.googleapis.com lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code. ### JS Library Vulnerabilities (A+ — 100/100) *No known vulnerabilities* - **[PASS]** No known JavaScript library vulnerabilities detected ### Information Leakage (A+ — 100/100) *No exposures* - **[INFO]** No security.txt found — Consider adding a security.txt at /.well-known/security.txt. - **[PASS]** No sensitive files exposed ### Email Security (D — 50/100) *DMARC: none* - **[WARNING]** DMARC policy is none — monitoring only — This only monitors, it doesn't block spoofed emails. Change to p=quarantine or p=reject. ### Permissions-Policy (D — 40/100) *No header set* - **[WARNING]** No Permissions-Policy header — Consider adding a Permissions-Policy header to restrict browser feature access from embedded content. ### CORS Configuration (B — 80/100) *No CORS headers* - **[PASS]** No CORS headers present — secure default --- ## Performance ### Page Weight Budget (C — 62/100) *1.8 MB transferred, 49 requests* - **[INFO]** Page weighs 3.2 MB (1.8 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 516 KB — consider code splitting or lazy loading — Large JavaScript bundles delay interactivity. Split code by route or defer non-critical scripts. - **[PASS]** 49 HTTP requests - **[INFO]** Estimated 0.38 g CO2 per page load ### Third-Party Impact (D — 50/100) *100% third-party, 0 ms blocking* - **[WARNING]** Third-party code accounts for 100% of page weight (1.8 MiB of 1.8 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 (B — 70/100) *24 images, 0 KB saveable* - **[WARNING]** https://static3.merchantcircle.com/static/v3/img/f... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS. ### JS Execution Cost (C — 60/100) *1223ms total JS execution* - **[WARNING]** https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-WX4C...: 314ms CPU time - **[WARNING]** Unattributable: 256ms CPU time - **[WARNING]** https://www.merchantcircle.com/: 255ms CPU time - **[INFO]** https://script.hotjar.com/modules.6a0f3932cb1341a3...: 131ms CPU time - **[INFO]** https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js: 95ms CPU time - **[WARNING]** Third-party scripts: 1223ms (100% of total) ### Font Loading (A+ — 100/100) *2 fonts (63 KB)* - **[INFO]** 2 font(s) use font-display: swap (FOUT risk but functional) ### JS Bundles (C — 60/100) *14 scripts, 197 KB unused* - **[WARNING]** https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-WX4C...: 69 KB unused (39%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code. - **[WARNING]** https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/bundle/sdk.js/: 54 KB unused (69%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code. - **[WARNING]** https://script.hotjar.com/modules.6a0f3932cb1341a3...: 38 KB unused (67%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code. - **[WARNING]** https://apis.google.com/_/scs/abc-static/_/js/k=ga...: 36 KB unused (67%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code. - **[INFO]** Total unused JavaScript: 197 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+ — 100/100) *No optimization needed* - **[PASS]** No resource hint issues ### Page Weight Inventory (D — 45/100) *49 resources · 1.8 MB · 197 KB savings available* - **[WARNING]** Page weight 811 KB over 1MB target - **[INFO]** ~197 KB of savings available - **[WARNING]** 48 third-party resources (100% of weight) ### Render-Blocking Resources (A+ — 100/100) *No render-blocking resources detected* - **[PASS]** No render-blocking resources detected in ### Third-Party Resources (A+ — 100/100) *No third-party resources detected* --- ## Content Quality ### Links (A+ — 100/100) *75 links checked, 75 healthy, 0 broken* - **[PASS]** 75 of 75 links are healthy ### Mixed Content (A+ — 100/100) *No mixed content detected — all resources use HTTPS.* - **[PASS]** No mixed content detected — all resources use HTTPS ### Open Graph (F — 0/100) *No Open Graph tags found — social sharing previews will be generic.* - **[WARNING]** No Open Graph meta tags found — Without og:title, og:description, and og:image, social media platforms will generate a generic preview when your page is shared. ### 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. --- ## Infrastructure ### DNS Records (A+ — 100/100) *2 A records, 54 ms lookup* - **[PASS]** Resolves to 2 IPv4 address(es) - **[INFO]** No IPv6 (AAAA) records - **[PASS]** 4 nameserver(s) configured - **[PASS]** 5 mail exchanger(s) configured - **[INFO]** CAA records not checked — CAA record lookup requires a specialized DNS resolver. This check will be available in a future update. - **[PASS]** SPF record present in TXT - **[PASS]** DNS resolution time: 54 ms ### Redirect Chain (B — 70/100) *1 redirect(s), 2692 ms total* - **[PASS]** Single redirect - **[INFO]** WWW normalization redirect - **[WARNING]** Redirect overhead: 2692 ms total ### 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 (C — 60/100) *robots.txt present, sitemap with 2 URLs* - **[PASS]** robots.txt is present - **[CRITICAL]** robots.txt blocks all crawlers — Disallow: / for all user-agents prevents search engines from indexing any page. This will remove the site from search results. - **[PASS]** sitemap.xml is present - **[PASS]** sitemap.xml is valid XML - **[PASS]** sitemap.xml contains 2 entries - **[PASS]** Sitemap index with 2 child sitemaps - **[PASS]** robots.txt references sitemap ### URL Variants (B — 75/100) *www/non-www, trailing slash, HTTP→HTTPS* - **[CRITICAL]** Both www and non-www versions serve content - **[PASS]** HTTP correctly 301-redirects to HTTPS ### Domain Intelligence (A+ — 100/100) *merchantcircle.com — via GoDaddy.com, LLC, 21 years, 10 months old, hosted on AWS* - **[PASS]** Domain registered until Sep 28, 2026 (5 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: GoDaddy.com, LLC - **[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: AWS --- ## Compliance ### WCAG Compliance (A+ — 100/100) *No testable criteria* ### Cookie Consent & Privacy (A — 85/100) *No consent signals detected* - **[WARNING]** No privacy policy link detected — A privacy policy page is recommended for transparency and may be legally required. - **[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. ### Language & i18n (A — 90/100) *Lang attribute present* - **[PASS]** attribute is present - **[PASS]** value is valid - **[INFO]** No Content-Language HTTP header - **[INFO]** Language signals are inconsistent — The attribute and Content-Language header should agree. ### Readability & Typography (A+ — 100/100) *Font sizes and tap targets checked* ### Viewport Configuration (C — 60/100) *Viewport prevents zooming* - **[PASS]** Viewport meta tag is present - **[PASS]** width=device-width is set - **[CRITICAL]** Viewport prevents user zooming — user-scalable=no or maximum-scale < 2 prevents users from zooming. This is a WCAG 1.4.4 (Level AA) failure and an accessibility barrier for users with low vision. ### Third-Party Trackers (F — 30/100) *7 trackers detected* - **[INFO]** 7 third-party trackers detected — Found 5 analytics, 1 advertising, 0 marketing, 1 tag manager trackers. - **[WARNING]** 1 advertising/retargeting trackers detected — Advertising trackers collect user data for ad targeting. Under GDPR, these typically require explicit consent. - **[WARNING]** Trackers detected but no cookie policy found — This page loads 7 trackers but no cookie policy was detected. GDPR requires disclosure when using tracking cookies. - **[WARNING]** Trackers detected but no privacy policy found — Most data protection regulations require a privacy policy when collecting user data via trackers. - **[WARNING]** Session replay tool detected: Hotjar — Session replay tools record user interactions. These require clear disclosure and often explicit consent under GDPR. ### Cookie & Tracker Inventory (A+ — 100/100) *0 cookies · 7 trackers · 0 pre-consent* - **[INFO]** 7 third-party tracker(s) detected on page --- ## Legal ### Legal Page Ecosystem (D — 50/100) *2 of 7 expected legal pages detected* - **[PASS]** Privacy Policy detected — Found at https://www.merchantcircle.com/pages/privacy.html, linked from footer. - **[WARNING]** Terms of Service not detected — No link matching common Terms of Service URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Terms of Service, especially those collecting user data. - **[PASS]** Cookie Policy detected — Found at https://www.merchantcircle.com/pages/cookie.html, linked from footer. - **[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 (C — 55/100) *No copyright notice detected* - **[INFO]** No copyright notice detected — No copyright notice detected in the page content. While not legally required in most jurisdictions (copyright exists automatically), a notice is standard practice and signals site ownership. ### Regulatory Indicators *2 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: Consent management platform detected: cookielaw.org; Privacy policy page found. EU General Data Protection Regulation — governs collection and processing of personal data of EU residents. - **[INFO]** CCPA indicators detected (strong confidence) — Indicators suggesting CCPA may be relevant: Text mentions: do not sell; Link text: Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. California Consumer Privacy Act — gives California residents rights over their personal data. ### Third-Party Data Sharing *3 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]** 3 third-party services across 3 categories — 3 third-party services detected across 3 categories: Analytics (1), Advertising (1), Session Recording (1). Each of these services receives some user data from your site visitors. - **[INFO]** Google Analytics (Analytics) — Detected via script URL. Typically collects: Page views, User behavior, Demographics, Device info, IP address. Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy. Data Processing Agreement available. - **[INFO]** Facebook Pixel (Advertising) — Detected via script URL. Typically collects: Page views, Conversions, User behavior, Ad targeting. Privacy policy: https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy. Data Processing Agreement available. - **[INFO]** Hotjar (Session Recording) — Detected via script URL. Typically collects: Session recordings, Heatmaps, Click patterns, Form interactions. Privacy policy: https://www.hotjar.com/privacy/. Data Processing Agreement available. ### Compliance Badges (C — 55/100) *0 compliance badge(s) detected* - **[INFO]** No compliance badges detected — No recognized compliance certification badges or seals were found. This is common — many sites do not display compliance badges. --- ## 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 (F — 30/100) *No cache headers* - **[WARNING]** No Cache-Control header found — Browsers will use heuristic caching, which can be unpredictable. Set explicit cache headers. ### Transport Security (B — 75/100) *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. - **[WARNING]** Missing Strict-Transport-Security header — HSTS tells browsers to only use HTTPS, preventing SSL stripping attacks. --- ## Accessibility ### Landmark Structure (C — 60/100) *3 landmarks* - **[CRITICAL]** No
landmark found — Screen reader users cannot quickly navigate to the primary content. Wrap your main content in
. - **[PASS]** 1