The framework behind the roast
CactusScore™ — ten categories that decide whether your website earns leads.
Our internal review framework, made public. It’s how we roast websites, and it’s the bar every CactusLaunch build must clear before launch. No black-box algorithm — ten honest questions.
In plain terms
CactusScore™ is CactusLaunch’s proprietary-style website review framework — not a certified industry metric. It evaluates ten categories: Visual Trust, Mobile UX, Speed, SEO Foundation, AI Search Readiness, Offer Clarity, Conversion Path, Paid Ads Readiness, Content Depth, and Technical Quality. Businesses can get a free CactusScore™ review through the CactusLaunch Website Roast.
The ten categories
What each category asks — and why it matters.
Visual Trust
Does the site look premium and current within five seconds?
Visitors judge credibility before they read a word. Dated design quietly disqualifies you.
Mobile UX
Is the mobile experience effortless — thumb-friendly, readable, tap-safe?
Most paid and local traffic is mobile. A desktop-first site leaks leads all day.
Speed
Does the site load fast on a mid-range phone on cellular?
Slow pages lose visitors before the pitch. Speed is a trust signal and a ranking input.
SEO Foundation
Are titles, headings, metadata, schema, and internal links doing their jobs?
Without the technical foundation, content and links underperform.
AI Search Readiness
Can AI tools understand who you are, what you do, and where you do it?
AI assistants increasingly answer “who should I hire?” — sites with clear entities and structure get cited.
Trust Signals
Do reviews, credentials, guarantees, and real details show up where doubts appear?
People buy when risk feels handled. Missing proof means hesitation, and hesitation means no lead.
Offer Clarity
Is it instantly obvious what you sell, who it’s for, and what to do next?
Confused visitors don’t scroll to figure it out. They leave.
Paid Ads Readiness
Are there dedicated, message-matched landing pages with tracking in place?
Sending paid clicks to a generic homepage is the most expensive mistake in local advertising.
Conversion Path
Is there one obvious next step on every page — with no dead ends?
Every page either moves visitors toward contact or loses them.
Contact & Chat Friction
Can someone reach you in under ten seconds from any page?
Long forms, buried contact links, and broken buttons turn intent into abandonment.
Two of the ten — Content Depth and Technical Quality — are assessed across the whole review: does the site say enough to be trusted and cited, and is it built cleanly enough to stay fast and findable.
Try it yourself
The 60-second self-check.
Honest answers only — then let a human confirm it.
Answer honestly — check each box that's true for your current website.
Your self-check
0/10
Check the boxes to see where you stand.
Get my real CactusScore™Free, human review — not an automated scan.
CactusScore™ FAQ
Exactly what it is.
Is CactusScore™ an industry-standard certification?
No — and we say that plainly. CactusScore™ is CactusLaunch’s own internal review framework: the ten categories we check on every site we roast and every site we launch. Its value is consistency and honesty, not a certificate.
How is the score calculated?
Each of the ten categories gets a human judgment — pass, needs work, or failing — based on the questions listed on this page. It’s deliberately simple: a framework a business owner can act on beats an opaque 0–100 algorithm nobody can explain.
How do I get my CactusScore™?
Request a free website roast. A real person reviews your site across all ten categories and sends you the findings — what’s costing you leads and what to fix first.
Do CactusLaunch builds get scored too?
Yes — every launch is reviewed against the same ten categories before it ships. The framework exists because we needed a bar for our own work first.
Ten categories. One honest review. Zero cost.
Get your CactusScore™ — and know exactly where your website stands before you spend another dollar on ads.
Prefer to talk it through first? Use the chat button — a real person replies.