Guides

Triage findings

A scan can surface dozens of findings. Triage is how you turn that list into a short, ordered set of actions — and keep the noise down on every rescan after.

Prioritize by severity and page type

Two dimensions decide what to fix first: severity and the page type the finding sits on. A high-severity tracker on an intake_form or appointment page is your top priority — it is exactly the pattern behind the 2022–2023 OCR and FTC actions. A low-severity header gap on a marketing page can wait.

A practical order: critical findings anywhere → high findings on patient-facing pages → remaining high findings → medium → low → info.

The status workflow

StatusMeaning
openDefault for a new finding. It counts against your score until you act.
acknowledgedYou've seen it and plan to address it, or accept the risk for now. Keeps it visible without treating it as ignored.
resolvedYou believe it's fixed. The next scan confirms — if the indicator is gone it stays resolved; if it reappears you get a new alert.
false_positiveThe finding doesn't apply (e.g. a 'tracker' that's actually first-party). Suppresses it and tunes future scans.

Move findings through the workflow in the console, or via POST /v1/sites/{id}/findings/{finding_id}/ack. On teams, assign findings to an owner and leave comments so the trail is auditable.

False positives are trust-critical

Marking a false positive isn’t just hiding a row — it teaches Sift Health to stop re-flagging that pattern on your site. Use it deliberately. If a real change later reintroduces genuine risk, the scanner can still surface a distinct new finding.