ShipworkSite inspection
Checks

Crawlability

PaginationAre paginated pages set up right?Internal searchIs site search eating crawl budget?URL parametersAre parameters creating duplicates?Log analyserWhat does Googlebot actually crawl?Robots builderNeed a robots.txt file?Soft 404sAre pages “not found” but returning 200?JavaScriptCan crawlers see it without running JS?FreshnessIs my site quietly going stale?Robots.txtDoes robots.txt say what I think?

Indexing

Sitemap lastmodAre my sitemap dates valid?SitemapIs my sitemap actually fetchable?IndexingIs Google allowed to index my pages?CanonicalsIs Google indexing the wrong URL?Index signalsDo sitemap and index signals agree?Sitemap generatorNeed a sitemap.xml for my site?Bulk URL statusWhere does each of these URLs really land?Redirect builderNeed the redirect rules?RedirectsAre my URLs answering directly, over HTTPS?

On-page

Keyword ideasWhat are people searching for?SERP previewHow does my page look in Google?Content qualityAre your pages too thin or too alike?Image weightAre images slowing the page?CannibalizationAre pages competing with each other?On-page checkDoes the page use its target phrase?ImagesAre my images accessible and loading?Meta tag builderWhat should my title and share tags say?DuplicatesDo my pages compete for one query?

Links

Orphan pagesWhich pages can no link reach?Link graphHow deep do your pages sit?Anchor textDo links say what they point at?Outbound linksAre external links still alive?Broken linksAre internal links sending visitors nowhere?

Structured data

Rich resultsIs my markup eligible for a rich result?Structured dataIs my product schema valid?Schema coverageDo my key pages carry structured data?Social previewHow does my page look when shared?Schema vs pageDoes markup match the page price?Schema builderNeed valid JSON-LD?

International

Hreflang sitemapDo page and sitemap hreflang agree?HreflangDo my language versions link back?Hreflang builderNeed the hreflang tags?Page DoctorWhy is this page not doing well?Redirect planMy site has dead links — what redirects do I write?Sitemap diffIs anything missing from my sitemap?Robots simulatorWhat does my robots.txt actually block?Can Googlebot?Can Googlebot fetch this URL?
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Do your DNS records actually point somewhere?

DNS is the layer every other check depends on. If the A or AAAA records are wrong the site is unreachable no matter how good the HTML is, and if the MX records are missing your order emails never arrive.

Runs the DNS check against the host you enter, from outside your network. Nothing is stored.

What this check inspects

Shipwork resolves A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, NS and TXT records for the host. It reports missing address records as an error and missing name servers as a warning, and it lists load-balanced addresses, the CNAME target, mail exchanges, the SPF record and any domain verification TXT records it finds.

What a failure means

No A or AAAA record is an error: the host cannot be reached. Missing NS records are a warning and usually mean a delegation problem. The rest is context: multiple addresses mean load balancing, a CNAME shows where the host is hosted, and missing MX means the domain does not receive mail.

How to fix it

  1. Make sure the apex and www records agree on which host is canonical.
  2. If the site is behind a CDN, expect a CNAME or CDN-provided address records rather than your own server.
  3. Add MX records if the domain sends or receives mail, and point them at a provider that is configured.
  4. Keep only one SPF record. Two SPF records in TXT is a common misconfiguration that can void both.

A typical failure, worked through

The setupA store moves its site to a new host and updates the A records, but the old SPF record is left in place while a second one is added for a new email provider.

What the check reportsThe DNS check lists both TXT records, and the email-auth check reports that two SPF records exist, which receivers may treat as invalid.

The pointDNS changes have side effects beyond the web host. Check the whole record set after any migration, not just the address.

Questions

Why do I have several A records?
Multiple A records usually mean load balancing or several CDN edge addresses. That is normal. Zero A and zero AAAA records is the problem.
What is a CNAME for?
It points one hostname at another, which is how a subdomain is attached to a platform or CDN. It cannot be used at the apex of a domain.
Do I need MX records if I only send email?
You need SPF and DKIM to send, and typically MX to receive replies. A sending-only address with no MX cannot receive bounces, which hurts deliverability.
How do I run a TXT DNS check?
Shipwork resolves the TXT records for the host alongside the A, AAAA, CNAME, MX and NS records, so the SPF and domain-verification values are reported in one place.

Related checks and guides