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thestar.co.za

https://thestar.co.za· First analyzed 15 May 2026· Updated 15 May 2026
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thestar.co.za
Desktop screenshot of thestar.co.za
Mobile screenshot of thestar.co.za
Mobile

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Hosting Provider

Cloudflare
cloudflare.com

IP Address

172.67.197.69

Site Location

🇿🇦 South Africavia tld

Server Location

🇨🇦 Toronto, Canada

ASN

AS13335

Organization

Cloudflare, Inc.

Server

Cloudflare

CDN

Cloudflare

WAF

Cloudflare

Nameservers

pete.ns.cloudflare.com.coco.ns.cloudflare.com.

Performance

100

Core Web Vitals

Weight

First Contentful Paint
477 ms10%
Speed Index
620 ms10%
Largest Contentful Paint
—25%
Total Blocking Time
0.0 ms30%
Cumulative Layout Shift
0.00025%
1 MB
89 requests

Image Optimization

WebPResponsive
0–49
50–89
90–100

Architecture Stack

Hybrid
🔀 Hybrid
Frontend
Framework
Next.js
Infrastructure
Hosting
Cloudflare
CDN
Cloudflare

Progressive Web App

Web ManifestApple Touch IconTheme Color

Technology Stack

15 Technologies Detected

Analytics

4
Google Analytics
Google Analytics 4
Facebook PixelFullStory

Advertising

4
Google AdsTikTok PixelCriteoOutbrain

Meta Frameworks

1
Next.js

CSS Frameworks

1
Tailwind CSS

Icon Libraries

1
Material Icons

Fonts

1
Google Fonts

Tag Managers

1
Google Tag Manager

Payments

1
Square

CDN

1
Cloudflare

SEO Analysis

B77/100
22
6
1
Meta Tags9/15
Content10/12
Headings5/8
Technical22/25
E-E-A-T5/7
Images3/7
Links5/5
URL5/5
Social5/5
Freshness2/4
Mobile3/4
Indexability3/3
T
thestar.co.zathestar.co.za

The Star: Daily coverage of Johannesburg, Gauteng and National News...

Stay up to date with The Star – your trusted source for South African news, breaking stories, politics, sport, and opinion.

Title truncated.
Title Length95 chars

Recommended: 50-60 chars (~568px / 580px)

Description Length123 chars

Recommended: 120-160 chars

Issues (1)

  • • Title is too long (95 chars, ~568px). Will be truncated in search results.

7 issues found

Upgrade to view details

Crawlability

Sitemap

Type: index

11 URLs

11 sub-sitemaps

robots.txt

8 rules

Sitemap reference found

Local SEO

Local Search Readiness

15/100
Poor
4 13

This site doesn't appear to be a local business. Local SEO signals are optional for non-local websites.

Sponsored

AI & LLM Readiness

D41/100
Bot Access
20/25
Machine Read.
1/25
Schema Data
5/25
Citation
15/25

AI Bot Access

14/14 accessible
AI Search
OAI-SearchBot
PerplexityBot
Claude-SearchBot
Gemini-Deep-Research
DuckAssistBot
Training
GPTBot
ClaudeBot
Google-Extended
Meta-ExternalAgent
Bytespiderinfo
Amazonbot
Applebot-Extended
CCBotinfo
Fetch
ChatGPT-User

Machine Readability

llms.txt
llms-full.txt
Semantic HTML
Heading Hierarchy
Text ratio:9%
Words:9,502
Token eff.:Excessive

Structured Data

2 JSON-LD
Organization×1.1BreadcrumbList
sameAs entity links

Citation Readiness

Opening Summary48w
Descriptive Headings
Canonical URL
Open Graph3/3
Twitter Card3/3
Language Tag
Publish Date
Author Info
Lists
Tables
TL;DR / Summary
About Page Link
Recommendations (9)
AI readiness recommendation preview...
Upgrade to view recommendations

Sponsored

Accessibility

WCAG 2.1 Compliance

Evaluates how accessible your website is for users with disabilities, based on WCAG 2.1 guidelines. Checks images, forms, keyboard navigation, ARIA roles, and color contrast.
B
78/100
11
Passed
3
Critical
0
Warnings
Images & Alt Text
20/20
Checks if images have descriptive alt text for screen readers and visually impaired users.
Semantic Structure
13/20
Evaluates proper use of HTML5 semantic elements (header, nav, main, footer) and heading hierarchy.
Forms & Inputs
15/15
Verifies form fields have labels, error messages are clear, and inputs are properly associated.
Color & Contrast
15/15
Tests text-to-background color contrast ratios against WCAG AA/AAA minimum requirements.
Keyboard & Focus
11/15
Ensures all interactive elements are reachable and operable via keyboard (tab, enter, escape).
ARIA & Roles
4/15
Checks correct use of WAI-ARIA attributes (roles, states, properties) for assistive technologies.
1 recommendation
  • •Accessibility recommendation preview...
Upgrade to view recommendations

Carbon Footprint

SWDM v4 · Eco-Score

Carbon emissions estimated using the Sustainable Web Design Model v4 (SWDM v4). Factors in data center, network, and device energy across new and returning visitors. Grade thresholds based on HTTP Archive percentiles.
54/100
B
105 mg
CO₂e / view
1.0 MB
Page Weight
70%
Cleaner Than
New Visitor
120 mg
vs
Returning (cached)
60 mg
Annual (10K/mo)
12.6 kg
Emission Segments
Data Center
5 mg
Network
31 mg
Device
69 mg
Resource Breakdown
JavaScript
802.8 KB
Images
46.2 KB
CSS
35.2 KB
Fonts
82.7 KB
HTML
37.8 KB
Other
32.1 KB
Green Hosting Verified
Cloudflare
Provider Match
5 recommendations
  • •Carbon footprint recommendation preview...
Upgrade to view recommendations
F

Security Score

0%Critical
Critical / Transactional

HTTPS

WAF

82d

Certificate Details

Type

Domain Validated (DV)

Certificate Authority

Google Trust Services

Key Algorithm

ECDSA (secp256r1) (256 bit)

Signature

ECDSA with SHA-256

TLS Version

TLSv1.3

HTTP Protocol

HTTP/2+H3

Valid From

08.05.2026

Valid Until

06.08.2026

OCSP Stapling

Enabled

Subject Alternative Names (2)

thestar.co.za*.thestar.co.za

SHA-256 Fingerprint

F2:5A:44:B6:FD:32:4D:B7:D6:EE:8B:F3:02:6A:96:15:69:DF:58:E3...

Top Recommendations

Security recommendation preview

Upgrade to view recommendations
Upgrade to view header details

HTTP Headers

Developer Console

alt-svc
h3=":443"; ma=86400
cache-control
🟡 4 Hours(max-age=14400, s-maxage=200)
cf-cache-status
EXPIRED
cf-ray🇫🇷 Paris
9fc4bdfdccbfd70e-CDG
content-encoding
zstd
content-language
en
Good Warning Issue

Email Infrastructure

Google Workspace

Score

90

SPF
DKIM
DMARC

DMARC Policy

None (Monitor Only)

MX Records (5)

alt3.aspmx.l.google.com
alt4.aspmx.l.google.com
alt2.aspmx.l.google.com
alt1.aspmx.l.google.com

+1 more

Domain Information

thestar.co.za

DNSSEC
Not Enabled

Privacy & Compliance

Quantcast Choice

Cookie Consent Banner
Quantcast Choice
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service

GDPR Indicators

Cookie consent banner detected
CMP: Quantcast Choice
Privacy policy page linked
Legitimate interest basis mentioned

Mobile Compatibility

Viewport & Responsive Test

Tests how well your website works on mobile devices. Checks viewport configuration, responsive layout, touch targets, font readability, and simulates rendering across different screen sizes.
B
77/100
Mobile Friendly11 breakpoints
Viewport Meta
The viewport meta tag tells mobile browsers how to scale the page. Without it, mobile devices render at desktop width.
Responsive Design
Uses CSS media queries or flexible layouts to adapt content to different screen sizes automatically.
Touch Icons
Apple touch icons and favicons displayed when users add the site to their home screen on mobile devices.
Readable Font Size
Base font size should be at least 16px on mobile to ensure text is readable without zooming.
Relative Units
Using em, rem, %, or vw instead of fixed px values allows content to scale properly across screen sizes.
No H-Scroll Risk
No elements wider than the viewport that would cause horizontal scrolling on mobile devices.
Tap Targets OK
Interactive elements (buttons, links) are at least 48x48px with enough spacing to prevent accidental taps.
No Fixed Widths
No elements with fixed pixel widths that could overflow on smaller screens and break the layout.
Viewport
width=device-width, initial-scale=1, maximum-scale=1
2 recommendations
  • •Mobile compatibility recommendation preview...
Upgrade to view recommendations

Typography & Readability

PT Serif + Open Sans

WCAG Partial
51/100
Readability
/30
11/30

12px · LH 1.33

Hierarchy
/20
14/20

2.27x ratio

WCAG
/25
14/25

3.59:1 min contrast

Performance
/25
12/25

System fonts

Heading Font

PT Serif

Serif27px

Body Font

Open Sans

Sans12px

Contrast Ratio

3.59:1

19 issues

Reading Comfort

~41 CPL

Narrow lines
27px
h1
14px
h2
21px
h4
12px
p

❌ Critical: 12px body text is too small. Minimum 14px, recommend 16px+.

⚠️ Tight line spacing (1.33). Increase to 1.4–1.6 for better readability.

❌ Very complex text: Flesch score 24/100. Consider shorter sentences and simpler words.

⚠️ Partial contrast: 19 elements below WCAG AA threshold (min 3.6:1).

❌ Broken heading hierarchy: 3 level skip(s). Screen readers rely on sequential headings (h1→h2→h3).

✅ Strong hierarchy: Headlines are 2.3x larger than body text.

GGoogle FontsBuy on MyFontsFlesch 24

Color Palette

7 unique colors
5.74:1 AA Dark
#666666
Other· 50.6%
#ffffff
Primary· 25.1%
#120e0b
Secondary· 7.1%
#26251f
Text· 6.5%
#503733
Secondary· 4.7%
#333c2a
Secondary· 4.2%

Business & Marketing Stack

3 Tools Detected

Advanced

Behavior Analytics

2
Google AnalyticsFree
Google Tag ManagerFree

User behavior and product analytics

Advertising

1
TikTok PixelMid-Market

Ad platforms and retargeting pixels

2

Categories

3

Total Tools

0

Enterprise

1

Mid-Market

Assessment: Well-developed marketing technology stack

Ad Networks

Google Ad ManagerMedia.netSovrnPubMaticOpenXIndex Exchange

Sponsored

Scripts & Styles

25 Resources

20
Scripts
5
Styles
20
Async
0
Defer

Top Script Sources

local(16)analytics.tiktok.com(3)googletagmanager.com(1)

Website Identity

The Star

The Star

Organization
Location detected: 🇿🇦 South Africavia tld
📧 Google Workspaceen

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Last analyzed: 15 May 2026 at 20:03

Historical Analysis & Change Tracking