clutch

B

Usable by AI agents, with gaps

Capped at B: your site offers assistants no tools to act with, and an A needs them. Your checks earned 90.

Speed: Pass (real visitors, last 28 days)

See if AI chooses you.

An AI agent searched “month to month apartments los angeles”, like 90 people a month. Google shows

The same rules every run: four searches, up to three sites, six pages, made-up details, and it never sends anything.

  • FoundOpened directly

    Search didn't list your site: it was not among the results of the agent's 1 search. The agent then opened your site directly, so the gates after this one are still judged.

  • UnderstoodReached

    The agent's answer cites a fact from your site's own pages.

  • ActedNot reached

    Your site registers no tool for AI assistants, so an assistant can only send the shopper to a form, a phone number or a contact page.

    Behind it:Your site offers tools to AI assistants

  1. Finding the search your site already ranks for on Google.

  2. Reading your site to plan the first search.2s

  3. Reviewing the search results.4s

  6. Deciding the next step.13s

  7. Judging how far it got.

What it told the shopper3 of 13 sources are your site

I opened Essex Apartment Homes at https://essexapartmenthomes.com/. It's a reasonable place to start, but the homepage doesn't confirm month-to-month leases in Los Angeles.

Essex Apartment Homes (Essex Property Trust)

  • What the site says: Explore California and Washington rental apartment homes, investor information, careers, retail, contact us, and more. The site doesn't name Los Angeles communities on the homepage.
  • Closest match to your request: Under "Great Places to Live," the site says "we provide flexible lease terms to fit to your needs." It adds: "You can move-in when you please and stay as long as you like." That sounds like short-term flexibility, but the page doesn't use the words "month-to-month," and it doesn't explain the terms.
  • How to take the next step: Use the "Apartments" link (https://www.essexapartmenthomes.com/apartments) to find properties, or the "FAQs" page (https://www.essexapartmenthomes.com/frequently-asked-questions) to ask about lease terms. You can also contact the leasing team. The site says "Please contact the leasing team for details about a specific apartment."
  • What the site did not say: I didn't open the Apartments or FAQ pages, so I can't confirm which Los Angeles buildings offer month-to-month leases, the rent, or any fees or minimum stays. Ask the leasing team directly whether a specific unit can be rented month to month.

I could only check this one business's homepage, so this is a single option, not a full comparison of Los Angeles month-to-month rentals.

These sites are competing with you.

SiteLetterFindUnderstandActPerformance
essexapartmenthomes.comBFind94Understand100Act84Performance81
anyplace.comOpened by the AI agent
housestay.comOpened by the AI agent
bedfordhousing.comOpened by the AI agent

Start here.

These hold your letter down the most.
  1. Fail·Act

    Your site offers tools to AI assistants

    Your home page offers no tools to AI assistants.

    What to do Expose the main action on your site, such as booking or contacting you, as a WebMCP tool.

    Your web team · about a daySee the check

  2. Fail·Find

    Pages that do not exist say so

    A page that does not exist answers 200 with a normal page, so every guessed address looks real.

    What to do Make a mistyped address show a page that says it was not found, with a 404 status behind it.

    Your web team · about an hourSee the check

  3. Partial·Performance

    The main content shows up quickly

    Speed Index (10.0 s). Measured from real visitors of this page, last 28 days; the rest is a lab test on a phone.

    What to do Make the first screen load faster on phones, starting with its biggest image.

    Your web team · a week or moreSee the check

Fix it,

or see it rebuilt.

These 11 fixes add up to about three weeks of your web team's time.

  • Send to your agency

    An email with what is wrong and a link to this report, so whoever runs the site has every fix and its line for the web team.

    Send to your agency

  • Explore with your AI

    Your own AI reads the report and tells you how to fix each issue and the effort each takes. It gets this, and nothing else:

    Read this report on our website: clutch.io/grade/essexapartmenthomes-com. Tell me how to fix each issue and the level of effort each fix takes.

  • See your site rebuilt

    Clutch rebuilds essexapartmenthomes.com from its address, and the new site doesn't have these issues. Free to preview, $39 a month once it goes live.

    See your site rebuilt
94

Find

Can AI agents and search engines reach and list your pages?

25% of your grade · 8 of 9 goals pass

  • Pages that do not exist say soImportantFail

    A page that does not exist answers 200 with a normal page, so every guessed address looks real. Google treats content behind a 404 or 410 as gone, and flags empty pages that answer 200 (success) as soft 404s.

    • Status 200: https://www.essexapartmenthomes.com/grader-no-such-page-8f3a1c

    What to do Make a mistyped address show a page that says it was not found, with a 404 status behind it.

    For your web team: Return 404 (or 410 for a page that is gone) for unknown routes. A single-page app needs its server to answer unknown paths with the not-found page and a 404 status; a redirect to the home page makes every address look real.

    Your web team · about an hour · Important

    How Google Search handles HTTP status codes, GoogleReport an issue with this check

  • Search engines and AI assistants are allowed to read your siteCriticalPass

    Every AI search crawler and agent we grade is allowed. Training crawlers are allowed. A crawler is a robot that reads sites for a search engine or assistant, and one that is blocked cannot recommend you. Bing lists blocking Bingbot among the things to avoid, because content it cannot crawl may not be indexed or used in Copilot's answers.

    Overview of OpenAI crawlers, OpenAIReport an issue with this check

  • Search engines may list each pageCriticalPass

    Page isn’t blocked from indexing Google leaves out a page marked noindex, and a page its crawler cannot read cannot be listed or used as a supporting link in its AI features.

    AI features and your website, GoogleReport an issue with this check

  • Search results can show your pages' wordsCriticalPass

    All 2 audits in this goal pass. A page whose text is kept out of results leaves a search engine or assistant nothing to quote. Google's AI features follow nosnippet and max-snippet, and Bing keeps content marked noarchive out of Copilot and limits nocache pages to their address, title and snippet.

    Robots.txt Introduction and Guide, GoogleReport an issue with this check

  • Your pages are listed in a sitemapImportantPass

    https://www.essexapartmenthomes.com/sitemap.xml is a sitemap. Google and Bing use an XML sitemap named in robots.txt to find your pages, and neither promises to index every page in it. A page must be indexed to appear in Google's AI answers.

    Build and submit a sitemap, GoogleReport an issue with this check

  • Every page has its own titleImportantPass

    Document has a <title> element Google builds the title link in search results from the page's title, and may change one that is missing, vague, boilerplate or repeated. A title keeps your wording in front of searchers.

    Influencing Title Links in Google Search, GoogleReport an issue with this check

  • Each page has one clear addressImportantPass

    All 2 audits in this goal pass. Google uses one canonical address per page, and uses hreflang to send searchers to the version of the page in their language.

    How to Specify a Canonical with rel="canonical" and Other Methods, GoogleReport an issue with this check

  • Pages open without detoursImportantPass

    All 2 audits in this goal pass. Each extra redirect is another trip across the network that can delay the page by hundreds of milliseconds.

    Avoid multiple page redirects, ChromeReport an issue with this check

100

Understand

Can they tell who you are and what you offer?

25% of your grade · 7 of 7 goals pass

84

Act

Can they take the next step for a customer?

25% of your grade · 6 of 9 goals pass

  • Your site offers tools to AI assistantsMust haveImportantFail

    Your home page offers no tools to AI assistants. WebMCP lets an assistant book or reserve through a site's own code instead of guessing its way around the screen.

    While it fails, your letter stays at B or lower.

    • PageSpeed's "WebMCP tools registered" audit lists no tool: https://essexapartmenthomes.com/

    What to do Expose the main action on your site, such as booking or contacting you, as a WebMCP tool.

    For your web team: Call document.modelContext.registerTool({ name, description, inputSchema, execute }) as the home page loads, or add toolname and tooldescription attributes to the form. A name is 1 to 128 letters, digits, _, - or .

    Your web team · about a day · Important

    WebMCP for developers, ChromeReport an issue with this check

  • Text is readableImportantPartial

    Background and foreground colors do not have a sufficient contrast ratio. WCAG requires text to contrast with its background by at least 4.5 to 1, and the axe rule color-contrast checks for it.

    • Fix any of the following: Element has insufficient color contrast of 4.28 (foreground color: #c75109, background color: #f8f8f8, font size: 12.0pt (16px), font weight: normal). Expected contrast ratio of 4.5:1: <span>: https://essexapartmenthomes.com/

    What to do Darken pale text and underline the links inside paragraphs.

    For your web team: Reach a contrast ratio of 4.5 to 1 for normal text, mark links in text with more than color, and leave user-scalable and maximum-scale out of the viewport tag.

    Your web team · about a day · Important

    Rule color-contrast: Elements must meet minimum color contrast ratio thresholds, Deque axeReport an issue with this check

  • Buttons and links are big enough to tapImportantPartial

    Touch targets do not have sufficient size or spacing. web.dev recommends tap targets of around 48 pixels, and WCAG sets a minimum of 24 by 24 pixels.

    • Fix any of the following: Target has insufficient size (15px by 15px, should be at least 24px by 24px) Target has insufficient space to its closest neighbors. Safe clickable space has a diameter of 6px instead of at least 24px.: <button type="button" class="embla__dot embla__dot--active" aria-label="Go to slide 1" style="color: white;">: https://essexapartmenthomes.com/

    What to do Make small buttons and tightly packed links bigger on phones.

    For your web team: Make each target at least 24 by 24 CSS pixels, or leave enough space around smaller ones, and aim for around 48 pixels. Set width=device-width in the viewport tag so taps answer at once.

    Your web team · about an hour · Important

    Accessible tap targets, GoogleReport an issue with this check

  • Forms are labelledCriticalPass

    All 2 audits in this goal pass. WCAG requires every form field to have a label or instructions, and the axe rule label checks for it.

    Rule label: Form elements must have labels, Deque axeReport an issue with this check

  • Assistants can read your page's controlsCriticalPass

    Accessibility tree is well-formed (All audits passed) Agents review the accessibility tree to find what they can click or fill in, and missing labels can block them.

    Accessibility for agents, ChromeReport an issue with this check

  • Custom controls announce what they areImportantPass

    Elements with role="dialog" or role="alertdialog" have accessible names. WCAG, the web accessibility standard most laws point to, requires every control to expose its name and role to assistive technology and software.

    Accessibility for agents, ChromeReport an issue with this check

  • Extra labels on controls are used correctlyImportantPass

    All 11 audits in this goal pass. Wrong ARIA tells an assistant a control is something it is not. WAI-ARIA defines the roles and attributes that are valid, and the axe rules check them.

    Rule aria-roles: ARIA roles used must conform to valid values, Deque axeReport an issue with this check

  • Visitors can move around the pageImportantPass

    All 2 audits in this goal pass. WCAG, the web accessibility standard most laws point to, requires every function of a page to work from a keyboard.

    Accessibility for agents, ChromeReport an issue with this check

81

Performance

Is it fast for the person who clicks through?

Speed comes from real visitors of your page over the last 28 days when Google has their numbers, and from a test on a phone when it does not.

25% of your grade · 4 of 10 goals pass

  • The main content shows up quicklyImportantPartial

    Speed Index (10.0 s). Measured from real visitors of this page, last 28 days; the rest is a lab test on a phone. LCP is how long the main picture or text takes to appear, and visitors leave slow pages. web.dev says 2.5 seconds or less is good, one of Google's three Core Web Vitals.

    • Speed Index (10.0 s): https://essexapartmenthomes.com/
    • Render-blocking requests (Est savings of 1,190 ms): https://www.essexapartmenthomes.com/_next/static/immutable/chunks/435uub7uasezg.css
    • Network dependency tree: https://essexapartmenthomes.com/

    What to do Make the first screen load faster on phones, starting with its biggest image.

    For your web team: Serve the largest element early: preload it, avoid render-blocking scripts and styles, and cut server response time. PageSpeed lists what holds it back.

    Your web team · a week or more · Important

    Web Vitals, GoogleReport an issue with this check

  • Served fastImportantPartial

    Document request latency (Est savings of 110 ms). A CDN (a network of servers near your visitors) reduces the network latency that slows a server's first response.

    • Document request latency (Est savings of 110 ms): https://essexapartmenthomes.com/
    • Network Round Trip Times (20 ms): https://essexapartmenthomes.com/
    • Server Backend Latencies (100 ms): https://essexapartmenthomes.com/

    What to do Speed up its first response, for example with a CDN in front of it.

    For your web team: Serve the page through a CDN or edge network over HTTP/2 or HTTP/3, compress text with gzip or Brotli, cache the document at the edge, and avoid redirects.

    Your web team · about a day · Important

    Reduce server response times (TTFB), ChromeReport an issue with this check

  • Images are the right sizeImportantPartial

    Improve image delivery (Est savings of 231 KiB). Serving images larger than the version rendered on screen results in wasted bytes and slows page load.

    • Improve image delivery (Est savings of 231 KiB): <img alt="Skylux on Wilshire" fetchpriority="auto" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-nimg="fill" class="vCxswG_community-card__image" sizes="(min-width: 1400px) 378px, (min-width: 1024px) 328px, 320px" srcset="/_next/image?url=%2Fapi%2Fimages%2Fphotoshelter%2FI0000cHk..491Eos%2Fsec%3…" src="https://www.essexapartmenthomes.com/_next/image?url=%2Fapi%2Fimages%2Fphot…" style="position: absolute; height: 100%; width: 100%; inset: 0px;">: https://www.essexapartmenthomes.com/_next/image?url=%2Fapi%2Fimages%2Fphotoshelter%2FI0000cHk..491Eos%2Fsec%3Dwdfsdfoeflwefms1440ed2026110253WXfzVKemS816O%2Ffill%3D1680x945%2FSkylux-on-Wilshire-Website-Gallery-03.jpg%3Fv%3Dba026077571d2d9f485a5a92527c5cae1ef9aac0&w=768&q=55&dpl=dpl_Gi9tqHE3YC5V3WHhv3U1kLLC73eD

    What to do Resize and compress your images before they go on the page.

    For your web team: Serve several sizes with srcset and sizes, use a modern format such as WebP or AVIF, and keep each image's width and height in the proportion it is shown.

    Your web team · about a day · Important

    Properly size images, ChromeReport an issue with this check

  • The page does not weigh muchImportantPartial

    Avoid enormous network payloads (Total size was 21,951 KiB), Reduce unused JavaScript (Est savings of 1,086 KiB), Reduce unused CSS (Est savings of 86 KiB), and Legacy JavaScript (Est savings of 30 KiB). Large network payloads are highly correlated with long load times and cost visitors money on mobile data.

    • Avoid enormous network payloads (Total size was 21,951 KiB), from Vimeo: https://vod-adaptive-ak.vimeocdn.com/exp=1793394784~acl=%2Fa6ec7c76-d953-44be-9091-3d15d34b5ca8%2Fpsid%3D2d8fe528fd120054814537452a18b4a01fe3603b1793391184%2F%2A~hmac=0e347bd84056ca4c89136557aa0ea3bf92e217aff2b41ab263a910ca00802087/a6ec7c76-d953-44be-9091-3d15d34b5ca8/psid=2d8fe528fd120054814537452a18b4a01fe3603b1793391184/v2/range/prot/cmFuZ2U9NzkzNTExMS0xMjQwNTI5Nw/avf/c5087ee7-c158-4c5d-a8e2-b4807295e05a.mp4?pathsig=8c953e4f~U-MAzOAk_0a8yowAmP5V1yrvdoB7QZ5Yo0s1hihzq_4&r=dXMtd2VzdDE%3D&range=7935111-12405297
    • Reduce unused JavaScript (Est savings of 1,086 KiB), from Accessibe Accessibility Overlay: https://acsbapp.com/apps/app/dist/js/app.js
    • Reduce unused CSS (Est savings of 86 KiB), from Vimeo: https://f.vimeocdn.com/p/4.46.135/css/player.css

    What to do Remove code and files the page does not use.

    For your web team: Minify scripts and styles, remove unused and duplicate code, and stop shipping legacy polyfills. PageSpeed lists the files by size.

    Your web team · a few days · Important

    Avoid enormous network payloads, ChromeReport an issue with this check

  • Repeat visitors get a faster pageImportantPartial

    Use efficient cache lifetimes (Est savings of 212 KiB) Fetching resources over the network is both slow and expensive.

    • Use efficient cache lifetimes (Est savings of 212 KiB), from Optanon: https://cdn.cookielaw.org/scripttemplates/202605.1.0/otBannerSdk.js
    • Use efficient cache lifetimes (Est savings of 212 KiB), from Hubspot: https://js.hs-analytics.net/analytics/1793391000000/7742401.js
    • Use efficient cache lifetimes (Est savings of 212 KiB), from openai.com: https://bzrcdn.openai.com/sdk/oaiq.min.js

    What to do Let browsers keep images, scripts and styles between visits.

    For your web team: Send Cache-Control with a long max-age for fingerprinted static files, and revalidate the rest with ETag.

    Your web team · about an hour · Important

    Prevent unnecessary network requests with the HTTP Cache, GoogleReport an issue with this check

  • The page loads without errorsImportantPartial

    Issues were logged in the Issues panel in Chrome Devtools, Uses deprecated APIs (1 warning found), and Uses third-party cookies (2 cookies found). An error in the console means a problem on your page that you need to resolve.

    • Issues were logged in the Issues panel in Chrome Devtools: https://essexapartmenthomes.com/
    • Uses deprecated APIs (1 warning found): https://essexapartmenthomes.com/
    • Uses third-party cookies (2 cookies found), from Vimeo: https://player.vimeo.com/video/1239946947?autoplay=1&muted=1&loop=1&background=1

    What to do Open the page in a browser's developer tools and clear the errors it lists.

    For your web team: Fix each console error and browser issue, replace deprecated APIs, publish source maps for your scripts, and start the document with a doctype and a charset.

    Your web team · a few days · Important

    Browser errors were logged to the console, ChromeReport an issue with this check

  • The page responds as soon as it appearsImportantPass

    Interaction to Next Paint is 137 ms for real visitors of this page, last 28 days, which Google rates good. INP is the wait between a tap and the page responding, and under 200 milliseconds is good. Total Blocking Time, the lab test's stand-in, has the same bar.

    Total Blocking Time (TBT), GoogleReport an issue with this check

  • The page does not jump around while it loadsImportantPass

    Cumulative Layout Shift is 0.00 for real visitors of this page, last 28 days, which Google rates good. CLS measures how much the page jumps while it loads, which makes people tap the wrong thing. web.dev names it one of three Core Web Vitals, and 0.1 or less is good.

    Web Vitals, GoogleReport an issue with this check

  • Visitors are on a secure connectionImportantPass

    Uses HTTPS A secure connection helps prevent intruders tampering with traffic between your site and its visitors.

    Why HTTPS matters, GoogleReport an issue with this check

  • Visitors are not interrupted on arrivalImportantPass

    All 3 audits in this goal pass. Users are mistrustful of or confused by pages that ask for their location as soon as they load.

    Requests the geolocation permission on page load, ChromeReport an issue with this check

See essexapartmenthomes.com rebuilt, without these issues.

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