Live chat is now a tip, not a score item
Going without a chat widget no longer lowers your Growth Score. The check moved from SEO to Conversion and stays in the report as an optional tip, because 83% of the sites we audit have no chat and that is a choice, not a defect.
The "Live chat / Support" check used to sit in the SEO category and cost every site without a chat widget a little of its score. Two things were wrong with that. A chat has nothing to do with how search engines see your site. And going without one is not a defect: most of the sites we audit, 83% of them, have no chat, often for good reasons. A widget adds script weight to every page, and it only helps when someone is there to answer.
What changed
- The check moved to Conversion, where it belongs: a chat is a way to answer questions before people buy.
- It no longer affects the score. If you have a chat, the report says so. If not, you see it in the action plan as an optional tip, with no points attached.
- Your next audit may score a little higher in SEO if your site has no chat. Monitoring knows the method changed and will not report that as an improvement on your site.
Scores already on the leaderboard stay as they are until the site is audited again.
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