=== Globe Boss CrawlBoost ===
Contributors: globeboss
Tags: crawl, seo, indexnow, crawl budget, diagnostics
Requires at least: 6.0
Tested up to: 7.1
Requires PHP: 7.4
Stable tag: 2.6.1
License: GPLv2 or later
License URI: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

A read-only crawl diagnostics console for Google & Bing: HTTP health, 304 validators, soft-404 detection, URL waste, and IndexNow.

== Description ==

CrawlBoost is a **diagnostics layer**, not another SEO plugin. It measures how efficiently search-engine crawlers can reach your site and tells you what to fix — but it never modifies your XML sitemap, robots.txt, canonical tags, or meta robots. That means it works **alongside** Yoast, Rank Math, SEOPress, or All in One SEO instead of fighting them.

**Free features**

* **Crawl Health Monitor** — a low-volume, resource-safe sample crawl recording each URL's status code, response time, redirects, and size, rolled into a green/amber/red health status.
* **HTTP Validator Audit** — checks whether unchanged pages return `304 Not Modified` to conditional requests (ETag / Last-Modified). This is the crawl-efficiency lever Google highlighted in its July 2026 guidance. Audit only — it never forces 304 responses.
* **Soft-404 & Status Integrity Scan** — finds pages that return HTTP 200 but read like missing pages, and audits your existing sitemap for URLs that resolve to 3xx/4xx/5xx.
* **URL Waste Radar** — flags tracking, filter, session, and feed URLs in your content that can waste crawl budget. Detection only; it names which system owns each fix.
* **IndexNow Change Notifications** — instantly tells Bing, Yandex, Seznam, Naver, and Yep when you publish, update, or delete a page. Automatically stays off when your SEO plugin already provides IndexNow, to avoid duplicate submissions.

Every finding shows the tested URL, the response, why it may matter, and **which system owns the fix** — because CrawlBoost reports, it doesn't change your site.

**Pro features** (sold separately)

* Full-site crawl and URL graph
* Server access-log ingestion and crawler analysis
* Historical trends and anomaly alerts
* Deep parameter-cluster analysis
* Multi-site and agency dashboards
* WooCommerce change notifications
* AI-assisted diagnosis (summarises measured evidence via the Claude API)

== Installation ==

1. Upload the `globe-boss-crawlboost` folder to `/wp-content/plugins/`, or install through the Plugins screen.
2. Activate through the **Plugins** menu.
3. Open **CrawlBoost** in the admin menu and run each scan.

== Frequently Asked Questions ==

= Does this conflict with my SEO plugin? =

No. CrawlBoost is read-only — it never writes sitemaps, robots.txt, canonicals, or meta robots. It detects your SEO plugin and works alongside it.

= Does it slow down my site? =

Scans are capped (25 URLs in the free tier), batched, and locked to a single run at a time, so they stay light even on shared hosting.

= Why doesn't IndexNow notify Google? =

Google doesn't participate in the IndexNow protocol. IndexNow reaches Bing, Yandex, Seznam, Naver, and Yep.

= Will it fix the problems it finds? =

No — by design. It shows you what to fix and where (your SEO plugin, theme, host, or server). Keeping it read-only is what makes it safe to run alongside anything.

== External services ==

This plugin connects to one external service, and only when the site owner explicitly enables it.

**IndexNow (api.indexnow.org)**

The plugin sends URL-change notifications to the IndexNow API so that participating search engines (Bing, Yandex, Seznam, Naver, Yep) are told immediately when a public page on your site is published, updated, or deleted. This service is only used when the site owner enables IndexNow on the CrawlBoost settings screen. When enabled, on each qualifying post transition or deletion the plugin sends a POST request to `https://api.indexnow.org/indexnow` containing: the site's host, a plain-text key generated by the plugin, the public URL of the key verification file hosted on the same site, and the list of URLs that have changed. No visitor data, no personal data, and no post content is transmitted — only public URLs of the site's own content. If IndexNow is not enabled, no requests are made.

IndexNow is a shared protocol operated by Microsoft and other participating search engines. See the IndexNow documentation and terms at https://www.indexnow.org/documentation and the Bing Webmaster / IndexNow terms of use at https://www.bing.com/webmasters/help/indexnow-8752a615 and privacy statement at https://privacy.microsoft.com/privacystatement .

== Changelog ==

= 2.0.0 =
* Complete rebuild as a read-only crawl diagnostics console: Crawl Health Monitor, HTTP Validator Audit (304), Soft-404 & Status Integrity Scan, URL Waste Radar, and IndexNow change notifications. Removed all site-modifying features (XML/HTML sitemap, robots.txt editor) to guarantee zero conflict with SEO plugins. Automatic migration cleans up data from earlier versions.

== Upgrade Notice ==

= 2.0.0 =
Major rebuild. CrawlBoost is now a read-only diagnostics console that works alongside your SEO plugin. Old sitemap/robots data is removed automatically on update.
