Each protocol has a bounded observation contract. None is a vanity subscore.
A network failure, an intentional training opt-out, a browser-only content deficit, and invalid JSON-LD are not interchangeable. The result keeps these observations separate, preserves unknowns, and derives a verdict only from required production protocols.
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Protocol 1
Records: HTTP status, final URL, bounded redirects, declared content type, byte length, selected response headers, and artifact hash.
Does not prove: That a provider used the same network path or accepted the page downstream.
Protocol 2
Records: The public /robots.txt response as a separate, hashed policy artifact.
Does not prove: That an absent policy file caused a provider to crawl the site.
Protocol 3
Records: Distinct raw HTTP, rendered browser, and no-JavaScript browser artifacts with mechanical hashes and byte counts.
Does not prove: Semantic equivalence or a universal crawler representation.
Protocol 4
Records: Deterministic extraction outcomes, word counts (raw, rendered, and no-JavaScript), hashes, and material deficits. A material deficit blocker is recorded when the raw and no-JavaScript extractions each carry under half the rendered main-content words (rendered ≥ 100 words), suppressed only when computed containment (≥ 90% of the no-JavaScript capture’s distinct words present in the rendered extraction, same semantic main-content scope) shows the rendered growth is additive; where containment is not computed the deficit stands and the record states why. Script-injected additive material (for example translations) can still produce a deficit under this convention. Under protocol set 2.4.0 the protocol also records a block census over the sealed no-JavaScript and rendered captures — how many text blocks were preserved, added, removed, or rewritten, with their word counts — and where the added words sit relative to the page’s main-content region; when a comparison cannot be computed the record states why instead of a count.
Does not prove: Content quality, truth, usefulness, or universal language readability.
Protocol 5
Records: JSON-LD parse diagnostics, schema types, raw availability, and bounded consistency for selected material string properties.
Does not prove: Eligibility, correctness of every property, rich-result display, or downstream use.
Protocol 6
Records: Strict ISO dates, supported meta fields, JSON-LD dates, time elements, and HTTP Last-Modified evidence.
Does not prove: That undated content is stale or that a declared date is factually true.
Protocol 7
Records: The public /llms.txt response as a separate hashed artifact: presence, bounded byte length, media type, and the required title heading.
Does not prove: That any provider fetched, parsed, or used the file.
Protocol 8
Records: The public /sitemap.xml response as a separate hashed artifact: presence, bounded byte length, media type, document validity, listed URL count, newest lastmod, and whether the audited URL path was listed.
Does not prove: That automated consumers can reach the audited URL only through the sitemap, or that any system fetched it.
Protocol 9
Records: Raw-versus-rendered schema type presence and bounded Organization identity fields (name, url, logo) as booleans, without storing property values.
Does not prove: That incomplete identity fields change how any system uses the markup, or that absent markup is a defect.
Protocol 10
Records: What a markdown-representation request returned: the response content type and byte length as a hashed artifact.
Does not prove: That any provider requests or consumes markdown representations.
Protocol 11
Records: Per-crawler-token extracted content on the rendered page: word counts, SHA-256 hashes, and material divergences, one view per token.
Does not prove: That the site changed behavior for any provider, or why a divergence occurred.
Protocol 12
Records: The boundary of what a synthetic probe can verify about crawler identity; no verification result is claimed in either direction.
Does not prove: That traffic claiming a crawler name is that vendor's crawler.
Protocol 13
Records: Heading, list, and table tag counts plus fingerprint facts (empty headings, headings introducing no content, duplicate heading texts) from the rendered document. Counts only — never page text.
Does not prove: Content quality, or that structure improvements cause any outcome.
Protocol 14
Records: Canonical tag presence and self-consistency plus same-hostname link counts from the rendered document. Counts only.
Does not prove: That canonical signals change how any system indexes the page.
Protocol 15
Records: Site-declared opt-out signals for automated consumers: meta robots directives, X-Robots-Tag tokens, and the TDM-Rep reservation, recorded as declared.
Does not prove: That any system honors the declared signals or that the page is excluded anywhere.
Protocol 16
Records: The /ai.txt policy file state: presence, bounded byte length, media type, and a shape verdict under the declared convention.
Does not prove: That any provider fetched, parsed, or honored the file.
Protocol 17
Records: Which convention properties the supported structured-data types carry, as counts only — never property values.
Does not prove: That richer markup changes how any system reads or ranks the page.
Protocol 18
Records: Whether an acquired PDF carries a machine-readable text layer and how much of it the bounded extractor reaches.
Does not prove: That any provider reads the document or what a reader makes of its contents.
Protocol 19
Records: How many inventoried sitemap pages the robots policy disallows for each AI crawler, with example URLs — counts only.
Does not prove: That any crawler honors or ignores the policy, or what appears in any system outputs.
Protocol 20
Records: Whether a vendor operator publishes a reachable Web Bot Auth key-directory endpoint — status, shape verdict, key count and payload hash.
Does not prove: Who is actually calling a site, or that any request was cryptographically signed.
Protocol 21
Records: The site-declared AIPREF preferences, parsed under a pinned draft vocabulary, plus cross-signal conflicts enumerated without preference.
Does not prove: That any system reads or honors the preferences.
Protocol 22
Records: When a scan denial matches a CDN vendor-documented default-block class, with the dated vendor citation inside the finding.
Does not prove: That the CDN configuration applies to the audited site, or why any specific request was denied.
Protocol 23
Records: Site-declared x-robots-tag AI tokens and TDM reservation headers read from the captured raw HTTP response for each audited actor.
Does not prove: That a provider honored the declared signals or that the headers constrain downstream use.
Protocol 24
Records: The matching group, longest applicable allow/disallow rule, actor purpose, and policy decision for the audited path.
Does not prove: Actual access, indexing, training, or compliance by the provider.
Protocol 25
Records: One HTTP probe per documented AI actor carrying its vendor-published user agent: status, byte counts, classification, the literal request user agent, and the measurement vantage.
Does not prove: What the vendor's own crawlers experience from their own networks.
SUCCEEDED
The protocol completed and produced its required observation.
FAILED
The protocol failed with a typed cause and retryability state.
ABSTAINED
Inputs were present but insufficient for a defensible conclusion.
NOT APPLICABLE
The protocol does not apply to this representation or actor.
The verdict and the execution state are decided separately: an open production blocker makes the verdict FAIL even while some required checks never completed (execution state PARTIAL).
Every cell derived from code at render (zero literals).
| Dimension | Count | Breakdown / Details |
|---|---|---|
| Registered Actors | 34 | Actors catalogued across all registered vendors |
| Evaluated Actors | 27 | 4 REQUIRED · 23 optional |
| HTTP Probed Actors | 13 | Synthetic network probe sent |
| Robots-Only Actors | 14 | Evaluated against robots.txt policy only |
| Protocols in Set | 25 | Discrete protocols in current production set |
| Total Executions | 64 | 27 robots + 1 ai-usage + 13 probes + 1 control + 22 other |
| Finding Codes | 63 | Closed finding code registry entries |
Counting gloss: Registered actors (34) catalogued across all registered vendors; Evaluated actors (27) evaluated in the current discovery profile (4 REQUIRED · 23 optional); Protocols in set (25) yield 64 total executions across per-actor evaluations (27 robots + 1 ai-usage + 13 probes + 1 control + 22 other).
