Localisation audit checks

This page lists every check in the localisation audit. The weight sets how much a check counts toward its dimension and the overall score. The How it is scored column uses three labels:

Measured: scored from page data the same way on every run.
Measured, AI fallback: measured when the evidence is clear. When it is ambiguous, an AI review is shown but not scored.
AI-assessed: reviewed by a language model and shown under AI-assessed, not scored. It never changes the score.

“Share of pages” means the score is the percentage of inspected pages that pass.

Technical

Check	Weight	How it is scored	What fails a page
Locale detection	3	Measured, share of pages	`html lang` is missing, is not a valid language code, or does not match the locale in the URL.
Locale routing	3	Measured, share of pages	A localized URL does not resolve. Mixing routing styles, such as path prefixes on some pages and subdomains on others, caps the score at 80.
Language switcher	2	Measured, AI fallback	Language links drop the current path and send visitors to the locale homepage.
hreflang	3	Measured, share of pages	No self-reference, an invalid code (for example `en-UK` instead of `en-GB`, or a three-letter tag such as `eng`), an invalid or broken target URL, or an alternate that does not link back. If no page has hreflang, the check scores 0. A missing `x-default` is reported but does not fail the page.
Canonical URLs	2	Measured, share of pages	The canonical is invalid or points to a different locale. Not applicable when no page declares a canonical.
Localized SEO metadata	2	Measured	Page titles or meta descriptions are not localized, or `og:locale` does not match the page.
Sitemap	1	Measured	No valid sitemap is found, `robots.txt` is missing or does not reference the sitemap with an absolute URL, or the sitemap leaves out localized URLs or locales published on the site.
Structured data	1	Measured, share of pages	JSON-LD `inLanguage` does not match the page locale. A missing `inLanguage` is reported but does not fail the page.
International formatting	2	Measured, AI fallback, share of pages	Currency, numbers, or dates do not fit the page locale, such as US dollar amounts on a German page, or Eastern Arabic-Indic numerals and Hijri-only dates on an Arabic page.
Accessibility localisation	2	Measured, AI fallback, share of pages	`aria-label` or `alt` text is left in the source language on a localized page.

hreflang applies only when the audit finds more than one locale.

Linguistic

Check	Weight	How it is scored	What it looks for
Translation completeness	5	Measured, AI fallback, share of pages	Calls to action or other visible text left identical to the source language on a localized page.
Terminology consistency	2	Measured	A navigation or footer label that is translated on some pages of a language but left in the source language on others. The check matches the same control by href, so a label that is simply omitted on another template is not a failure. Needs at least two pages per language with shared site navigation.
Cross-page consistency	1	Not scored	Disabled, because small label differences across pages are usually noise.
Translation accuracy	3	AI-assessed	Target copy keeps the source meaning, numbers, and product actions.
Fluency	2	AI-assessed	Copy reads naturally, without machine-translation artifacts.
Brand voice	1	AI-assessed	Localized copy keeps the source tone.
Grammar and style	2	AI-assessed	Grammar, punctuation, and style fit the locale.

Contextual

Check	Weight	How it is scored	What it looks for
CTA intent	2	Measured, AI fallback	Localized calls to action still describe the intended product action.
Cultural adaptation	2	Measured, share of pages	A US-format phone number on a localized page for a market outside North America. Not applicable when no page shows a phone number. Currency is covered by international formatting, so it is not counted twice.
UI context	1	AI-assessed	Translations fit the component: button, navigation, form, modal, or error.
Product context	1	AI-assessed	Language matches product concepts such as plans, settings, and workflows.
Contextual meaning	1	AI-assessed	Strings make sense in their surrounding page context.
Audience context	1	AI-assessed	Tone and wording fit the audience of each market.
Glossary compliance	3	Not applicable	Needs a project glossary, which the public audit does not have.
Translation memory consistency	2	Not applicable	Needs approved translation memory, which the public audit does not have.

Visual

Check	Weight	How it is scored	What fails a page
Text expansion	1	Measured, share of pages	Localized text is much longer than the source page, which puts pressure on fixed-size UI.
RTL support	3	Measured, AI fallback, share of pages	A right-to-left page does not set `dir="rtl"`, or its CSS forces `direction: ltr`. Physical CSS such as `margin-left` is reported but does not fail the page.
Font and script support	2	Measured, share of pages	The page text contains missing-glyph boxes (“tofu”), which means the fonts do not cover the script.
CJK typography	1	Measured, share of pages	Korean text uses `word-break: break-all` or omits `word-break: keep-all`, or a Chinese, Japanese, or Korean form uses Western name fields. A page with no Korean word-break rule in its CSS is reported but does not fail.
Localized images and assets	1	Measured, AI fallback, share of pages	An image and its `alt` text still look like the source-locale version.
Visual hierarchy	1	Measured, AI fallback, share of pages	A localized heading is long enough to crowd the layout.
Component consistency	1	Measured, AI fallback	Repeated components, such as button sets, differ across locales.
Text overflow	3	Measured in the browser, share of pages	At 1440px, buttons, links, labels, or headings have text cut off by their own box.
Layout breakage	3	Measured in the browser, share of pages	At 1440px, the page scrolls sideways or pushes elements past the right edge.
Responsive localisation	2	Measured in the browser, share of pages	At 390px, the page scrolls sideways or clips labels.

The three browser checks only fail a localized page when both pages have the same viewport measurement and the source-language version is cleaner. A layout bug that also exists on the source page is a design issue, not a localisation issue, so it is not counted. Pages without a matching source viewport are skipped. Elements inside carousels and other horizontally scrolling containers are skipped, because overflow there is usually intentional. These checks are not applicable when layout measurements are not available for any localized page.

​Technical

​Linguistic

​Contextual

​Visual

Technical

Linguistic

Contextual

Visual