How it works

Three steps from asking to reading your report, and what happens after.

Tell us your domain

Use the form on our home page. It writes the email for you. All we need is your main domain, like yourbusiness.com.au, and a name to reply to.

Go to the form
Add one DNS record

We'll reply with one record to add to your domain's DNS. It looks like this:
```
Name:   _perimeter.yourbusiness.com.au
Type:   TXT
Value:  perimeter-verify=<the code we send you>
```
It only shows that you control the domain. It doesn't change how your website or email works. Whoever looks after your domain, often your web designer or IT provider, can add it for you.
Read your report

We run the check and set up your account. You sign in at app.seenfromoutside.com with a one-time code we email you, then read your report online or download it.

Watching, if you'd like it

We can check your domain once a day and email you when something changes: a significant new problem turns up, one gets worse or better, or one is fixed. We'll also tell you if your domain or its www address stops or starts pointing to a server, or moves to a well-known host such as Shopify, Wix or Cloudflare.

Your first report is the starting point: each check is compared with the one before, so you only hear about changes. Just ask in your note. If watching ever costs money, we'll tell you the price first.

Set up once, left to run

Plenty of small-business websites were set up once, by a web designer, a host or a mate who's handy with computers, and then left to run. Since then, providers may have changed things, and certificates have been renewed, or haven't.

None of that shows from your desk. Much of it shows from outside, and that's what we look at.

Questions

Will it slow down or break my site?

Very unlikely. A check makes at most 12 ordinary requests for your home page, about what a few visitors make, plus up to 12 connections to read your certificate and see which versions it accepts.

Is this a hacking test?

No. It doesn't try to break in or look for bugs in your software. It reports how your website and email domain are set up, as anyone can see them.

It isn't a penetration test or a vulnerability scan.

Does a high score mean I'm all good?

It means the checks we ran found little or nothing to fix. That's worth knowing.

But no check from outside can promise a site is secure.

Why do I have to add a DNS record?

So we only ever check domains whose owners asked us to.

I'm not technical. Will I understand the report?

That's who it's written for. Each problem says who fixes it, so you can pass that part straight on.

What does it cost?

Your first report is free during early access. All we ask is your feedback. If you'd like us to keep watching later, we'll tell you the price before anything costs you a cent.

What do you keep about me?

Your email address and name, the domains you ask about and their reports, and the sign-in and server records the service needs. The privacy notice lists it all, and how long each is kept.

Who runs Seen From Outside?

An Australian service. Checks come from one server in Sydney.

For web designers and IT providers

The report is written so an owner can read it and their provider can act on it: plain English first, then the technical detail for each problem. If you'd like to use it for your clients' domains, get in touch. Each domain still needs its owner's go-ahead, normally a DNS record, before any check runs.

Run a website and saw our requests in your logs? About our checks says exactly what a check does and never does.