Technical fix guide
Web App Manifest Missing
No web app manifest (<link rel="manifest">) found. If your site functions as a web app, a manifest enables install prompts and PWA features.
Issue ID: TECH-MANIFEST-001
Severity: advisory
Impact: Low
Effort: S
Use this article when
- You need deeper remediation guidance than the issue card can show.
- You want CMS-specific steps before handing the fix to a developer.
- You want a repeatable re-check path after shipping the change.
What this issue is
No web app manifest (<link rel="manifest">) found. If your site functions as a web app, a manifest enables install prompts and PWA features.
Why it matters
No web app manifest (<link rel="manifest">) found. If your site functions as a web app, a manifest enables install prompts and PWA features. This affects crawlability, rendering, and whether the site can be interpreted correctly by search engines.
How we detect it
- FreeSiteAudit flags this issue when the rule for TECH-MANIFEST-001 fails and the page evidence points to Head metadata.
- You can usually confirm this by checking the page source or the relevant page settings inside your CMS.
Evidence examples
Check the affected page source, rendered output, or relevant CMS setting to confirm the missing or incorrect element.
How to fix it
- 1Create a manifest.json with name, icons, start_url, and display properties
- 2Add <link rel="manifest" href="/manifest.json"> to your <head>
- 3Test with Lighthouse PWA audit
How to re-check it
- Confirm <link rel="manifest"> is in the page source
Related tools
This issue is best verified with the full FreeSiteAudit crawl rather than a single-point mini tool.