Understanding the Domain Health Score
The health score is a single number (0-100) summarizing a domain's overall status across SSL, WHOIS expiry, DNS, blacklist, security headers, and uptime.
Understanding the Domain Health Score
The health score is a single number from 0 to 100 that summarizes a domain's overall status. It is calculated fresh on every scan by combining multiple signals into a single, actionable number.
Score Ranges
| Score | Status | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 90-100 | Excellent | Everything looks healthy |
| 70-89 | Good | Minor issues, no immediate action needed |
| 50-69 | Fair | Several issues worth addressing |
| Below 50 | Poor | Significant problems requiring attention |
| Below 30 | Critical | Serious issues — SSL expired, blacklisted, or domain expiring |
What Contributes to the Score
The health score is a weighted composite of:
SSL Health (high weight)
- Certificate valid and not expiring soon: full score
- Expiry within 30 days: reduced
- Expiry within 7 days: significantly reduced
- Expired: major penalty
- Chain broken or invalid: major penalty
WHOIS / Expiry Health (high weight)
- Domain expiry over 60 days away: full score
- Expiry 30-60 days: minor reduction
- Expiry under 30 days: significant reduction
- Expiry under 7 days: critical reduction
Blacklist Status (high weight)
- Not listed on any DNSBL: full score
- Listed on minor list: moderate penalty
- Listed on Spamhaus ZEN or major lists: major penalty
DNS Health (medium weight)
- Expected records present, no unexpected changes: full score
- Missing expected records (MX for a domain that sends email): reduction
- Recent unexpected changes detected: reduction
Security Headers (medium weight)
- HSTS present: bonus
- CSP present: bonus
- X-Frame-Options present: bonus
- No headers: moderate reduction
Uptime (medium weight)
- Domain responded successfully: full score
- Domain unreachable: significant penalty
What the Score Does NOT Include
- SEO quality — the SEO score is separate
- Content quality — that is the content monitoring feature
- Brand reputation — that is Brand Intelligence
How to Improve a Low Score
| Issue | Fix |
|---|---|
| SSL expiring | Renew the certificate |
| Domain expiring | Renew at your registrar |
| Blacklisted | Find the cause, fix it, request delisting |
| Missing HSTS | Add the header in your web server or CDN config |
| DNS changes detected | Verify changes were intentional; investigate if not |
Risk Score vs Health Score
The health score measures current state — is everything working and configured correctly right now?
The risk score measures vulnerability to future problems — are there configurations that could be exploited or lead to issues? Subdomain takeover risk, expired WHOIS contact info, and weak TLS configuration contribute to risk score but not necessarily to the health score.