Scan a site

thejournal.ie looks like a blog or news site, is ranked in the top 10,000 sites and was registered in 2010. It is built with Firebase, Sign in with Google and PHP; we found no traces of an AI site builder.

Popularity

Website Traffic Checker

Among the top 10K sites.

A popularity band, not a visit count.

Tranco: #11,660 · Chrome UX Report: Top 10,000 · Majestic Million: #5,123

Each list, with its date
SourceSaysAs of
TrancoA research ranking that combines several traffic and link sources, published daily.#11,660list of 7 Oct 2026
Chrome UX ReportRank buckets from Google’s real Chrome traffic, published monthly.Top 10,000Aug 2026
Majestic MillionRanks sites by how many separate networks link to them (links, not visits), published daily. CC BY 3.0#5,123list of 8 Oct 2026

Technology

Tech Stack Checker

Built with jQuery, Lottie and Firebase and 2 more.

  • jQueryJavaScript libraryShow evidenceHide evidence
    Evidence · page source, line 607
    <script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7.2/jquery.min.js">
    Popular sites using jQuery Is this wrong? Report it
  • LottieJavaScript libraryShow evidenceHide evidence
    Evidence · page source, line 619
    <script src="https://unpkg.com/@dotlottie/player-component@latest/dist/dotlottie-player.mjs">
    Popular sites using Lottie Is this wrong? Report it
  • FirebaseBackendShow evidenceHide evidence
    Evidence · page source, line 633
    <script src="https://www.gstatic.com/firebasejs/9.13.0/firebase-app-compat.js">
    Popular sites using Firebase Is this wrong? Report it
  • Sign in with GoogleBackendShow evidenceHide evidence
    Evidence · page source, line 637
    <script src="https://accounts.google.com/gsi/client">
    Popular sites using Sign in with Google Is this wrong? Report it
  • PHPLanguageShow evidenceHide evidence
    Evidence · response header
    x-powered-by: PHP/7.1.33-81+0~20261022.128+ubuntu22.04~1.gbpa88ccf
    Popular sites using PHP Is this wrong? Report it
Everything else it uses (19)

Around it: CDN, Security, DNS, Email and more.

Business tools can stay listed after a site stops using them.

Trust signals

Website Trust Checker

5 of 7 trust signals found on the home page.

Signals, not a judgement: missing details are common on small, honest sites.

  • Domain registered25 Apr 2010, 16 years agoNoted
  • HTTPSLoads over HTTPS with a valid certificateFound
  • Contact detailsEmail and phone on the home pageFound
    Show evidence (2)Hide evidence
    Exhibit 1 · page source, line 4344Masked for privacy. An email address or phone number can belong to a person, and data protection law, such as the EU’s GDPR, asks us to keep only what we need: that the page lists one, and where.
    64•••30, Lo-Call 18•• ••• •80 or email: mailto:i•••@presscouncil.ie
    Exhibit 2 · page source, line 4344Masked for privacy. An email address or phone number can belong to a person, and data protection law, such as the EU’s GDPR, asks us to keep only what we need: that the page lists one, and where.
    the Council, at https://www.presscouncil.ie, PH: (01) •••••30, Lo-Call 18•• ••• •80 or email:
    Is this wrong? Report it
  • Privacy policyLinked from the home page, and the page opensFound
  • TermsLinked from the home page, and the page opensFound
  • Security filterNot blocked by Cloudflare’s security filter and Quad9’s security filterNoted
Every signal we looked at

On the site

  • Contact pageLinked from the home page, and the page opensFound
  • About pageLinked from the home page, and the page opensFound
  • Privacy policyLinked from the home page, and the page opensFound
  • TermsLinked from the home page, and the page opensFound
  • Refund or returns policyNo link found on the home pageNot found
  • Contact detailsEmail and phone on the home pageFound
    Show evidence (2)Hide evidence
    Exhibit 1 · page source, line 4344Masked for privacy. An email address or phone number can belong to a person, and data protection law, such as the EU’s GDPR, asks us to keep only what we need: that the page lists one, and where.
    64•••30, Lo-Call 18•• ••• •80 or email: mailto:i•••@presscouncil.ie
    Exhibit 2 · page source, line 4344Masked for privacy. An email address or phone number can belong to a person, and data protection law, such as the EU’s GDPR, asks us to keep only what we need: that the page lists one, and where.
    the Council, at https://www.presscouncil.ie, PH: (01) •••••30, Lo-Call 18•• ••• •80 or email:
    Is this wrong? Report it
  • Company detailsNo company name or address foundNot found
  • Payment providersNone on the home pageNoted
  • Trackers3 analytics and advertising tools: Google Analytics, Hotjar, Google Ad ManagerNoted

Behind the site

  • Security filterNot blocked by Cloudflare’s security filter and Quad9’s security filterNotedCloudflare’s security filter and Quad9’s security filter
  • Domain registered25 Apr 2010, 16 years agoNotedWHOIS (whois.weare.ie)
  • HTTPSLoads over HTTPS with a valid certificateFound
  • Protective settingsNone in placeNot found
  • Email protectionProtected against forged emailFoundDNS records

A second opinion on its security setup: Mozilla’s HTTP Observatory grades the site when you open it. Ten checks before you buy · A signal looks wrong? Report it

What it is

Website Summary

Looks like: Blog or news site.

In its own wordsThe JournalRead, share and shape the news on TheJournal.ie - Breaking Irish and International News

Our reading of the page, high confidence.

Show evidence (3)Hide evidence
Exhibit 1 · Wikidata
Q7711643: TheJournal.ie, newspaper
Exhibit 2 · page source, line 605
<link rel="alternate" href="/feed/">
Exhibit 3 · its own title or description
The Journal · TheJournal.ie · Read, share and shape the news on TheJournal.ie - Breaking Irish and International News
Is this wrong? Report it

Who is behind it

  • copyright lineJournal Media Ltd
  • WikidataTheJournal.ie

Wikidata: Based in Ireland.

Its X account is the one Wikidata lists.

Show evidence (2)Hide evidence
Exhibit 1 · page source, line 4298
© 2026 Journal Media Ltd
Exhibit 2 · Wikidata
Q7711643: TheJournal.ie
Is this wrong? Report it

Each name is quoted from its source. A brand and the company that owns it often go by different names.

More about it: Wikidata, profiles, AI use, page facts

In Wikidata

  • TheJournal.ie: Irish Online News Publication · website, newspaper, fact-checking organisation

Wikidata, the free knowledge base behind Wikipedia, lists this domain as the official website of this item. Volunteers write it; each item shows its sources.

Find them on

The profiles its home page links. We haven’t checked who runs them.

AI use

  • AI training: asks GPTBot to stay away.
  • AI assistants: asks ChatGPT-User to stay away.
Show evidence (2)Hide evidence
Exhibit 1 · robots.txt, line 33
User-agent: GPTBot · Disallow: /
Exhibit 2 · robots.txt, line 31
User-agent: ChatGPT-User · Disallow: /
Is this wrong? Report it

What its robots.txt and robots tags ask of AI crawlers. Each crawler chooses whether to follow it.

Site name
TheJournal.ie
Language
English (en)
What it tells search engines
None

Read from what the page says about itself; we haven’t checked whether it’s true.

Built with AI?

AI Website Detector

No AI builder traces found.

Coding tools such as Cursor leave no traces, so this doesn’t mean a person made it.

AI traces: None found

How we know

AI site builders leave traces in the sites they make. We look for the traces of 53 of them and show every match with the line it came from, so you can check it yourself.

We test this on 2,312 sites whose makers we know, and publish what we get wrong.

How we test it · Every builder we know · How to tell if a site was built with AI

Score breakdown

Site Score

93 of 100: strong trust signals.

How established and checkable it is; AI traces carry no weight.

93OF 100
TransparencyContact, policies and about page30 / 30
Track recordHow long the domain has existed25 / 25
PopularityIts place in public rankings20 / 20
Security and setupHTTPS and standard protections11 / 15
ConsistencyName, description and what it tells search engines7 / 10
Why each part scored what it did
TransparencyContact, policies and about page30 / 30contact page linked · email and phone given · privacy policy linked · terms linked · no payments seen, so no refund policy needed · about page linked
Track recordHow long the domain has existed25 / 25domain registered 16 years ago
PopularityIts place in public rankings20 / 20Top 10K in a popularity list
Security and setupHTTPS and standard protections11 / 15loads over HTTPS · sends visitors to HTTPS · doesn’t insist on HTTPS · no protective settings
ConsistencyName, description and what it tells search engines7 / 10site name matches the domain · describes itself · doesn’t tell search engines what it is

A high score isn’t a promise that a business is honest. How the score works.

Domain history

Domain History

Registered in 2010; first archived in 2010.

  1. Domain registeredWHOIS (whois.weare.ie)
  2. First captured by the web archiveInternet Archive
  3. This scanCheckAnySite

In the web archive: captured in 17 of 17 years · see the first capture

  1. 2010: captured
  2. 2011: captured
  3. 2012: captured
  4. 2013: captured
  5. 2014: captured
  6. 2015: captured
  7. 2016: captured
  8. 2017: captured
  9. 2018: captured
  10. 2019: captured
  11. 2020: captured
  12. 2021: captured
  13. 2022: captured
  14. 2023: captured
  15. 2024: captured
  16. 2025: captured
  17. 2026: captured
Changes, earlier scans and alerts
Since our previous scan
This is our first scan of the site.

How we scanned it

Only from what anyone can see: the site’s public pages and public records.

  • Politely. Our scanner, CheckAnySiteBot, says who it is and follows the site’s robots.txt.
  • With sources. Every fact above says where it came from and when.
  • Without guessing. When we couldn’t check something, we say so.
This scan, in numbers

929 checks on 26 Oct 2026, with version 0.5.0 of our checks and version 1.1 of the score.

How we work · What each version changed · About our scanner

Quick look

Built with AI?

None foundWe found no AI builder traces.

“None found” never means “made by a person”: coding assistants leave no traces.

All the evidence →

Related

Quick look

How popular is it?

Top 10KBy the best of 3 public lists.

  • Tranco#11,660list of 7 Oct 2026
  • Chrome UX ReportTop 10,000Aug 2026
  • Majestic Million#5,123list of 8 Oct 2026

A popularity band, never a visit count.

The popularity section →

Related

Quick look

What is it built with?

JavaScript library
jQuery, Lottie
Backend
Firebase, Sign in with Google
Language
PHP

And 19 more around it (CDN, Security, DNS, Email), in the section.

Each with its evidence →

Related

Quick look

Which trust signals does it show?

On the site

  • Contact pageFound
  • About pageFound
  • Privacy policyFound
  • TermsFound
  • Refund or returns policyNot found
  • Contact detailsFound
  • Company detailsNot found
  • Payment providersNoted
  • TrackersNoted

Behind the site

  • Security filterNoted
  • Domain registeredNoted
  • HTTPSFound
  • Security headersNot found
  • Software versionsNoted
  • NetworkNoted
  • Email setupFound
  • First certificateCouldn’t check
  • DNSSECNot found
  • Certificate authoritiesNot found
  • Security contactNot found

Signals, not a judgement: missing details are common on small, honest sites.

Every signal with its source →

Related

How has it changed? →
Quick look

How does it add up?

93OF 100

Strong trust signals. An open formula (v1.1): every point comes from a finding above. AI traces carry no weight.

TransparencyContact, policies and about page30 / 30
Track recordHow long the domain has existed25 / 25
PopularityIts place in public rankings20 / 20
Security and setupHTTPS and standard protections11 / 15
ConsistencyName, description and what it tells search engines7 / 10
Why each part scored what it did →

Related

Questions about thejournal.ie

What is thejournal.ie?

thejournal.ie describes itself: “Read, share and shape the news on TheJournal.ie - Breaking Irish and International News” It looks like a blog or news site. See the evidence

How old is thejournal.ie?

Its domain was registered on 25 Apr 2010, 16 years ago. See the evidence

What is thejournal.ie built with?

It is built with Firebase, Sign in with Google and PHP; we found 24 technologies in all. See the evidence

How popular is thejournal.ie?

It is among the top 10,000 sites, by Tranco, Chrome UX Report and Majestic Million. See the evidence

Was thejournal.ie made with AI?

We found no traces of an AI site builder. That doesn’t prove a person built it: AI coding assistants leave no traces. See the evidence

Who is behind thejournal.ie?

Its copyright line names Journal Media Ltd. See the evidence

More sites like this: blog or news site

Automated findings from the site’s public home page and public records, as of 26 Oct 2026. They describe what we found, not the people or business behind the site, and they may be incomplete or out of date. This is information, not advice. Terms · Report an error

What this scan can’t tell you
  • Whether the business is real, honest or delivers what it sells.
  • Whether a site was made with AI when no traces were left: coding assistants and hand edits leave none.
  • How many people visit: we show popularity bands from public lists, not visits.
  • Anything beyond the home page as it was at the time of the scan.

Is this your site? Ask for a correction.

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The result describes what we found on 26 Oct 2026, with evidence.

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One scan answers everything: AI traces, popularity, technology, trust signals, how the site describes itself, a score and its history. A quick check only decides which answer comes first. We read public pages as CheckAnySiteBot and follow robots.txt.