The LaunchGraded Standard, in full.
8 dimensions. 31 checks. 100 points. Every weight, severity rule and verdict band is published here, so a score can always be traced back to the rules that produced it.
Principles
- Rule-based. Every check is a fixed rule over what a browser and Google's Lighthouse can observe on your public page. No language model decides anything in the score.
- Deterministic. Same page, same answer. Rescan without changing anything and you get the same score; change something and the difference is real.
- Versioned. This is LaunchGraded Standard 2026.1. A change to any weight or rule is a new version, and before/after comparisons are only ever drawn between scans on the same version.
- Facts and presentation are separate. A scan stores what was observed. The titles, severity labels and fix advice you read are generated from that record, so copy can improve without changing anyone's score.
Eight dimensions, weighted by how often they sink a launch.
- 01 · 18 pts
Messaging
Can someone tell what you're selling in five seconds?
- 02 · 16 pts
Conversion
Is there one obvious next step, and a price behind it?
- 03 · 12 pts
Trust
Do visitors see proof, a human, and the legal basics?
- 04 · 10 pts
UX & Mobile
Does it work with a thumb on a phone?
- 05 · 14 pts
SEO
Can Google index it, and does the link look right when shared?
- 06 · 12 pts
Performance
Does the page load fast enough that people stay?
- 07 · 10 pts
Accessibility
Can people using assistive tech get through it?
- 08 · 8 pts
Technical
HTTPS, favicon, a real 404, nothing silently breaking.
All 31 checks.
“Blocker” marks a check whose failure caps the verdict regardless of points. “Scaled” checks award a share of their points from the Lighthouse category score and pass at 90 % or above. Effort is our estimate for a typical fix. What each check looks for is described in plain words; the exact selectors and thresholds aren't published, so the score can't be gamed without actually fixing the thing.
Messaging18 pts
| Check | Points | Source | Effort | Id |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Visitors can tell what you do from the first lineP0 | 8 | Page | 15 min | msg.headline |
Your headline is backed up by a one-liner | 4 | Page | 15 min | msg.subheadline |
Visitors can see the product (screenshot or demo) | 4 | Page | 2 h | msg.product_shown |
Your browser tab and search title say what you are | 2 | Lighthouse + Page | 5 min | msg.title_tag |
Conversion16 pts
| Check | Points | Source | Effort | Id |
|---|---|---|---|---|
There's one obvious next stepP0 | 11 | Page | 30 min | conv.primary_cta |
Visitors can find out what it costs (or how to talk to you) | 4 | Page | 30 min | conv.pricing_path |
Not-ready visitors have a low-commitment way to stay in touch | 1 | Page | 30 min | conv.secondary_optin |
Trust12 pts
| Check | Points | Source | Effort | Id |
|---|---|---|---|---|
You show evidence other people use this | 6 | Page | 2 h | trust.social_proof |
Privacy policy and terms are linked | 3 | Page | 30 min | trust.legal_links |
Visitors can reach a human | 3 | Page | 15 min | trust.contact_path |
UX & Mobile10 pts
| Check | Points | Source | Effort | Id |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Your page adapts to phonesP0 | 4 | Page + Lighthouse | 5 min | ux.viewport |
Buttons and links are tappable on a phone | 3 | Lighthouse | 1 h | ux.tap_targets |
Text is legible on a phone | 3 | Page | 30 min | ux.font_size |
SEO14 pts
| Check | Points | Source | Effort | Id |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Google is allowed to index your homepageP0 | 4 | Lighthouse + Page | 5 min | seo.indexable |
Search results show a description you wrote | 3 | Page + Lighthouse | 5 min | seo.meta_description |
Your link looks right when shared | 3 | Page | 30 min | seo.social_preview |
Search engines know the one true URL | 2 | Page + Lighthouse | 15 min | seo.canonical |
Links say where they go | 2 | Lighthouse | 30 min | seo.link_text |
Performance12 pts
| Check | Points | Source | Effort | Id |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Your page loads fast on mobilescaled | 8 | Lighthouse | 1 day | perf.score |
The main content appears within 2.5 seconds | 2 | Lighthouse | 2 h | perf.lcp |
The page doesn't jump around while loading | 2 | Lighthouse | 1 h | perf.cls |
Accessibility10 pts
| Check | Points | Source | Effort | Id |
|---|---|---|---|---|
People using assistive tech can use your sitescaled | 5 | Lighthouse | 1 day | a11y.score |
Images have text alternatives | 2 | Lighthouse | 30 min | a11y.image_alt |
Form fields have labels | 1 | Lighthouse | 15 min | a11y.form_labels |
The page declares its language | 1 | Lighthouse | 5 min | a11y.lang |
Text is readable against its background | 1 | Lighthouse | 1 h | a11y.contrast |
Technical8 pts
| Check | Points | Source | Effort | Id |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Your site is served securelyP0 | 3 | Page + Lighthouse | 30 min | tech.https |
Nothing is silently breaking in the browser | 2 | Lighthouse | 1 h | tech.console_errors |
You have a favicon | 1 | Page | 15 min | tech.favicon |
A wrong URL gets a proper 404 | 2 | Extra request | 30 min | tech.not_found |
No broken links on the pageP0 | gate | Page + Extra request | 30 min | gate.broken_links |
How findings are ranked.
Severity
| Severity | Rule | On the report |
|---|---|---|
| P0 · Launch blocker | Fails a check marked as a launch blocker, or the broken-links gate | Must fix before launch |
| P1 · High impact | Fails a check worth 4 points or more | Strongly recommended before launch |
| P2 · Improvement | Fails a check worth 2–3 points | Worth fixing soon |
| P3 · Polish | Fails a 1-point check, or a scaled check between 70 % and 90 % | Nice-to-have |
Impact and effort
Impact is the points at stake: high at 6 or more, medium at 3–5, low at 2 or fewer. A blocker is always high impact.
Effort is a fixed estimate per check — 5 min · 15 min · 30 min · 1 h · 2 h · 1 day — for a founder or developer who knows the site.
Fix first is the top five failing checks ordered by severity, then impact, then least effort. Quick wins are failing checks that take an hour or less, ordered by impact.
Severity labels: P0 Launch blocker · P1 High impact · P2 Improvement · P3 Polish.
Four verdicts. One capping rule.
| Score | Verdict | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 90–100 | Launch Ready | Your site clears the LaunchGraded readiness bar. |
| 80–89 | Almost Ready | Good shape — fix the remaining high-impact issues before launch. |
| 60–79 | Needs Work | Several meaningful gaps are worth closing first. |
| 0–59 | Not Ready | Fix the critical issues before sending real traffic. |
What's revealed for free, exactly.
The free scan always shows the full, fair score, the verdict and all eight dimension scores. Individual findings are revealed by a fixed rule, not a sales decision — the same rule runs on every scan, so what you see for free never depends on how bad your score is.
- If something's failing, the worst one is explained in full: why it matters, how to fix it, the technical detail.
- Every other check appears as a locked row with its dimension, pass/fail and severity visible, so counts like “8 issues worth fixing” are verifiable.
The rule is decided once per scan and fixed for this version of the Standard. What the Full Report adds.
What we deliberately don't score.
- Copy quality and tone
- Judging whether your headline is persuasive would need a language model, and a model's opinion isn't repeatable. We check that a headline exists, is visible and is short enough to parse — not whether it's good.
- Business viability
- Launch readiness isn't product-market fit. A 95/100 website can still launch a product nobody wants.
- Traffic, rankings, revenue
- We don't read your analytics and we don't predict outcomes.
- Anything behind a login
- Only the public page you submit. Onboarding, dashboards and checkout flows are out of scope.
- Design taste
- Whether it looks modern is subjective. Whether text is legible on a phone is not — that one we check.
How the Standard is tested, and how it changes.
Calibration
Before a version is locked we run it over three groups of real sites: launch-ready indie sites, clearly unfinished ones, and live sites with real traction. The version passes when the good group averages 80 or more, the weak group 55 or less, and no live, performing site lands in Not Ready. Any surprising result has to be explainable check by check — a detection miss means we fix the check, not the site.
LaunchGraded Standard 2026.1 is being calibrated now; the aggregate results are published here once it is locked.
Version history
- LaunchGraded Standard 2026.1 — 8 dimensions, 31 checks, verdicts, severity and the blocker cap. Replaces letter grades. Adds SEO, accessibility and technical dimensions from Lighthouse.
- v1 (2026) — 10 checks, letter grade, 70-point cap on broken links. Scores from v1 stay valid and are shown with their own label; they are not compared against v2 results.