Scan
Ross Stores
Score
45/100
12 of 51 tests pass · 55 points still on the table
Weak
AI crawlers are turned away before they reach the content, so nothing else on this page has had a chance to matter.
Do these three first
The fastest 10 points on this scan
CDN and WAF do not silently reject AI crawlers
8 of 8 AI user-agents are rejected or challenged at the edge.
Do this: Stop rejecting AI crawlers at the CDN or WAF.
Content Signals declared in robots.txt
No Content-Signal line in robots.txt. Missing: search, ai-input, ai-train.
Do this: Declare a Content Signals position in robots.txt.
Progressive disclosure content ships in the initial HTML
0 of 18 pages ship every disclosure panel populated in the raw HTML. 12 pages load more content on scroll with no paginated fallback.
Do this: Render every panel and hide it with CSS.
Nine dimensions, most to least left on the table
21 pages crawled
- rossstores.com
- www.rossstores.com
- www.rossstores.com/store-locator
- www.rossstores.com/credit-card
- www.rossstores.com/email-sign-up
- www.rossstores.com/about-us
- jobs.rossstores.com
- corp.rossstores.com/responsibility
- inclusion.rossstores.com
- www.rossstores.com/gift-cards
- investors.rossstores.com
- www.rossstores.com/product-sourcing-human-rights
- www.rossstores.com/contact-us
- myross.rossstores.com
- www.rossstores.com/legal-notices
- www.rossstores.com/comparison-pricing
- www.rossstores.com/sitemap
- www.rossstores.com/credit-card/manage
- www.rossstores.com/privacy-policy
- www.rossstores.com/terms-of-use
- corp.rossstores.com/accessibility
Every test · all 67 tests, in order
67 of 67 showing
AIR-1.1 Can AI crawlers reach your site? PASS 5 pt
All 10 AI agents may fetch content paths.
Your robots.txt file tells crawlers what they may read. A line left behind by a previous site or a copied template can quietly shut out the assistants people now use to find you.
AIR-1.2 Does your CDN let AI crawlers through?8 of 8 AI user-agents are rejected or challenged at the edge. PROBLEM +5
8 of 8 AI user-agents are rejected or challenged at the edge.
Even when robots.txt says yes, a firewall or bot-protection rule can turn assistants away before they reach your pages. We sent a request as each one and recorded what came back.
AIR-1.3 Is your page readable without a security challenge? PASS 1 pt
1 of 21 sampled pages return an interactive challenge (edge challenge cookie).
A CAPTCHA or bot check on an ordinary page stops an assistant at the door. These belong on forms and logins, not on pages anyone can read.
AIR-1.4 Have you stated what AI may do with your content?No Content-Signal line in robots.txt. Missing: search, ai-input, ai-train. PROBLEM +3
No Content-Signal line in robots.txt. Missing: search, ai-input, ai-train.
There is now a machine-readable way to say whether AI may search, quote or train on your material. Having a position — any position — is the point.
AIR-1.5 Can a person read your AI policy?robots.txt carries no human-readable policy statement. PROBLEM +1
robots.txt carries no human-readable policy statement.
A few plain sentences in robots.txt saying what you permit. Journalists and lawyers read this file, and right now most sites say nothing.
AIR-1.6 Are you allowing assistants to quote you? PASS 1 pt
No noarchive, nosnippet or max-snippet:0 directives found.
Some sites carry old settings that tell search engines not to show excerpts. Those same settings stop an assistant quoting your page in an answer.
AIR-1.7 Does this page declare its real address?18% of sampled pages emit a valid, self-consistent canonical. 17 have problems. PROBLEM +1
18% of sampled pages emit a valid, self-consistent canonical. 17 have problems.
A canonical link tells a machine which URL is the true one. Without it the same content can be treated as several competing pages.
AIR-1.8 Is your page structured so a machine can follow it?73% of sampled pages carry one main element, a wrapping article or section, and a nav. 1 exceed 12 divs per semantic element. NEEDS WORK +1
73% of sampled pages carry one main element, a wrapping article or section, and a nav. 1 exceed 12 divs per semantic element.
Meaningful sections rather than an undifferentiated wall of containers. It is the difference between a document and a soup of boxes.
AIR-1.9 Do your headings tell a clear story? PASS 2 pt
86% of sampled pages have exactly one non-empty h1 and no skipped heading levels. 1 have no h1; 1 have several; 1 skip a level.
One main heading, then sub-headings in order. Assistants use headings to work out what a page is about and which part answers a question.
AIR-1.10 Do you publish a guide for AI assistants?/llms.txt returns HTTP 404. PROBLEM +2
/llms.txt returns HTTP 404.
A file at /llms.txt listing your most important pages. It is early and cheap, and it forces a useful conversation about what actually matters on your site.
AIR-1.11 Can a machine tell what your organization is?19 of 35 entity nodes carry an @id (54%). The WebPage to WebSite to Organization chain resolves. 2 duplicate definitions of WebSite. NEEDS WORK +1
19 of 35 entity nodes carry an @id (54%). The WebPage to WebSite to Organization chain resolves. 2 duplicate definitions of WebSite.
Structured data that links together — your organization, your site, this page — rather than a scattering of disconnected labels.
AIR-1.12 Can a machine be certain it is you?6 sameAs links: 0 tier-1 authority identifiers, 2 tier-2, 4 social. NEEDS WORK +1
6 sameAs links: 0 tier-1 authority identifiers, 2 tier-2, 4 social.
Links from your markup to authoritative records like Wikidata or ROR. Without one, an assistant is guessing which organization of your name it has found.
AIR-1.13 Can a machine find out who you are?0 of 7 organizational facts are present in the Organization markup: none. PROBLEM +2
0 of 7 organizational facts are present in the Organization markup: none.
Founding date, leadership, address, contact details, legal identifiers. Thin About pages are the most common weakness we see.
AIR-2.1 Primary content is present without JavaScript PASS 5 pt
Raw HTML contains 95% of rendered text on average across 20 URLs. The worst template is /: 83% across 6 pages. 1 URLs were excluded from the mean.
AIR-2.2 Progressive disclosure content ships in the initial HTML0 of 18 pages ship every disclosure panel populated in the raw HTML. 12 pages load more content on scroll with no paginated fallback. PROBLEM +2
0 of 18 pages ship every disclosure panel populated in the raw HTML. 12 pages load more content on scroll with no paginated fallback.
AIR-2.3 Real data tables with header cells PASS 2 pt
1 tables: 0 complete, 0 without scope on header cells, 0 with no header cells, 0 used for layout.
AIR-2.4 Stable, human-readable anchor IDs on section headings0 of 268 subheadings carry a slug-like id (0%); 68 have generated or unstable ids. NEEDS WORK +1
0 of 268 subheadings carry a slug-like id (0%); 68 have generated or unstable ids.
AIR-2.5 Alt text on content images, empty alt on decorative33 of 48 images carry appropriate alt text: 0 have no alt attribute, 0 use the filename. NEEDS WORK +0
33 of 48 images carry appropriate alt text: 0 have no alt attribute, 0 use the filename.
AIR-2.6 Key facts exist as HTML text, not only in images or PDFs5 of 21 sampled pages are thin relative to their images or lead with a document download. NEEDS WORK +0
5 of 21 sampled pages are thin relative to their images or lead with a document download.
AIR-3.1 JSON-LD is generated from mapped fields, not hardcodedSchema values track visible content across 0 templates. NEEDS WORK +1
Schema values track visible content across 0 templates.
AIR-3.2 BreadcrumbList on every page below the homepage PASS 2 pt
94% of pages below the homepage carry a BreadcrumbList with at least two steps.
AIR-3.4 FAQPage and QAPage on genuine question-and-answer content0 pages carry FAQ or QA markup; 3 pages show visible question-and-answer content. PROBLEM +2
0 pages carry FAQ or QA markup; 3 pages show visible question-and-answer content.
AIR-3.5 isAccessibleForFree, about, and mentions with entity references0 of 13 substantive pages declare isAccessibleForFree; 2 reference subject entities by identifier. NEEDS WORK +0
0 of 13 substantive pages declare isAccessibleForFree; 2 reference subject entities by identifier.
AIR-3.7 SearchAction on the WebSite nodeThe SearchAction template returns 15 characters of results for a test term. NEEDS WORK +0
The SearchAction template returns 15 characters of results for a test term.
AIR-3.8 Schema validation of the structured data on the page PASS 2 pt
170 nodes across 18 pages parse, carry what their types require, and hold well-formed values.
AIR-4.4 Correct X-Robots-Tag on non-HTML resources0 of 16 non-HTML resources carry an X-Robots-Tag. PROBLEM +1
AIR-4.5 Missing pages return 404 or 4100 of 10 deliberately invalid URLs returned HTTP 200; 4 sampled pages are thin enough to be not-found templates. NEEDS WORK +0
0 of 10 deliberately invalid URLs returned HTTP 200; 4 sampled pages are thin enough to be not-found templates.
AIR-4.6 Redirects resolve in a single hop17 of 21 sampled URLs redirect, 1 through three or more hops. NEEDS WORK +0
17 of 21 sampled URLs redirect, 1 through three or more hops.
AIR-4.7 Faceted, calendar, and parameterized URLs are controlled PASS 2 pt
No parameterized URLs appeared in the crawlable sample.
AIR-4.8 Sitemap lastmod reflects real content changesNo sitemap URLs with lastmod values were found. PROBLEM +2
AIR-4.9 Sitemap index split by type, with media sitemapsNo sitemap could be fetched or parsed. PROBLEM +1
AIR-5.1 Author entity pages with credentialsNo Person entities appear anywhere in the sample. PROBLEM +2
AIR-5.2 Bylines linked to author entities0 of 10 substantive pages reference an author by @id; 0 carry a bare string; 10 are unsigned. PROBLEM +2
0 of 10 substantive pages reference an author by @id; 0 carry a bare string; 10 are unsigned.
AIR-5.4 datePublished and dateModified are accurate PASS 2 pt
16 of 21 pages carry a publication or modification date across 14 distinct dateModified values.
AIR-6.3 Form fields carry label, name, and autocomplete PASS 2 pt
69 of 70 form fields carry an accessible name, a meaningful name attribute and a valid autocomplete token where one applies.
AIR-6.4 No captchas on browse, search, or filter interactions PASS 2 pt
No search or filter surface in the sample returned a challenge.
AIR-7.1 Markdown companion for every canonical page0 of 15 sampled pages have a Markdown companion at {path}.md returning a Markdown content type. PROBLEM +2
0 of 15 sampled pages have a Markdown companion at {path}.md returning a Markdown content type.
AIR-7.3 Accept: text/markdown content negotiation0 of 21 URLs serve Markdown for Accept: text/markdown. PROBLEM +2
LI-1 HowTo on procedural content0 of 2 procedural pages carry HowTo with ordered HowToStep. NOT SCORED —
0 of 2 procedural pages carry HowTo with ordered HowToStep.
LI-2 speakable on summaries and ledesNo speakable specification found on any sampled page. NOT SCORED —
LI-3 IndexNow fires on publish and updateNo IndexNow key file was discoverable. The file is named after the key, which is not published, so this is 'not discoverable' rather than proof of absence. NOT SCORED —
No IndexNow key file was discoverable. The file is named after the key, which is not published, so this is 'not discoverable' rather than proof of absence.
LI-4 Editorial policy page referenced via publishingPrinciples0 of 14 Organization nodes reference publishingPrinciples. NOT SCORED —
0 of 14 Organization nodes reference publishingPrinciples.
LI-5 NLWeb endpoint exposed as an MCP server with an ask methodNo NLWeb endpoint was discoverable. NOT SCORED —
LI-6 Domain MCP server over real content APIsNo domain MCP server or tool descriptor was discoverable. NOT SCORED —
BP-3 GA4 channel group for AI assistant referrersWhether a channel group exists for AI assistant referrers is not visible from outside. Analytics presence is; the grouping is not. NOT SCORED —
Whether a channel group exists for AI assistant referrers is not visible from outside. Analytics presence is; the grouping is not.
BP-4 Server-side tagging captures stripped referrersReconciliation between server-side and client-side numbers has to be attested. NOT SCORED —
Reconciliation between server-side and client-side numbers has to be attested.
BP-5 Access log retention with a queryable storeLog retention and queryability are not observable from outside the site. NOT SCORED —
Log retention and queryability are not observable from outside the site.
BP-7 Fixed prompt panel run monthly across modelsAnswer-share tracking happens outside the site and must be attested. NOT SCORED —
Answer-share tracking happens outside the site and must be attested.
BP-8 Extraction-fidelity baseline capturedNo extraction-fidelity baseline is captured by this version of the scanner, which makes no live model calls. NOT SCORED —
No extraction-fidelity baseline is captured by this version of the scanner, which makes no live model calls.
BP-9 Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools verifiedGoogle Search Console verification found on the page. Whether sitemaps are submitted and alerts reach a person cannot be seen from outside. NOT SCORED —
Google Search Console verification found on the page. Whether sitemaps are submitted and alerts reach a person cannot be seen from outside.
Not applicable — 22 tests answered with a dash, excluded from the score: AIR-3.3, AIR-3.6, AIR-4.1, AIR-4.2, AIR-4.3, AIR-4.10, AIR-5.3, AIR-5.5, AIR-5.6, AIR-6.1, AIR-6.2, AIR-7.2, AIR-7.4, LI-7, BP-1, BP-2, BP-3, BP-4, BP-5, BP-6, BP-7, BP-8.
By dimension
Where Ross Stores's 45 came from. Open a line to see its tests, worst first.
1 · Primary Indicators 12 of 30 12 40
AIR-1.2 Does your CDN let AI crawlers through?8 of 8 AI user-agents are rejected or challenged at the edge. PROBLEM
8 of 8 AI user-agents are rejected or challenged at the edge.
Even when robots.txt says yes, a firewall or bot-protection rule can turn assistants away before they reach your pages. We sent a request as each one and recorded what came back.
AIR-1.4 Have you stated what AI may do with your content?No Content-Signal line in robots.txt. Missing: search, ai-input, ai-train. PROBLEM
No Content-Signal line in robots.txt. Missing: search, ai-input, ai-train.
There is now a machine-readable way to say whether AI may search, quote or train on your material. Having a position — any position — is the point.
AIR-1.5 Can a person read your AI policy?robots.txt carries no human-readable policy statement. PROBLEM
robots.txt carries no human-readable policy statement.
A few plain sentences in robots.txt saying what you permit. Journalists and lawyers read this file, and right now most sites say nothing.
AIR-1.7 Does this page declare its real address?18% of sampled pages emit a valid, self-consistent canonical. 17 have problems. PROBLEM
18% of sampled pages emit a valid, self-consistent canonical. 17 have problems.
A canonical link tells a machine which URL is the true one. Without it the same content can be treated as several competing pages.
AIR-1.10 Do you publish a guide for AI assistants?/llms.txt returns HTTP 404. PROBLEM
/llms.txt returns HTTP 404.
A file at /llms.txt listing your most important pages. It is early and cheap, and it forces a useful conversation about what actually matters on your site.
AIR-1.13 Can a machine find out who you are?0 of 7 organizational facts are present in the Organization markup: none. PROBLEM
0 of 7 organizational facts are present in the Organization markup: none.
Founding date, leadership, address, contact details, legal identifiers. Thin About pages are the most common weakness we see.
AIR-1.8 Is your page structured so a machine can follow it?73% of sampled pages carry one main element, a wrapping article or section, and a nav. 1 exceed 12 divs per semantic element. NEEDS WORK
73% of sampled pages carry one main element, a wrapping article or section, and a nav. 1 exceed 12 divs per semantic element.
Meaningful sections rather than an undifferentiated wall of containers. It is the difference between a document and a soup of boxes.
AIR-1.11 Can a machine tell what your organization is?19 of 35 entity nodes carry an @id (54%). The WebPage to WebSite to Organization chain resolves. 2 duplicate definitions of WebSite. NEEDS WORK
19 of 35 entity nodes carry an @id (54%). The WebPage to WebSite to Organization chain resolves. 2 duplicate definitions of WebSite.
Structured data that links together — your organization, your site, this page — rather than a scattering of disconnected labels.
AIR-1.12 Can a machine be certain it is you?6 sameAs links: 0 tier-1 authority identifiers, 2 tier-2, 4 social. NEEDS WORK
6 sameAs links: 0 tier-1 authority identifiers, 2 tier-2, 4 social.
Links from your markup to authoritative records like Wikidata or ROR. Without one, an assistant is guessing which organization of your name it has found.
Full marks — 4 pass
AIR-1.1 Can AI crawlers reach your site? PASS
All 10 AI agents may fetch content paths.
Your robots.txt file tells crawlers what they may read. A line left behind by a previous site or a copied template can quietly shut out the assistants people now use to find you.
AIR-1.3 Is your page readable without a security challenge? PASS
1 of 21 sampled pages return an interactive challenge (edge challenge cookie).
A CAPTCHA or bot check on an ordinary page stops an assistant at the door. These belong on forms and logins, not on pages anyone can read.
AIR-1.6 Are you allowing assistants to quote you? PASS
No noarchive, nosnippet or max-snippet:0 directives found.
Some sites carry old settings that tell search engines not to show excerpts. Those same settings stop an assistant quoting your page in an answer.
AIR-1.9 Do your headings tell a clear story? PASS
86% of sampled pages have exactly one non-empty h1 and no skipped heading levels. 1 have no h1; 1 have several; 1 skip a level.
One main heading, then sub-headings in order. Assistants use headings to work out what a page is about and which part answers a question.
2 · Rendering and Extraction 9 of 15 9 60
AIR-2.2 Progressive disclosure content ships in the initial HTML0 of 18 pages ship every disclosure panel populated in the raw HTML. 12 pages load more content on scroll with no paginated fallback. PROBLEM
0 of 18 pages ship every disclosure panel populated in the raw HTML. 12 pages load more content on scroll with no paginated fallback.
AIR-2.4 Stable, human-readable anchor IDs on section headings0 of 268 subheadings carry a slug-like id (0%); 68 have generated or unstable ids. NEEDS WORK
0 of 268 subheadings carry a slug-like id (0%); 68 have generated or unstable ids.
AIR-2.5 Alt text on content images, empty alt on decorative33 of 48 images carry appropriate alt text: 0 have no alt attribute, 0 use the filename. NEEDS WORK
33 of 48 images carry appropriate alt text: 0 have no alt attribute, 0 use the filename.
AIR-2.6 Key facts exist as HTML text, not only in images or PDFs5 of 21 sampled pages are thin relative to their images or lead with a document download. NEEDS WORK
5 of 21 sampled pages are thin relative to their images or lead with a document download.
Full marks — 2 pass
AIR-2.1 Primary content is present without JavaScript PASS
Raw HTML contains 95% of rendered text on average across 20 URLs. The worst template is /: 83% across 6 pages. 1 URLs were excluded from the mean.
AIR-2.3 Real data tables with header cells PASS
1 tables: 0 complete, 0 without scope on header cells, 0 with no header cells, 0 used for layout.
3 · Structured Data and the Entity Graph 6 of 15 6 40
AIR-3.4 FAQPage and QAPage on genuine question-and-answer content0 pages carry FAQ or QA markup; 3 pages show visible question-and-answer content. PROBLEM
0 pages carry FAQ or QA markup; 3 pages show visible question-and-answer content.
AIR-3.1 JSON-LD is generated from mapped fields, not hardcodedSchema values track visible content across 0 templates. NEEDS WORK
Schema values track visible content across 0 templates.
AIR-3.5 isAccessibleForFree, about, and mentions with entity references0 of 13 substantive pages declare isAccessibleForFree; 2 reference subject entities by identifier. NEEDS WORK
0 of 13 substantive pages declare isAccessibleForFree; 2 reference subject entities by identifier.
AIR-3.7 SearchAction on the WebSite nodeThe SearchAction template returns 15 characters of results for a test term. NEEDS WORK
The SearchAction template returns 15 characters of results for a test term.
Full marks — 2 pass
AIR-3.2 BreadcrumbList on every page below the homepage PASS
94% of pages below the homepage carry a BreadcrumbList with at least two steps.
AIR-3.8 Schema validation of the structured data on the page PASS
170 nodes across 18 pages parse, carry what their types require, and hold well-formed values.
4 · Crawl, Index and Licensing Hygiene 3 of 12 3 25
AIR-4.4 Correct X-Robots-Tag on non-HTML resources0 of 16 non-HTML resources carry an X-Robots-Tag. PROBLEM
AIR-4.8 Sitemap lastmod reflects real content changesNo sitemap URLs with lastmod values were found. PROBLEM
AIR-4.9 Sitemap index split by type, with media sitemapsNo sitemap could be fetched or parsed. PROBLEM
AIR-4.5 Missing pages return 404 or 4100 of 10 deliberately invalid URLs returned HTTP 200; 4 sampled pages are thin enough to be not-found templates. NEEDS WORK
0 of 10 deliberately invalid URLs returned HTTP 200; 4 sampled pages are thin enough to be not-found templates.
AIR-4.6 Redirects resolve in a single hop17 of 21 sampled URLs redirect, 1 through three or more hops. NEEDS WORK
17 of 21 sampled URLs redirect, 1 through three or more hops.
Full marks — 1 pass
AIR-4.7 Faceted, calendar, and parameterized URLs are controlled PASS
No parameterized URLs appeared in the crawlable sample.
5 · Authorship, Provenance, Freshness 2 of 12 2 17
AIR-5.1 Author entity pages with credentialsNo Person entities appear anywhere in the sample. PROBLEM
AIR-5.2 Bylines linked to author entities0 of 10 substantive pages reference an author by @id; 0 carry a bare string; 10 are unsigned. PROBLEM
0 of 10 substantive pages reference an author by @id; 0 carry a bare string; 10 are unsigned.
Full marks — 1 pass
AIR-5.4 datePublished and dateModified are accurate PASS
16 of 21 pages carry a publication or modification date across 14 distinct dateModified values.
6 · Agent Interfaces 4 of 8 4 50
Full marks — 2 pass
AIR-6.3 Form fields carry label, name, and autocomplete PASS
69 of 70 form fields carry an accessible name, a meaningful name attribute and a valid autocomplete token where one applies.
AIR-6.4 No captchas on browse, search, or filter interactions PASS
No search or filter surface in the sample returned a challenge.
7 · Alternate Representations 0 of 8 0 0
AIR-7.1 Markdown companion for every canonical page0 of 15 sampled pages have a Markdown companion at {path}.md returning a Markdown content type. PROBLEM
0 of 15 sampled pages have a Markdown companion at {path}.md returning a Markdown content type.
AIR-7.3 Accept: text/markdown content negotiation0 of 21 URLs serve Markdown for Accept: text/markdown. PROBLEM
What was read
21 pages, sampled from this site's own sitemap and internal links. The cap is 32 — a ceiling, not a certainty: a site with fewer reachable pages yields fewer.
20 other pages, all 200, by template
The receipt
- Cohort
- sp500
- Source
- List of S&P 500 companies (Wikipedia contributors, 2026-09-08)
- Index
- 11.0, in effect 2026-09-24
- Scanner
- 0.1.0
- Scanned
- 2026-09-20T04:30:55.331557+00:00
- Result hash
- e543020c24258dec4772d468bcd6db95b1d0fd56c83e77ee25594f01861aab1e
- Basis
- public-interest census: a declared bot with a published policy at https://readinessindex.io/bot, honoring robots.txt addressed to AIRBot, reading public pages only. No per-site permission was sought or given.
The hash is the SHA-256 of the full
result.json, recorded when the scan finished rather than
computed now. The raw evidence behind every line above — every
response, cached — is retained and is a median 1.5 MB per site, so
it is not served from here. Ask
us for it if you want to check a number against the bytes it came
from.
Think this is wrong? It might be. Tell us at hello@readinessindex.io and we will look, correct it if it is, and say so publicly either way.
Is your site ready for AI?
Scan a page, get a number you can verify. Free.
About these numbers. Points are whole numbers everywhere on this page. The arithmetic behind them is not — a test scores its weight times its band divided by four, so a row can earn 1.5 points and print as 2. Scores are computed from the exact figures and rounded once, at the end, never from the rounded rows. That means adding the points column up will not give you the score exactly. The rule is published in the standard.