URL: /rules

---
title: "Rules Reference"
description: "All 233 audit rules organized by category"
---

squirrelscan includes **233 rules** across **21 categories**. Each rule checks for specific SEO, accessibility, performance, or security issues.

Most rules run locally for free. A handful of [cloud rules](/cloud/rules) use AI analysis, full filter lists, or live search data - they require login and are skipped when you're not logged in. Cloud rules carry a notice banner on their doc pages.

## Categories

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Core SEO" icon="folder" href="/rules/core">
    Essential meta tags and page structure for search engines (13 rules)
  </Card>
  <Card title="Content" icon="folder" href="/rules/content">
    Text quality, readability, and content structure (12 rules)
  </Card>
  <Card title="Links" icon="folder" href="/rules/links">
    Internal and external link health and structure (14 rules)
  </Card>
  <Card title="Images" icon="folder" href="/rules/images">
    Image optimization and accessibility (14 rules)
  </Card>
  <Card title="Structured Data" icon="folder" href="/rules/schema">
    Structured data and rich snippet eligibility (10 rules)
  </Card>
  <Card title="Security" icon="folder" href="/rules/security">
    HTTPS, headers, and safe link practices (14 rules)
  </Card>
  <Card title="Accessibility" icon="folder" href="/rules/a11y">
    Accessibility for users with disabilities (59 rules)
  </Card>
  <Card title="Internationalization" icon="folder" href="/rules/i18n">
    Language declarations and multi-region support (2 rules)
  </Card>
  <Card title="AI Analysis" icon="folder" href="/rules/ai">
    AI page classification, parsability, and content analysis (4 rules)
  </Card>
  <Card title="Performance" icon="folder" href="/rules/perf">
    Page speed and loading performance (25 rules)
  </Card>
  <Card title="Social Media" icon="folder" href="/rules/social">
    Open Graph and social sharing metadata (4 rules)
  </Card>
  <Card title="Crawlability" icon="folder" href="/rules/crawl">
    Robots.txt, sitemaps, and crawl directives (17 rules)
  </Card>
  <Card title="URL Structure" icon="folder" href="/rules/url">
    URL structure, length, and formatting (8 rules)
  </Card>
  <Card title="Mobile" icon="folder" href="/rules/mobile">
    Mobile-friendliness and responsive design (6 rules)
  </Card>
  <Card title="Legal Compliance" icon="folder" href="/rules/legal">
    Privacy policy and legal compliance signals (3 rules)
  </Card>
  <Card title="Local SEO" icon="folder" href="/rules/local">
    Local business schema and NAP consistency (3 rules)
  </Card>
  <Card title="Video" icon="folder" href="/rules/video">
    Video content markup and accessibility (3 rules)
  </Card>
  <Card title="Analytics" icon="folder" href="/rules/analytics">
    Tracking and measurement implementation (2 rules)
  </Card>
  <Card title="E-E-A-T" icon="folder" href="/rules/eeat">
    Experience, expertise, authority, trust signals (15 rules)
  </Card>
  <Card title="Adblock Detection" icon="folder" href="/rules/adblock">
    Detection of content blocked by ad blockers (3 rules)
  </Card>
  <Card title="Gap Analysis" icon="folder" href="/rules/gaps">
    Keyword and content gaps backed by live search data (2 rules, opt-in)
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Configuration

### Enable/Disable Rules

Use glob patterns in `squirrel.toml`:

```toml squirrel.toml
[rules]
# Enable specific rules or categories
enable = ["*"]  # all rules (default)

# Disable specific rules
disable = [
  "ai/*",           # disable all AI rules
  "content/word-count",  # disable specific rule
]
```

### Rule Options

Some rules have configurable options:

```toml squirrel.toml
[rules."core/meta-title"]
min_length = 30
max_length = 60

[rules."content/word-count"]
min_words = 300
```

See individual rule pages for available options.