usf.edu

We performed a comprehensive analysis of usf.edu on 2026-06-29. The website returned an HTTP 200 status code with a server response time of 13683ms. The page is served over HTTP/1.1 protocol, however no compression (Gzip or Brotli) is enabled, which means the page is transferred at its full uncompressed size. The total page weight is 134 KB. The website uses a secure HTTPS connection with a valid SSL certificate issued by InCommon, LLC (DV type). The connection is encrypted using TLS 1.2 with the ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 cipher suite and sha256WithRSAEncryption signature algorithm. The certificate covers 2 domain(s) (Subject Alternative Names) and expires on 2026-12-17, which is 171 days from now. The security headers analysis reveals a score of 0/100 (poor). No security headers are configured, which is a significant security concern. However, the site is missing Content-Security-Policy, Strict-Transport-Security (HSTS), X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options, Referrer-Policy, and Permissions-Policy, which could expose the site and its users to cross-site scripting (XSS), clickjacking, and other web-based attacks. Our technology detection scan identified 5 technologies across 5 categories powering usf.edu. The detected stack includes Google Tag Manager, Google Fonts, YouTube Embed, jQuery, and Font Awesome. Based on our comprehensive analysis of domain age, SSL configuration, email authentication, security headers, and blacklist status, usf.edu receives an overall trust score of 68/100, classified as "Likely Safe".

After conducting a thorough safety and legitimacy analysis, usf.edu receives a trust score of 68/100, which places it in the "Likely Safe" category. This score is calculated by evaluating multiple factors including SSL certificate validity, domain registration history, email authentication protocols, security header configuration, and blacklist status across major threat intelligence databases. The analysis identified several positive trust signals: a valid HTTPS connection protecting data in transit, a valid SSL certificate issued by InCommon, LLC with 171 days until expiration, SPF (Sender Policy Framework) email authentication preventing email spoofing, and DMARC email authentication with a reject policy — the strongest available setting. Areas of concern include: the absence of a Content-Security-Policy header, which leaves the site more vulnerable to cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks, no X-Frame-Options header, which could allow the site to be embedded in malicious iframes (clickjacking), missing Referrer-Policy, potentially leaking URL information to third parties, the domain's WHOIS information is hidden behind a privacy service, making it harder to verify the owner's identity, and DNSSEC is not enabled, leaving DNS queries vulnerable to spoofing attacks. While these issues don't necessarily indicate malicious intent, they represent areas where the website's security posture could be improved. We checked usf.edu against 8 major blacklist databases including Google Safe Browsing, Phishtank, Urlhaus, Openphish, Dnsfilter, Spamhaus Dbl, Surbl, and Virustotal. The domain passed all 8 checks with a clean status, meaning it has not been flagged for phishing, malware distribution, spam, or other malicious activities by any of the tested threat intelligence providers.

Our technology detection engine scanned usf.edu and identified 5 distinct technologies across 5 categories. This analysis is performed by examining HTTP response headers, HTML source code patterns, JavaScript library fingerprints, CSS framework signatures, and DNS records. Tag Manager: Google Tag Manager — manages marketing and analytics tags without code changes for usf.edu. Fonts: Google Fonts — delivers web fonts for typography for usf.edu. Video: YouTube Embed — provides video hosting and playback for usf.edu. JavaScript Library: jQuery — provides utility functions and DOM manipulation for usf.edu. Icon Set: Font Awesome — provides additional functionality for usf.edu. We also extracted the following tracking identifiers: Google Tag Manager container GTM-5P4W3C4. These IDs can be used to identify other websites operated by the same organization.

usf.edu delivers its homepage in 13683ms (server response time), which is considered slow by industry standards. The total page weight is 134 KB, and we detected 255 resource requests loading assets from 17 third-party domains. A high number of third-party domains can significantly impact page load time due to additional DNS lookups and TLS handshakes required for each domain. No compression is currently enabled on usf.edu. Enabling Brotli or Gzip compression could reduce page size by 60-80% for text-based assets (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), significantly improving load times and reducing bandwidth costs. This is one of the simplest and most impactful performance optimizations available. Asset minification status: 0 out of 5 CSS files and 1 out of 5 JavaScript files are minified. Minifying the remaining 9 unminified file(s) could further reduce page weight by 10-30% for those assets. Minification is a best practice that reduces download sizes without affecting functionality. From an environmental perspective, each page view of usf.edu produces approximately 0.07g of CO₂, earning a carbon rating of A. This places the website among the cleanest on the web, demonstrating efficient use of server resources and optimized content delivery. For reference, the average web page produces about 0.5g of CO₂ per page view. The page weight of 134 KB is the primary factor in this calculation. Core Web Vitals data from the Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX) is not available for usf.edu. This typically means the site doesn't have enough real-world Chrome user traffic to generate statistically significant field data, or the domain is not included in the CrUX dataset. Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS) are important Google ranking factors that measure real user experience.

usf.edu resolves to the IPv4 address 131.247.100.1, but does not support IPv6. IPv6 adoption is increasingly important as IPv4 address space becomes exhausted, and some ISPs and regions are transitioning to IPv6-only connectivity. The domain has 3 A record(s) configured. The domain name system is managed by 3 name servers: azure-dr-bns1.usf.edu, mother.usf.edu, and ziggy.usf.edu. Having 3 name servers provides good redundancy — if one fails, the others can continue serving DNS queries. The choice of name servers often indicates the DNS hosting provider or CDN service being used. Email for usf.edu is handled by Microsoft 365 with 1 MX records configured: usf-edu.mail.protection.outlook.com. Multiple MX records provide failover redundancy — if the primary mail server is unavailable, email will be routed to the next available server. SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is configured, which specifies which mail servers are authorized to send email on behalf of this domain. This helps prevent email spoofing and improves email deliverability. DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) is configured with a reject policy — the strongest setting, instructing receiving servers to reject unauthorized emails entirely. DKIM was not detected. Without DKIM, recipients cannot cryptographically verify that emails claiming to be from this domain are authentic. DNSSEC is not enabled for usf.edu. While not critical for most websites, DNSSEC adds an important security layer by ensuring DNS responses haven't been tampered with during transit. Enabling DNSSEC is recommended for domains handling sensitive data or financial transactions.

The homepage of usf.edu contains 783 words of visible text content. This is a moderate amount of content. The page is structured with 11 H2 headings, 19 H3 headings, 0 H4 headings. The page includes 17 images. All images have proper alt text attributes ✓, which is excellent for both accessibility (screen readers) and SEO (search engines can understand image content). The link structure consists of 159 internal links pointing to other pages on the same domain and 61 external links pointing to third-party websites. The high number of internal links suggests a well-interconnected site structure, which helps search engines discover and crawl all pages efficiently. There are 5 external JavaScript files, 5 CSS stylesheets, and 3 iframes on the page. The site implements the following web standards and features: robots.txt (controls search engine crawling behavior). Notable missing features: XML Sitemap and Schema.org structured data. Adding these could improve search engine discoverability and rich result eligibility. We detected the following payment methods accepted on usf.edu: Discover. Offering multiple payment options including credit cards and digital wallets improves customer trust and can increase conversion rates. The website has social media presence across 3 platforms: Facebook (@USouthFlorida), Twitter (@USouthFlorida), and Instagram (@embed.js). An active social media presence is a positive trust indicator and helps build brand awareness and customer engagement.

The title tag for usf.edu is too long at 88 characters: "Welcome to the University of South Florida | Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota-Man...". At 88 characters, the title will likely be truncated in Google search results (recommended: 50-60 characters). Consider shortening it while keeping the most important keywords at the beginning. No meta description is configured for usf.edu. This is a critical SEO oversight — without a meta description, Google will auto-generate a snippet from page content, which may not accurately represent the page or entice users to click. Adding a unique, compelling meta description of 120-155 characters is strongly recommended. The canonical url is correctly set to https://www.usf.edu, preventing duplicate content issues and the page language is declared as en. No Open Graph tags are configured. When someone shares a link to usf.edu on social media, the platform will have to guess the title, description, and image — often producing unattractive or inaccurate previews. Adding OG tags is essential for social media marketing.