Last updated: September 2026
Global rank: Worldwide · 2026-09
#128,869
AI visibility: Grade A
85
SEO health: Latest audit
67
Visits
45.9K
per month, estimated
Keywords
4.8K
ranking in Google
Organic share
100%
45.9K organic visits
LLMS.txt
Published
152 lines AI engines can read
You're seeing the free preview of mercedsunstar.com
mercedsunstar.com Company Profile
The Merced Sun-Star stands as a cornerstone of local journalism in California's Central Valley, delivering daily coverage of breaking news, community stories, and regional happenings since its early days. From city council meetings to high school sports triumphs, their reporters dig into the details that matter most to residents, offering in-depth features alongside quick-hit updates. They blend traditional print roo…
Founded in 1869 (about 157 years ago), Merced Sun-Star is based in Merced, USA. Its workforce is listed as between 11 and 50 employees. Its profile files it under Local News, with further tags for Media & Publishing, Journalism and Digital Media. Products on record for it: Digital Subscription, Print Newspaper and E-Edition. Its tagline reads: "Central California's trusted source for local news, sports, and community updates".
- Sector
- Local News
- Headquarters
- Merced, USA
- Founded
- 1869
- Employees
- 11-50
- Revenue
- Not Disclosed
- Funding
- Not Disclosed
- Products
- Digital Subscription, Print Newspaper, E-Edition
mercedsunstar.com Web Traffic Statistics
Key findings
- Merced Sun-Star (Local News) is ranked #128,869 worldwide in our September 2026 domain ranking, up 4,416 places from #133,285 in August 2026.
- It is estimated to receive about 45,900 visits a month from search, 100% of it organic, across 4,765 ranking keywords.
- Its AI visibility score is 85 out of 100 (grade A), with a published llms.txt of 152 lines.
- Its last technical audit scored 67/100, with "Implement H1 Tags" the highest-priority fix.
| Month | Rank | Move |
|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | #128,869 | ▲ 4,416 |
| August 2026 | #133,285 | ▼ 4,996 |
| July 2026 | #128,289 | ▲ 10,295 |
| June 2026 | #138,584 | — |
| May 2026 | #138,584 | ▲ 9,157 |
| April 2026 | #147,741 | ▼ 3,806 |
| March 2026 | #143,935 | ▼ 9,974 |
| February 2026 | #133,961 | — |
What this company does
The Merced Sun-Star stands as a cornerstone of local journalism in California's Central Valley, delivering daily coverage of breaking news, community stories, and regional happenings since its early days. From city council meetings to high school sports triumphs, their reporters dig into the details that matter most to residents, offering in-depth features alongside quick-hit updates. They blend traditional print roo…
Our read on the site
The overall SEO health of mercedsunstar.com is moderate, with a strong SEO score of 92 but significant performance issues reflected in a low score of 40. Key areas for improvement include on-page elements such as missing H1 tags and the lack of a robots.txt and sitemap, which are critical for search engine indexing.
mercedsunstar.com Traffic and Visitor Engagement
Search engines send mercedsunstar.com an estimated 45,900 visits a month. Effectively all of it is organic — about 45,900 visits from unpaid results. Spread across 4,765 ranking keywords, that averages roughly 9.6 organic visits per keyword.
Monthly visits
45.9K
Latest estimate
Change
No monthly history yet
It starts building from the first scan
Organic visits
45.9K
100% of all traffic
Paid visits
0
No paid search detected
Organic vs paid
100%
0%
We don't hold a month-by-month history for this domain yet.
The traffic dashboard builds one from the first scan onwards.
mercedsunstar.com AI Visibility
mercedsunstar.com scores 85 out of 100 on our AI visibility scale, grade A. It takes full marks for LLMS.txt and Structured data. The biggest gap is Crawlability, at 0 of 10 points (robots ✗ · sitemap ✗), worth 10 points if closed. It also loses points on Company profile (22/25) and SEO health (18/20).
Grade A
Scored from this domain's own data — llms.txt, profile completeness, technical health, crawlability and structured data.
Present
7/8 core fields
92/100
robots ✗ · sitemap ✗
Detected
Fix these first
- → Complete your company profile so AI answers about you stay accurate.
- → Add robots.txt and sitemap.xml so AI crawlers can read you.
mercedsunstar.com LLMS.txt
The llms.txt on mercedsunstar.com runs to 152 lines (8,009 characters) across 12 sections, last generated in May 2026. It introduces the site as "Merced Sun-Star". It tells AI engines the business works in Local Journalism, News Publishing, Digital Media and Community Engagement. It describes 4 products, with prices such as Digital Access Pass at $9.99/month, E-Paper Replica at $4.99/month and Premium Archives at $19.99/year. Services it lists include Local Advertising, Event Promotion, Custom Content and Obituary Services. The audience it names is Families, local professionals, retirees, aged 25-65 (Merced County, Central California). Technologies it mentions include HTTPS, Viewport Meta and Content Management System. The keywords it claims start with "Merced news", "Central California news", "local crime news" and "Merced sports".
Status
Published
AI engines can read it
Lines
152
In the file
Size
8.0K
Characters
Sections
12
Updated May 2, 2026
What the file says
# Merced Sun-Star ## About Merced Sun-Star has been the go-to newspaper for folks in Merced and the surrounding Central Valley for over 150 years, churning out stories that hit close to home. They cover the full spectrum: from urgent crime updates and school board squabbles to heartwarming profiles of local volunteers and recaps of weekend games. Print editions land on doorsteps while the website buzzes around the clock with fresh posts, photos, and videos. Readers rely on them for weather that actually matters to farmers, event listings for family outings, and political scoops on what's brewing in Sacramento that affects Merced wallets. The team knows every backroad and name in town, turning raw info into narratives that spark conversations at diners and barbecues. Digital tools let subscribers dive into archives or get alerts on their phones. Advertising slots connect local shops with shoppers who trust the brand. Despite industry headwinds, they've pivoted smartly, mixing free content with premium perks. Community sections celebrate arts, health fairs, and youth achievements, fostering that small-town feel even as the area grows. Their watchdog role shines in exposés on water rights or traffic woes. Subscriptions keep the lights on, but goodwill from unbiased coverage is their real currency. Online engagement via social channels amplifies reach, drawing younger eyes to time
Sections in the file
Areas of work
Keywords it claims
Technologies
Products it tells AI about
- Digital Access Pass$9.99/month
- Home Delivery PrintContact for pricing
- E-Paper Replica$4.99/month
- Premium Archives$19.99/year
Services it tells AI about
- Local AdvertisingContact for quotes
- Event PromotionVaries
- Custom ContentContact for pricing
- Obituary ServicesStarting at $100
- Classified AdsPer line rates
Competitors it names
Audience it targets
Families, local professionals, retirees · 25-65 · Merced County, Central California
Company type
Private
mercedsunstar.com Organic Keywords
Google lists mercedsunstar.com for about 4,765 keywords, which together bring an estimated 45,900 organic visits a month.
Ranking keywords
4.8K
Found in Google for this domain
Visits they bring
45.9K
Estimated organic visits a month
Top ranking keywords
No ranked-keyword data cached for this domain yet.
Ranked Keywords pulls the full list on its first run.
What it ranks for
mercedsunstar.com SEO Audit
The latest technical audit of mercedsunstar.com scored 67 out of 100 overall. Performance is its weakest area at 40, while SEO scores highest at 92. The audit makes 12 recommendations in all, and 3 of the 4 listed first are rated high priority or critical.
Overall
SEO
Excellent
Performance
Accessibility
Fix these first
- CriticalImplement H1 Tags
- HighCreate a Robots.txt File
- HighDevelop a Sitemap.xml
- MediumAdd Alt Text to Images
8 more recommendations, with the exact changes and the pages they apply to, are in the full report.
mercedsunstar.com Competitors and Alternatives
Merced Sun-Star's company profile names https://www.mercedcountytimes.com, https://www.merceddaily.com, https://www.goldenstatenewspapers.com and https://www.fresnobee.com as competitors. Its own llms.txt adds https://www.modbee.com and https://www.visaliatimesdelta.com. Outside its market, the domains ranked closest to it in our worldwide ranking are 12stz.com, sbimotor.com, osenexport.com and aporrea.org.
mercedsunstar.com Traffic by Country
Which markets this brand actually serves, and where the web links to it from.
Top customer markets
AI estimate · live webWe only measure visitor geography for domains whose analytics are connected to us. For everyone else this is read live from the web and shown as an estimate — never mixed in with the measured numbers.
No market breakdown available for this brand.
Where its backlinks come from
Measured. The country each linking site is hosted in — a real signal of which regions know this brand.
No backlink sample for this domain yet.
Backlink Analytics collects one on its first run.
mercedsunstar.com Backlink Analytics
Who vouches for this domain. Strong, varied links are still the clearest signal of authority — to search engines and to AI engines that cite sources.
We haven't run a backlink crawl for mercedsunstar.com yet, so there are no link counts to show. Backlink Analytics builds the profile on its first run and it appears here after that.
—
links on file
Companies ranked next to mercedsunstar.com
Neighbours of #128,869 in our worldwide ranking — each with its own report.
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