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Check Library: All 70 Catalog Health Checks

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Table of Contents

The catalog health checks in Catalog Health Scanner for WooCommerce Pro are a fixed library of 70 tests, grouped into 10 categories, that every scan runs against your products and variations. This page lists all of them exactly as they ship in version 1.0.0: the label you see in the plugin, the check ID used in filters and exports, the severity, the applicability group, whether an automatic fix exists, and what the finding actually costs you.

Catalog Health Scanner reports what it finds and helps you fix it. It does not decide for you: every check can be switched off, every group can be set to report without scoring, and every individual finding can be ignored on a single product.

How many checks are in each category #

Category Category ID Checks Applicability
Purchasability purchasability 10 Always applicable
Inventory inventory 7 Group inventory
Shipping shipping 7 Group shipping
Tax tax 3 Group tax
Media media 8 Always applicable
Structure structure 8 Always applicable
Downloads downloads 4 Group downloads
Content content 11 9 always applicable, 2 in their own groups
Feed Readiness feed 6 Group feed
Pricing pricing 6 3 always applicable, 3 in the cog group
Total 70

How to read the tables #

Severity sets how much a check is worth in the health score. Weights are fixed:

Severity Score weight What it means
Critical 4 A product cannot be sold correctly. One open critical issue caps your total score at 89.
High 2 Real revenue or data damage, but the product still works.
Medium 1 Quality and consistency problems that cost conversions over time.
Low 0.5 Polish. Worth fixing when the rest is clean.

Applicability group tells you whether a check depends on how your store is configured. Checks marked Always run on every store. All others belong to a group that auto-detect can switch off, or that you can set to Applicable, Report, but do not score, or Not applicable in the settings. See Applicability: why checks are skipped.

Automatic fix is one of three values. One-click means the change is unambiguous and Catalog Health Scanner can apply it on its own. Bulk means you supply the value (a weight, a category, a brand, a cost percentage) and the fix applies it to the selected products. None means the check points you at the products and you edit them yourself. Every fix, of either kind, is previewed before it runs, logged, and reversible inside the undo window. See Fix issues safely.

Purchasability (10 checks) #

Nothing in this category depends on how your store is configured, so these checks always run and always count. Every finding here means a product is unbuyable or is showing a broken offer.

Check Check ID Severity Applicability group Automatic fix Why it matters
Published product with no price no_price Critical Always None The product shows no price and no add to cart button, so it cannot be bought at all.
Variable product where no variation is purchasable variable_no_purchasable Critical Always None No variation has a price, so nothing on the page can be added to the cart.
Variable product where some variations have no price variation_price_missing Critical Always None Customers who select those options see no price and hit a dead end.
Sale price equal to or higher than regular price sale_not_lower High Always None The product advertises a discount that is not a discount, which costs trust in every other price.
Sale schedule expired but sale price still set sale_expired High Always One-click (clear_expired_sale) The sale ended but the discounted price is still stored, so you may keep selling at the old sale price.
Sale end date earlier than start date sale_dates_inverted High Always None The sale can never run with those dates, so the discount you planned never appears.
Product hidden from catalog and search hidden_from_catalog Medium Always None The product is published but customers cannot find it anywhere on the store.
Long-term out of stock, published, backorders disabled out_of_stock_stale High Always None A product nobody can buy keeps occupying catalog and search results. The age limit is the oos_age_days threshold.
External product with a missing or malformed product URL external_url_missing Critical Always None The buy button leads nowhere, so the product cannot be bought.
Grouped product with no purchasable children grouped_no_children Critical Always None The grouped product page is empty or lists nothing that can be added to the cart.

Inventory (7 checks) #

These checks belong to the inventory applicability group. Auto-detect turns them on when stock management is enabled store-wide.

Check Check ID Severity Applicability group Automatic fix Why it matters
Missing SKU sku_missing High inventory Bulk (generate_skus) Products with no SKU cannot be tracked in inventory systems or matched to supplier data.
Duplicate SKU across products or variations sku_duplicate Critical inventory None Inventory counts are wrong and orders can be fulfilled with the wrong item.
Near-duplicate SKU differing only by case or whitespace sku_near_duplicate High inventory None Some systems treat the two codes as one product and some as two, so counts drift apart.
Variations missing SKUs while parent has one variation_sku_missing Medium inventory Bulk (generate_skus) Individual variations cannot be told apart in exports, feeds, or picking.
Negative stock quantity negative_stock High inventory None Stock below zero usually means orders were taken that could not be fulfilled.
Stock quantity set while stock management is off stock_qty_unmanaged Medium inventory One-click (clear_unmanaged_stock) The stored number is ignored by WooCommerce and misleads anyone who reads it.
Stock status contradicting stock quantity stock_status_mismatch High inventory One-click (sync_stock_status) Products show as in stock with zero units, or out of stock while units are on hand.

Shipping (7 checks) #

These checks belong to the shipping applicability group. Auto-detect turns them on when an enabled shipping method could depend on weight or dimensions. Flat rate, free shipping, local pickup, and pickup location never do.

Check Check ID Severity Applicability group Automatic fix Why it matters
Physical product with no weight weight_missing High shipping Bulk (set_weight) Weight-based shipping is calculated wrongly, so you overcharge or undercharge on every order.
Physical product with no dimensions dimensions_missing Medium shipping None Carriers that price by size cannot quote this product correctly.
Virtual product carrying weight or dimensions virtual_with_dimensions Medium shipping One-click (clear_virtual_dimensions) Virtual products are never shipped, so stored sizes only confuse exports and feeds.
Downloadable product not marked virtual, so shipping is charged downloadable_not_virtual High shipping None Customers pay shipping on a file, which invites refund requests.
Missing shipping class where classes are in use shipping_class_missing Medium shipping Bulk (assign_shipping_class) The product falls through your class-based rules and ships at the wrong rate.
Weight or dimension values outside plausible range weight_implausible Medium shipping None A zero, negative, or absurd weight is nearly always an import error and corrupts every quote. The upper bound is the max_weight threshold.
Product referencing a deleted term shipping_class_deleted High shipping One-click (unassign_deleted_shipping_class) The product still points at a shipping class, category, or tag whose term was deleted, so class-based rates fall back silently.

Tax (3 checks) #

These checks belong to the tax applicability group. Auto-detect turns them on when tax is enabled and more than the standard tax class exists.

Check Check ID Severity Applicability group Automatic fix Why it matters
Product referencing a deleted tax class tax_class_invalid High tax One-click (reset_tax_class) The product silently falls back to the standard rate, which may be the wrong tax for it.
Tax status set to none tax_status_none Medium tax None No tax is ever charged on this product. If that is not deliberate, you are under-collecting.
Inconsistent tax class within a product category tax_class_inconsistent Low tax Bulk (assign_tax_class) A handful of products taxed unlike the rest of their category is usually a mistake rather than a policy.

Media (8 checks) #

Media checks always run and always count. They cover the images customers, search engines, and feed platforms actually see.

Check Check ID Severity Applicability group Automatic fix Why it matters
No featured image image_missing High Always None Products without an image convert far worse, and most feed platforms reject them outright.
Image record exists but file is missing from the server image_file_missing High Always None Every visitor sees a broken image placeholder on the product page.
Gallery images referencing deleted attachments gallery_deleted_refs Medium Always One-click (clean_gallery) The gallery holds slots pointing at images that no longer exist.
Featured image has no alt text image_alt_missing Medium Always None Screen readers, image search, and AI vision models have nothing to read, so the image is invisible to all three.
Only the WooCommerce placeholder image placeholder_image_only High Always None Customers see the generic grey placeholder instead of the product.
Same featured image reused across many different products image_reused_across_products Low Always None Identical thumbnails make products indistinguishable in the catalog and in feeds. The trigger count is the image_reuse_count threshold.
Variations with no image on a product where other variations have one variation_images_inconsistent Low Always None Switching variations makes the image flicker between real photos and the parent fallback.
Featured image below minimum usable resolution image_low_res Medium Always None The image pixelates on zoom and fails the minimum size rules of most feed platforms. The limit is the min_image_width threshold.

Structure (8 checks) #

Structure and taxonomy checks always run and always count. They cover the wiring that holds a catalog together: categories, links, variations, and grouped products.

Check Check ID Severity Applicability group Automatic fix Why it matters
Product in no category, or only Uncategorized category_missing High Always Bulk (assign_category) The product is invisible to category browsing and filtered navigation.
Cross-sells or upsells pointing at deleted or unpublished products linked_products_deleted Medium Always One-click (clean_linked_products) Recommendation slots on the product page are silently empty or broken.
Orphaned variation with no surviving parent orphaned_variation High Always One-click (delete_orphaned_variations) Variations that belong to no product still sit in the database and can leak into feeds and search. This is the only fixer that removes anything: it moves the variation to trash, and undo restores it.
Variable product with attributes not enabled for variations attributes_not_for_variation High Always None The product has variations but no attribute drives them, so the variation picker is broken or empty.
Variation with missing or invalid attribute value variation_attribute_invalid Critical Always None Those variations reference attribute options that no longer exist, so they can never be selected.
Variation count not matching possible attribute combinations variation_count_mismatch Medium Always None Customers can select combinations that have no variation behind them.
Product assigned to a category that no longer appears in the menu structure category_not_in_menu Low Always None The only route to the product is search, so browsing customers never reach it.
Grouped product with deleted or unpublished children grouped_children_invalid High Always One-click (clean_grouped_children) Part of the grouped product silently disappeared, so the page sells less than intended.

Downloads (4 checks) #

These checks belong to the downloads applicability group. Auto-detect turns them on when at least one downloadable product exists.

Check Check ID Severity Applicability group Automatic fix Why it matters
Downloadable product with no files attached download_no_files Critical downloads None Customers pay and receive nothing, which produces refunds and disputes rather than complaints.
Download file missing from the server download_file_missing Critical downloads None Customers paid and got a broken download link.
Download files stored in a publicly guessable location download_public_location High downloads None Anyone who guesses the URL gets your paid file for free.
Download URL returning an error download_url_error Critical downloads None The remote file behind the download answers with an error, so buyers get nothing after paying. Results are cached for 12 hours per URL.

Content (11 checks) #

Most content checks always run. Two of them sit in their own applicability groups so you can report them without letting them move your score: reviews and faq.

Check Check ID Severity Applicability group Automatic fix Why it matters
Missing short description short_description_missing Medium Always None The space next to the price and buy button is empty.
Missing or very thin main description description_thin Medium Always None Thin product pages rank poorly and give customers nothing to base a purchase on. The floor is the min_description_chars threshold.
Duplicate product titles title_duplicate Medium Always None Identically named products compete with each other in search and confuse customers and staff.
Product title containing import artefacts or encoding errors title_artifacts High Always One-click (clean_title_artifacts) Garbled characters in the title show on the product page, in search results, and in feeds.
Product pages emit no structured data (schema.org) schema_markup_missing High Always None Without Product structured data your listings cannot earn rich results and are far less likely to be surfaced by AI shopping assistants. One cached store-level probe decides this for the whole catalog.
Placeholder or lorem-ipsum content content_placeholder High Always None Sample or template text left on the page reads as unfinished to shoppers and to AI shopping assistants.
Description duplicated across multiple products description_duplicate Medium Always None Identical descriptions compete in search and give AI answer engines nothing to tell the products apart.
No attributes or specifications no_product_attributes Medium Always None Filtered navigation and AI shopping assistants have no structured facts to match this product against a query.
No reviews reviews_missing Low reviews None No star rating means no social proof for shoppers or AI assistants, and no review rich result in search.
No FAQ / question-and-answer content faq_missing Low faq None AI answer engines quote FAQ content directly, so products without it are surfaced less often in AI shopping answers.
Description containing broken shortcodes or leftover markup broken_shortcodes Medium Always None Raw shortcode text from a removed plugin is printed to customers instead of content.

Feed Readiness (6 checks) #

These checks belong to the feed applicability group. Auto-detect turns them on when a known product feed plugin is active, or when feed identifier fields are already populated on products.

Check Check ID Severity Applicability group Automatic fix Why it matters
Missing GTIN, EAN, UPC, or MPN gtin_missing High feed None Feed platforms reject listings with no product identifier, so the product earns no paid traffic.
Missing brand brand_missing High feed Bulk (assign_brand) Most feed platforms require a brand, and listings without one are rejected or demoted.
Missing product condition condition_missing Medium feed None Platforms assume “new” when condition is missing, and a wrong assumption can get listings suspended.
Missing Google product category mapping google_category_missing Medium feed None Unmapped products land in the wrong Google Shopping category and reach the wrong buyers.
Description exceeding feed platform character limits feed_description_too_long Low feed None Feed platforms truncate or reject descriptions past their limit. The limit is the max_feed_desc_chars threshold.
Title exceeding feed platform character limits feed_title_too_long Medium feed None Google Shopping truncates titles over 150 characters, cutting off what you wrote.

Pricing (6 checks) #

The three basic price checks always run. The three cost and margin checks sit in the cog applicability group, which auto-detect turns on when cost of goods data is present on products.

Check Check ID Severity Applicability group Automatic fix Why it matters
Price of zero on a product not marked as free price_zero High Always None The product sells for nothing, so every order is pure loss unless that is deliberate.
Price far outside the category median price_outside_median High Always None A price several times above or below everything comparable is usually a misplaced decimal point. The multiplier is the price_deviation_factor threshold.
Price with more decimals than the store currency supports price_decimals_excess Medium Always None The displayed price is rounded, so what customers see is not what they are charged.
Cost of goods missing cog_missing Medium cog Bulk (set_cog_percent) Without a cost you cannot see margin, so you cannot see which products lose money.
Cost of goods higher than selling price cog_above_price Critical cog None You lose money on every unit sold.
Margin below your minimum threshold margin_below_threshold High cog None The product sells below the margin floor you set with the min_margin_percent threshold.

Catalog Health Scanner Purchasability category tab listing products that cannot be bought

Checks that run once per catalog #

Most checks look at one product at a time. Nine of them cannot: duplicates, orphans, and outliers only exist in relation to the rest of the catalog, so they run as a single cross-product pass at the end of a scan. That is why they appear all at once rather than gradually as the progress bar moves, and why their score is measured against the whole product count rather than a per-check counter.

Check ID Category What the pass compares
sku_duplicate Inventory Every SKU on products and variations, looking for exact repeats.
sku_near_duplicate Inventory The same SKUs after lowercasing and trimming, looking for near matches.
shipping_class_deleted Shipping Term relationships with no surviving term row.
tax_class_inconsistent Tax Tax classes within each product category of 10 or more products.
image_reused_across_products Media Featured image IDs shared by several published products.
orphaned_variation Structure Variations whose parent product is gone or trashed.
title_duplicate Content Published product titles after lowercasing and trimming.
description_duplicate Content Normalized description text, hashed and compared.
price_outside_median Pricing Each price against the median of every category it belongs to.

Which products a check runs on #

A scan enumerates published products of the product post type. Within a scan, individual checks narrow further:

  • Product type tests. no_price and price_zero only run on simple and external products, variable_no_purchasable only on variable products, grouped_no_children only on grouped products, and so on. A product type the check does not name is skipped by that check and is not counted in its denominator.
  • Store configuration tests. shipping_class_missing only runs when shipping classes exist, brand_missing only when a brand taxonomy is registered, category_not_in_menu only when product categories appear in a navigation menu, and margin_below_threshold only when you have set a minimum margin above zero.
  • Data-in-use tests. condition_missing, google_category_missing, and faq_missing only run once at least one product in the catalog already carries that data, so an empty field is never treated as a store-wide failure.

Custom product types from other plugins (subscriptions, bookings, bundles, and similar) are scanned by every check that does not name a product type, and skipped by the ones that do. Nothing is reported against them by a check that was never designed for them.

Catalog Health Scanner Content category tab showing issue groups and affected product counts

Turning checks on and off #

Every check in this library has a tick box under Settings > Individual checks. Unticking one removes it from every scan and from the score everywhere. The check IDs above are the values stored in the wpfchs_disabled_checks option and used by the wpfchs_checks filter, so they are also what you reference in code. See the settings reference and the developer reference.

To silence a check on one product rather than everywhere, use Ignore on the issue instead. Ignored issues count as passing and stay reviewable. See Ignore false positives.

Related reading #

Need help? #

If a check flags something you believe is correct, or you want a check that is not in this library, contact Catalog Health Scanner support with the check ID and an example product ID.