Screaming Frog and Sitebulb issues explained
Short answer
A crawler label tells you what a tool detected, not how much it matters. Find your label below, read what it means, then open one affected page and confirm the problem before you raise it with a developer.
Screaming Frog and Sitebulb often use different words for the same problem. This page puts their labels side by side, in plain English, with a guide for each fix. It covers the common issues you can confirm on a single page, not every label in either tool. Check the wording in your own version if yours differs.
Labels checked against the public Screaming Frog issues library and Sitebulb hints library on 4 November 2026. SEOSnip isn't affiliated with either company.
How to read a crawl report
Both tools rank what they find, but that ranking can't know your site or your goals. Screaming Frog marks each item as an issue, warning or opportunity with a high, medium or low priority. Sitebulb sorts its hints from Critical down to Low, plus Insight. Treat these as a starting order, then ask three questions:
- Is it on purpose? A noindex on a basket page or a canonical on a filtered page may be exactly right.
- Does the page matter? The same issue deserves more attention on a page that earns traffic or revenue.
- Is it one template? Four hundred URLs with the same flag may be one fix in shared code.
Head problems
These affect how the page's metadata is read, so fix them before you judge anything else on the page.
| Screaming Frog | Sitebulb | What it means | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| Validation: Invalid HTML Elements In <head> | <head> contains invalid HTML elements | Something that isn't allowed in the head, such as an image or iframe, ended it early. Tags after it may be ignored. | Read the guide |
| Validation: Multiple <head> Tags | No direct match | The HTML has more than one head, usually from a stray template include. | Read the guide |
| Page Titles: Outside <head> | Title tag outside of head | The title sits in the body, so it may not be used. | Read the guide |
| Meta Description: Outside <head> | Meta description outside of head | The description sits in the body, so it may not be used. | Read the guide |
| Canonicals: Outside <head> | Canonical outside of head | The canonical sits in the body, where Google ignores it. | Read the guide |
| Directives: Outside <head> | Meta robots found outside of <head> | A robots tag sits in the body. Find out why before you remove it, as a stray noindex can still do damage. | Read the guide |
| No direct match | Base URL malformed or empty | The base tag has no usable URL, which can break every relative link on the page. | Read the guide |
| No direct match | Multiple base URLs | The page has more than one base tag. Only the first counts. | Read the guide |
Titles, descriptions and H1s
Length flags are thresholds, not errors. A title just over a limit can be fine, so check the missing and duplicated tags first.
| Screaming Frog | Sitebulb | What it means | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| Page Titles: Missing | Title tag is missing | The page has no title. | Read the guide |
| Page Titles: Multiple | Multiple title tags | Two or more title tags, often from a plugin and a theme both adding one. | Read the guide |
| Page Titles: Over 60 Characters | Title tag length too long | The title may be cut off in results. | Read the guide |
| Page Titles: Over 561 Pixels | No direct match | The title is wider than the space usually shown in results. | Read the guide |
| Page Titles: Below 30 Characters | Title tag length too short | The title may be missing useful detail. | Read the guide |
| Meta Description: Missing | Meta description is missing | Search engines will write the snippet themselves. | Read the guide |
| Meta Description: Multiple | Multiple meta descriptions | More than one description tag on the page. | Read the guide |
| Meta Description: Over 155 Characters | Meta description length too long | The description may be cut off in results. | Read the guide |
| Meta Description: Below 70 Characters | Meta description length too short | The description may be too thin to be used. | Read the guide |
| No direct match | Title and meta description are the same | The description repeats the title and adds nothing. | Read the guide |
| H1: Missing | <h1> tag is missing | The page has no main heading. | Read the guide |
| H1: Multiple | Multiple <h1> tags | More than one H1. Often harmless, but worth a look on key templates. | Read the guide |
Canonicals
A canonical is a hint about which URL to index. These flags mean the hint is absent, unclear or points somewhere it shouldn't.
| Screaming Frog | Sitebulb | What it means | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canonicals: Missing | No direct match | The page doesn't say which URL is the preferred one. | Read the guide |
| Canonicals: Multiple Conflicting | Multiple, mismatched canonical tags | The page names different preferred URLs, so Google may ignore them. | Read the guide |
| Canonicals: Canonicalised | Canonical points to a different internal URL | The page says another URL is the main one. That's correct for a variant and a problem for a page you want indexed. | Read the guide |
| Canonicals: Non-Indexable Canonical | Canonical points to a noindex URL | The preferred URL can't be indexed, so the signals conflict. | Read the guide |
| No direct match | Canonical points to a redirecting URL | The canonical should name the final URL, not one that redirects. | Read the guide |
| No direct match | Canonical points to another canonicalized URL | The preferred URL names a different preferred URL, forming a chain. | Read the guide |
| No direct match | Mismatched canonical tag in HTML and HTTP header | The HTML and the response header disagree. | Read the guide |
| No direct match | Canonical is malformed or empty | The canonical has no usable URL. | Read the guide |
Indexing and crawling
Many of these are deliberate. Before you change anything, ask whether the page is meant to be indexed.
| Screaming Frog | Sitebulb | What it means | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| Directives: Noindex | No direct match | The page asks not to be indexed. It's fine for checkout and account pages, and serious on a page that should rank. | Read the guide |
| Directives: Nofollow | No direct match | The page asks crawlers not to follow its links. | Read the guide |
| No direct match | Mismatched noindex directives in HTML and header | The HTML and the response header give different instructions. | Read the guide |
| Response Codes: Internal Blocked by Robots.txt | Internal Disallowed URLs | robots.txt stops crawlers fetching the URL. | Read the guide |
| Response Codes: Internal Blocked Resource | Disallowed JavaScript file | robots.txt blocks a file the page needs, which can change how it renders for Google. | Read the guide |
| Content: Soft 404 Pages | Contains possible soft 404 phrases | The page returns 200 but reads like an error or empty page. | Read the guide |
| Content: Low Content Pages | No direct match | The page has little text. This is a prompt to look, not a fault in itself. | Read the guide |
JavaScript and rendering
These compare the HTML the server sends with the page after JavaScript runs. Look at both versions before you decide which one is wrong.
| Screaming Frog | Sitebulb | What it means | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| JavaScript: Noindex Only in Original HTML | Noindex only in the HTTP response HTML | The server sends noindex and JavaScript removes it. Google may skip rendering, so the noindex can stand. | Read the guide |
| JavaScript: Page Title Only in Rendered HTML | Page Title only in the rendered HTML | The server HTML has no title, so it depends on rendering. | Read the guide |
| JavaScript: Page Title Updated by JavaScript | Page Title modified by JavaScript | The title changes after load. | Read the guide |
| JavaScript: H1 Only in Rendered HTML | <h1> only in the rendered HTML | The main heading appears only after JavaScript runs. | Read the guide |
| JavaScript: Canonical Mismatch | Canonical mismatch between rendered and response HTML | The canonical changes after load, which sends mixed signals. | Read the guide |
| JavaScript: Canonical Only in Rendered HTML | Canonical only in the rendered HTML | The canonical is added by JavaScript, not sent by the server. | Read the guide |
Links and redirects
A crawler gives you the full list, then you can look at how each link appears on the page.
| Screaming Frog | Sitebulb | What it means | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| Response Codes: Internal Client Error (4XX) | Broken internal URLs | An internal link leads to a page that doesn't exist. | Read the guide |
| Response Codes: Internal Redirection (3XX) | Internal redirected URLs | An internal link goes through a redirect. Update the link to the final URL. | Read the guide |
| Response Codes: Internal Redirection (Meta Refresh) | Redirects using a Meta refresh | The page redirects through an HTML tag, not a server redirect. | Read the guide |
| Links: Internal Outlinks With No Anchor Text | Has an internal link with no anchor text | A link has no text to say where it goes. | Read the guide |
| Pagination: Pagination URL Not In Anchor Tag | No direct match | A page in the series isn't linked with a real link, so crawlers may not reach it. | Read the guide |
URLs
Most of these are low priority on existing pages, because changing a URL has its own cost. Fix the source of new ones first.
| Screaming Frog | Sitebulb | What it means | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| URL: Uppercase | URL contains upper case characters | Capitals can create a second version of the same page. | Read the guide |
| URL: Contains A Space | URL contains whitespace | The URL has a space, which should be encoded or removed. | Read the guide |
| URL: Multiple Slashes | URL contains a double slash | A repeated slash, usually from joining URL parts in code. | Read the guide |
| URL: Non ASCII Characters | URL contains non-ASCII characters | Characters such as accents need encoding. This is normal on many non-English sites. | Read the guide |
| URL: Underscores | No direct match | The URL uses underscores, not hyphens. | Read the guide |
| URL: Over 115 Characters | No direct match | The URL is long. Treat this as a tidiness note. | Read the guide |
| URL: GA Tracking Parameters | Query string contains tracking parameters | Internal links carry tracking parameters, creating extra URLs to crawl. | Read the guide |
| No direct match | Query string contains session ID parameters | Links include a session ID, so every visit can create new URLs. | Read the guide |
Hreflang and language
Hreflang works in pairs, so a problem found on one page often has to be fixed on another.
| Screaming Frog | Sitebulb | What it means | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hreflang: Missing Return Links | Missing reciprocal hreflang (no return-tag) | Page A points to page B, but B doesn't point back. | Read the guide |
| Hreflang: Non-200 Hreflang URLs | Has outgoing hreflang annotations to broken URLs | An alternate URL doesn't load. | Read the guide |
| Hreflang: Incorrect Language & Region Codes | Has invalid outgoing hreflang annotations | A language or region code isn't valid, such as en-UK. | Read the guide |
| Hreflang: Multiple Entries | Has conflicting outgoing hreflang annotations | One language points at more than one URL. | Read the guide |
| Hreflang: Missing Self Reference | No direct match | The page doesn't list itself in its own set. | Read the guide |
| No direct match | Has outgoing hreflang annotations to noindex URLs | An alternate URL can't be indexed. | Read the guide |
| No direct match | Missing HTML lang attribute | The page doesn't declare its language in the html tag. | Read the guide |
Security
Most of these are for a developer. Fix anything that exposes visitors first, then work through the headers.
| Screaming Frog | Sitebulb | What it means | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| Security: HTTP URLs | Internal HTTP URLs | The page is served without HTTPS. | Read the guide |
| Security: Mixed Content | Mixed content (loads HTTP resources on HTTPS URL) | An HTTPS page loads a file over HTTP, which browsers may block. | Read the guide |
| No direct match | HTTPS URL links to an HTTP URL | A secure page links to an insecure URL. | Read the guide |
| Security: Form URL Insecure | HTTPS URL contains a form posting to HTTP | A form sends its data over HTTP. | Read the guide |
| Security: Missing HSTS Header | No direct match | The server doesn't tell browsers to always use HTTPS. | Read the guide |
Mobile, images and structured data
These are quick to confirm on one page, and the fix usually sits in a shared template.
| Screaming Frog | Sitebulb | What it means | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile: Viewport Not Set | Missing viewport <meta> tag in the <head> | Without it, phones show the page at desktop width. | Read the guide |
| No direct match | The viewport <meta> tag prevents the user from scaling | Visitors can't pinch to zoom. | Read the guide |
| Images: Missing Alt Text | Images with missing alt text | An image has no text alternative. | Read the guide |
| Structured Data: Parse Errors | No direct match | The structured data isn't valid JSON, so it can't be read at all. | Read the guide |
| Content: Lorem Ipsum Placeholder | Contains Lorem Ipsum dummy text | Placeholder text went live. | See the check |
Issues that need a crawl
Some problems only show up when you compare pages across a site, so looking at one page can't confirm them. Use your crawler's report for these, then open a few example URLs to see what's causing them.
| Screaming Frog | Sitebulb | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Page Titles: Duplicate | URLs with duplicate page titles | Different URLs share a title. |
| Content: Exact Duplicates | URLs with duplicate content | Different URLs have the same content. |
| Content: Near Duplicates | URLs with similar content | Different URLs are almost the same. |
| Sitemaps: Orphan URLs | URL is orphaned and was not found by the crawler | A URL is known from another source, but no crawled page links to it. |
| Sitemaps: Non-Indexable URLs In Sitemap | Noindex URL in XML Sitemaps | The sitemap lists a page that can't be indexed. |
| Links: Pages With High Crawl Depth | No direct match | The page takes many clicks to reach from the start of the crawl. |
| Response Codes: Internal Redirect Chain | No direct match | A URL goes through several redirects before it lands. |
| Response Codes: Internal Redirect Loop | Internal URL is part of a chained redirect loop | URLs redirect in a circle. See how to fix a redirect loop. |
Speed and social labels
PageSpeed and Social labels are covered in their own guides, with the exact labels listed in each: Largest Contentful Paint, Cumulative Layout Shift, Interaction to Next Paint and Open Graph tags.
Got a long crawl export?
Turn the report into fixed tickets
SEOSnip doesn't crawl your site, so it doesn't replace your crawler. It picks up once you have the list:
- Open an affected page and audit it in your own browser, including behind a login
- See the evidence for each issue, such as the element, the server HTML or the link's status
- Create a ticket with that evidence, and attach the crawler's CSV for the affected URLs
- Set the scope to the page, its template or the whole site
- Use Check if fixed to run the same check again