Occasionally, Brand DNA extraction fails or returns incomplete results. This is usually because the scraper could not access enough content from your website. Here are the common causes and step-by-step fixes for each.
Common failure reasons
- Site behind authentication: Mani can only scan publicly accessible pages. If your site requires a login, the scraper cannot access your content. Fix: use a public-facing URL instead, such as a landing page, marketing site, or product page that does not require authentication.
- JavaScript-rendered content: If your site loads content entirely via client-side JavaScript (single-page apps built with React, Vue, or Angular without server-side rendering), the scraper may see an empty page. Fix: try a specific product page URL that has server-rendered content, or use your marketing site URL if your app and marketing site are separate.
- Very minimal site: A single-page site with fewer than 200 words of text may not provide enough content for all six extractors to produce meaningful results. Fix: you will need to supplement the extraction with manual edits for fields that came back generic.
- Rate-limited or blocked: Some hosting providers (especially Shopify's bot protection and Cloudflare's aggressive security settings) block automated requests. Fix: if extraction fails repeatedly with a timeout or access error, your host may be blocking Mani's scraper. Contact support@maniai.com for a manual extraction.
- Timeout: Very large or slow-loading sites may exceed the 60-second scrape timeout. Fix: try using a specific product page URL instead of your homepage. Product pages are typically smaller and load faster.
Manual fallback
If extraction fails entirely, you can build your Brand DNA manually. Click "Create Brand DNA manually" on your dashboard and fill in each field: tone (3-5 adjectives), audience (specific description), palette (5 hex codes from your brand guide), products (name, description, price for each), keywords (10-20 brand-relevant terms), and visual style (describe your preferred aesthetic).
Getting help
If extraction fails for a site that should work (publicly accessible, has substantial content, no unusual bot blocking), email support@maniai.com with your URL. We investigate every extraction failure within 24 hours and often add site-specific handling to prevent the same issue for future users.