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Understanding DOM Verification Scan
How the validation bot checks live tag code structures.
Overview
The DOM Verification Scan is the automated diagnostic process executed by the Validation Bot. Its role is to confirm that the code injections dispatched by the deployment pipeline are correctly rendered in the public HTML of the target site before they are logged as successful optimizations.
Prerequisites
- An active optimization fix marked as Applied.
- Publicly resolvable DNS settings on your domain.
Step-by-Step Guide
- Upon receipt of a successful REST API response, the system registers the code patch status as Applied.
- The Validation Bot queue is populated, initiating a page check event.
- The bot performs a GET request to the target URL, using cache-busting request headers to bypass CDN caching layers.
- It executes a DOM parser to sweep the HTML header nodes for the custom identifier signature (e.g.
crawlsage-verificationmetadata). - It performs a strict string comparison check to match the suggested code against the live layout.
- If correct, the status updates to **Verified**. If missing, the crawler retries twice before flagging a **Failed** state.
Expected Result
Within 90 seconds of a deployment run, your optimizations page will record a successful check, updating the corresponding audit issue card status to **Verified** and incrementing your domain health score indices.
Validation Security Constraints
Common Mistakes
- Aggressive CDN caching rules: If your CDN (like Cloudflare or Sucuri) overrides cache-control headers, the bot will parse older HTML layouts and flag verification failures. Clear your edge cache before re-running verification checks.
Troubleshooting
- Validation bot fails but tag is visible in my browser:
You may be logged in to your CMS dashboard (like wp-admin), which disables caching and shows active code for administrators, while public guests see cached layouts. Log out and view your site in a private window to check.