Rules

A rule is one thing WP Moo looks for in a page's answer, like a database error or a page that got too big. Rules come in four rule sets. Every page check runs the sets that are on for that page, all on the same request, so they cost no extra requests and nothing to set up. A few pages start with a set off: the checkout skips Search engines, and the login page and sitemap skip Search engines and Speed & size, because they stay out of search results and are small on purpose.

The four rule sets

WordPress failure signatures (WordPress errors on Checks & pages): the error screens WordPress and PHP show when something broke, such as a database error, a critical error or a blank page.
Hosting & error pages (Hosting errors on Checks & pages): the error, default and suspended pages your host, Cloudflare, the web server or a proxy shows instead of your site, and a certificate browsers warn about.
Speed & size: limits on how long the server takes to answer, how long the page takes to load, how big or how small it is, and how many redirects it takes.
Search engines: whether Google may list the page, compared with what the page's Search engines setting expects.

What happens when a rule fails

Each failing rule shows as a problem with a priority. What it does to the page depends on the set:

WordPress failure signatures and Hosting & error pages find Urgent problems. An Urgent problem makes the check fail, just like a page that doesn't answer, so the page goes Offline once a second check confirms it. PHP warnings are the exception: they are Important and the page stays online.
Speed & size finds Important problems and makes the page Slower. It still counts as online.
Search engines finds Important and Notice problems. They don't change the page's status; the problem shows until it's fixed.

What each priority means: Problem priority.

Switching a rule set off

Open a page from the site overview. Under Rules, every set has a switch. Switch a set off and WP Moo stops judging it for that page, then checks the page again soon so its status follows. The other pages keep the set.

Only switch a set off when it keeps reporting something you've accepted, like a gallery page that is meant to be big. You can also set Search engines to Don't check for a page in Checks & pages.

Checker blocked is not a rule set

Every check also looks at whether a firewall or security plugin turned our checker away. That check can't be switched off. When it happens we can't see the page, so its rules can't be judged and the page shows Checker blocked instead of Offline. See Checker blocked.

For your developer

All rules judge the facts of the page's single GET request: the response body, status, timings, size, redirect count, the TLS certificate and robots directives. Body rules are regular expressions on the first 512 KB of the decoded body. Time to first byte and total time are judged on the median of the page's runs over a window that grows as the site priority drops (5 minutes for Critical, 30 for Low), so one slow run doesn't count, unless the page's interval is as long as the window or longer: then a single run can.

A run is blocked when a known block page (Cloudflare, including its access denied codes such as 1020, Wordfence, Imunify360, Sucuri) answers with an error status, or Cloudflare or SiteGround sends its challenge header, whatever the rules found. A 429, or a 401 or 403 that mentions a bot check, is a block too, unless the same answer shows an Urgent failure page: then it counts as a failure.

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