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

**Date:** April 22, 2026  
**URL:** https://buzzsumo.com  
**Overall Grade:** C (79/100)  
**Report:** https://beavercheck.com/results/8105d75e-4a0d-4be2-b7e5-2fce0fdaaf03

## Top Findings

1. **[CRITICAL]** /.git/HEAD is publicly accessible — Security > Information Leakage
2. **[CRITICAL]** /.git/config is publicly accessible — Security > Information Leakage
3. **[CRITICAL]** 1 control(s) without accessible label — Accessibility > Form Accessibility
4. **[CRITICAL]** 4 link(s) with no accessible text — Accessibility > Link & Button Quality
5. **[WARNING]** Cross-Origin-Embedder-Policy header is missing — Security > Security Headers

---

## Lighthouse Scores

| Category | Score |
|----------|-------|
| Performance | 68 |
| Accessibility | 85 |
| Best Practices | 96 |
| SEO | 92 |

---

## Security

### Security Headers (F — 35/100)

*3 of 10 headers properly configured*

- **[WARNING]** HSTS max-age is too short (15552000s, should be ≥ 31536000s) — A short max-age leaves a window for downgrade attacks. Set max-age to at least 31536000 (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.
- **[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

### Content Security Policy (B — 70/100)

*2 of 10 CSP checks passed*

- **[INFO]** Raw CSP policy
- **[WARNING]** default-src directive is missing — default-src provides a fallback for other directives. Set it to restrict default resource loading.
- **[INFO]** No script-src or default-src to check for 'unsafe-inline'
- **[INFO]** No script-src or default-src to check for 'unsafe-eval'
- **[INFO]** No script-src or default-src to check for wildcard
- **[PASS]** object-src is set to 'none'
- **[WARNING]** base-uri directive is missing — Without base-uri, attackers can inject a <base> tag to hijack relative URLs. Set it to 'self' or 'none'.
- **[PASS]** frame-ancestors directive is set
- **[WARNING]** form-action directive is missing — form-action restricts where forms can submit data, preventing form hijacking.
- **[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, 7 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]** Certificate is valid (expires in 56 days)
- **[PASS]** Certificate chain has 3 certificates
- **[PASS]** Certificate uses modern signature algorithm
- **[PASS]** Certificate covers 5 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 3 external resources have SRI*

- **[WARNING]** External script from js.partnerstack.com lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code.
- **[WARNING]** External script from app.buzzsumo.com lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code.
- **[WARNING]** External script from app.buzzsumo.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 (D — 40/100)

*Critical exposure detected*

- **[CRITICAL]** /.git/HEAD is publicly accessible — Version control directory is accessible. This exposes source code and potentially secrets. Block access in your web server configuration.
- **[CRITICAL]** /.git/config is publicly accessible — Version control directory is accessible. This exposes source code and potentially secrets. Block access in your web server configuration.
- **[INFO]** No security.txt found — Consider adding a security.txt at /.well-known/security.txt.

### Email Security (A — 85/100)

*DMARC: quarantine*

- **[PASS]** DMARC policy is quarantine — good protection

### 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 (C — 60/100)

*Origin: **

- **[INFO]** Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * — unrestricted — Any website can read this resource's response. Appropriate for public APIs but not for user-specific content.
- **[INFO]** Origin reflection not testable with a single request — Some servers reflect the request Origin header. This requires manual testing with a crafted Origin header.

---

## Performance

### Page Weight Budget (C — 67/100)

*1.6 MB transferred, 54 requests*

- **[INFO]** Page weighs 2.8 MB (1.6 MB transferred)
- **[WARNING]** Images are 1.3 MB — compress or use modern formats — Convert images to WebP/AVIF and resize to display dimensions to reduce transfer size.
- **[INFO]** 54 HTTP requests
- **[INFO]** Estimated 0.35 g CO2 per page load

### Third-Party Impact (A+ — 100/100)

*6% third-party, 0 ms blocking*

- **[INFO]** Third-party code accounts for 6% of page weight (95.9 KiB of 1.6 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 — 75/100)

*30 images, 0 KB saveable*

- **[PASS]** All images are well-optimized

### JS Execution Cost (D — 40/100)

*2000ms total JS execution*

- **[WARNING]** https://buzzsumo.com/: 1207ms CPU time
- **[WARNING]** Unattributable: 473ms CPU time
- **[INFO]** https://buzzsumo.com/wp-content/themes/brandwatch/...: 151ms CPU time
- **[INFO]** https://app.buzzsumo.com/consent-manager.js: 98ms CPU time
- **[INFO]** https://buzzsumo.com/wp-content/themes/brandwatch/...: 71ms CPU time
- **[INFO]** Third-party scripts: 571ms (29% of total)

### Font Loading (A+ — 100/100)

*5 fonts (66 KB)*

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

### JS Bundles (B — 70/100)

*8 scripts, 64 KB unused*

- **[WARNING]** https://buzzsumo.com/wp-content/themes/brandwatch/...: 41 KB unused (50%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.
- **[WARNING]** https://app.buzzsumo.com/consent-manager.js: 22 KB unused (35%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.
- **[WARNING]** https://app.buzzsumo.com/consent-manager.js: unminified — 38 KB could be saved
- **[INFO]** Total unused JavaScript: 64 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 (C — 60/100)

*54 resources · 1.6 MB · 64 KB savings available*

- **[WARNING]** Page weight 662 KB over 1MB target
- **[INFO]** ~64 KB of savings available
- **[INFO]** 14 third-party resources (6% of weight)
- **[INFO]** 2 resources over 200KB

### 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*


---

## Content Quality

### Links (A+ — 100/100)

*95 links checked, 95 healthy, 0 broken*

- **[PASS]** 95 of 95 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 (B — 85/100)

*Open Graph tags are partially configured — some improvements recommended.*

- **[WARNING]** Missing og:image — The og:image tag provides a preview image for social sharing.
- **[INFO]** og:title is long (61 characters) — Titles over 60 characters may be truncated in social sharing previews.

### 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)

*3 A records, 53 ms lookup*

- **[PASS]** Resolves to 3 IPv4 address(es)
- **[PASS]** Has 3 IPv6 (AAAA) record(s)
- **[PASS]** 2 nameserver(s) configured
- **[PASS]** 1 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: 53 ms

### Redirect Chain (A+ — 100/100)

*No redirects — direct access*

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

### IPv6 Readiness (A+ — 100/100)

*IPv6 reachable (17 ms)*

- **[PASS]** IPv6 is configured and reachable at 2606:4700:20::ac43:495e, 2606:4700:20::681a:411, 2606:4700:20::681a:511

### Crawlability (A+ — 100/100)

*robots.txt present, sitemap with 18 URLs*

- **[PASS]** robots.txt is present
- **[PASS]** sitemap.xml is present
- **[PASS]** sitemap.xml is valid XML
- **[PASS]** sitemap.xml contains 18 entries
- **[PASS]** Sitemap index with 18 child sitemaps
- **[PASS]** robots.txt references sitemap

### URL Variants (A+ — 100/100)

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

- **[PASS]** www/non-www redirect configured correctly (preferred: non-www)
- **[PASS]** HTTP correctly 301-redirects to HTTPS

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

*buzzsumo.com — via NameCheap, Inc., 13 years, 9 months old*

- **[PASS]** Domain registered until Sep 17, 2027 (1 years, 5 months remaining)
- **[PASS]** DNSSEC is enabled
- **[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.

---

## Compliance

### WCAG Compliance (A+ — 100/100)

*No testable criteria*


### Cookie Consent & Privacy (B — 80/100)

*No consent signals detected*

- **[WARNING]** No privacy policy link detected — A privacy policy page is recommended for transparency and may be legally required.
- **[INFO]** No terms of service link detected
- **[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]** <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.

### 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

### Third-Party Trackers (C — 55/100)

*2 trackers detected*

- **[INFO]** 2 third-party trackers detected — Found 2 analytics, 0 advertising, 0 marketing, 0 tag manager trackers.
- **[WARNING]** Trackers detected but no cookie policy found — This page loads 2 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.

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

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

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

---

## Legal

### Legal Page Ecosystem (F — 30/100)

*1 of 7 expected legal pages detected*

- **[WARNING]** Privacy Policy not detected — No link matching common Privacy Policy URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Privacy Policy, especially those collecting user data.
- **[PASS]** Terms of Service detected — Found at https://www.cision.com/legal/customerdpa/, 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 BuzzSumo Ltd*

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

### Regulatory Indicators

*0 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]** No specific regulatory indicators detected — No strong signals for GDPR, CCPA, ADA, PCI, HIPAA, or COPPA were found. This does not mean these regulations don't apply — it means we didn't detect common technical indicators.

### 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 (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 (A — 85/100)

*Cloudflare (DYNAMIC)*

- **[PASS]** Site is served via Cloudflare CDN (edge: CDG)
- **[INFO]** CDN cache status: DYNAMIC

### 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]** HSTS max-age is short: 180 days — HSTS max-age should be at least 1 year (31536000 seconds).
- **[PASS]** HSTS preload enabled
- **[PASS]** TLS 1.3 in use (fastest handshake, 1-RTT)

---

## Accessibility

### Landmark Structure (A — 85/100)

*4 landmarks*

- **[PASS]** <main> landmark present
- **[PASS]** 1 <nav> landmark(s) found
- **[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.

### Heading Hierarchy (A+ — 100/100)

*14 headings*

- **[PASS]** Single H1 present

### Alt Text Quality (A+ — 100/100)

*All 29 images OK*

- **[PASS]** 14 decorative image(s) correctly marked
- **[PASS]** 15 image(s) with good alt text

### Form Accessibility (A — 85/100)

*1 of 2 controls have issues*

- **[CRITICAL]** 1 control(s) without accessible label — Form controls need a <label>, aria-label, or aria-labelledby for screen readers.
- **[PASS]** 1 control(s) properly labeled

### Link & Button Quality (D — 46/100)

*7 issue(s) across 86 links and 41 buttons*

- **[CRITICAL]** 4 link(s) with no accessible text — Links without text are announced as raw URLs by screen readers.
- **[WARNING]** 3 link(s) with generic text — Generic link text like 'click here' doesn't describe the destination.
- **[WARNING]** 3 link(s) open in new tab without warning — Add '(opens in new tab)' to link text or aria-label.
- **[PASS]** 76 link(s) with descriptive text

---

## UX

### 404 Error Page (B — 80/100)

*HTTP 404, custom page*

- **[PASS]** Correct 404 status code returned
- **[PASS]** Custom styled 404 page
- **[PASS]** Navigation links present on 404 page
- **[PASS]** Homepage link present on 404 page

### Favicon & Branding (F — 30/100)

*2 icon(s) detected*

- **[PASS]** favicon.ico present at site root
- **[PASS]** HTML icon links detected
- **[INFO]** No apple-touch-icon detected — iOS devices use this when users add your site to their home screen. Add <link rel='apple-touch-icon' sizes='180x180' href='/apple-touch-icon.png'>.

### Web Manifest (D — 40/100)

*Not found*

- **[INFO]** No web manifest found — No manifest at standard paths (/manifest.json, /site.webmanifest). A manifest is optional but enables PWA features like home screen installation and standalone display.

### Dark Mode Support (D — 40/100)

*No dark mode signals*

- **[INFO]** No dark mode signals detected — Consider adding CSS with @media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) and <meta name='color-scheme' content='light dark'>.
- **[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 — 15/100)

*No navigation patterns*

- **[PASS]** 1 navigation landmark(s) detected
- **[INFO]** No breadcrumbs, search, or skip link detected — These navigation aids help users orient themselves and find content efficiently, especially on large sites.

---

## 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+ — 95/100)

*Title: 61 chars*

- **[PASS]** Page title is set
- **[INFO]** Title is 61 characters — may be truncated in search results
- **[INFO]** Title and H1 have very different wording — Alignment helps users confirm they've reached the right page.

### Content Depth (A+ — 100/100)

*1708 words, Difficult*

- **[PASS]** Page has 1708 words — good depth for search engines
- **[INFO]** Reading level: Difficult (grade 12)

### Internal Links (A — 90/100)

*62 internal, 24 external*

- **[PASS]** 62 internal links (72%)
- **[PASS]** 92% of links use descriptive anchor text
- **[INFO]** 62 internal / 24 external links
- **[WARNING]** 3 internal links use generic anchor text

### Image SEO (A+ — 100/100)

*29 images, 29 descriptive filenames*

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

### Hreflang

*0 hreflang tags*


---

## Sustainability

### CO2 Per Page Load (A — 85/100)

*0.39g CO2 per view*

- **[PASS]** 0.39g CO2 per page view — This page transfers 1.6 MB, producing an estimated 0.39g of CO2 per visit using the Sustainable Web Design model (v4). Breakdown: data center 0.01g, network 0.08g, end-user device 0.30g.
- **[INFO]** At 10,000 monthly views: 46.8 kg CO2/year — With 10,000 page views per month, this page would generate approximately 46.8 kg of CO2 annually — equivalent to charging 5844 smartphones.
- **[PASS]** Green hosting reduces data center emissions

### Green Hosting (A+ — 100/100)

*Green (both)*

- **[PASS]** Both hosting and CDN use renewable energy
- **[INFO]** Cloudflare: Verified by the Green Web Foundation
- **[INFO]** Cloudflare: 100% renewable energy for global network since 2019
- **[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 31 KB (vs 1685 KB first visit). 53 of 54 resources are served from browser cache, saving 0.38g CO2 per repeat visit.
- **[INFO]** Repeat visit: 0.01g CO2 (first visit: 0.39g)

### Carbon Budget (A — 85/100)

*28th percentile*

- **[PASS]** 0.39g CO2 — below the sustainability target of 0.50g — Cleaner than an estimated 72% of websites analyzed. This page meets the Web Sustainability Guidelines target.
- **[INFO]** Estimated 28th percentile — Compared to: top 10% = 0.20g, target = 0.50g, median = 0.60g per page view.

### Transfer Efficiency (A+ — 100/100)

*96% efficient*

- **[PASS]** Transfer efficiency: 96% — Only 63 KB of potential savings identified. Your page is well-optimized for size.

---

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*Generated by [BeaverCheck](https://beavercheck.com) — https://beavercheck.com/results/8105d75e-4a0d-4be2-b7e5-2fce0fdaaf03*