Content checks

Plan availability

Content checks is available on Pro and Business. See the plan comparison.

A 200 OK doesn't always mean the page is right. Content checks confirm your page contains what it should, so you hear about a bad deploy that serves the wrong content.

What content checks do

An uptime check confirms your site responds and returns a healthy status code. But a page can come back with a 200 status and still be wrong: a failed deploy might serve an error page, a blank template, or last release's content while the status code stays green.

A content check looks past the status code at what's on the page, and flags the site if it isn't what you asked for.

A note on naming

On the site settings screen this feature is headed "Content check" (singular). Everywhere else (the plan comparison and these docs) it's "Content checks".

The three kinds of check

You can choose one of three ways to assert on the page:

• Page contains text — DomainDash flags the site if a phrase you specify isn't found on the page. Good for confirming a key piece of copy is present, like "Welcome back".
• Page has element (CSS selector) — you give a CSS selector and DomainDash flags the site if no element on the page matches it. Good for confirming a specific component rendered, like .status-ok.
• JSON response contains — you give a snippet of JSON and DomainDash flags the site if the response isn't valid JSON, or doesn't contain the keys and values you specified. Good for checking an API or health endpoint.

The default is status code only (no content check), so existing sites keep working as before until you opt in.

Setting one up

Content checks live on the Uptime tab of your site settings, in the Content check section. Pick a check type, enter what the page must contain or match, and save. From then on, every uptime check verifies the content too.

DomainDash checks the HTML your server returns, before any JavaScript runs, so the text or element you're checking for needs to be present in the server's response, not added later in the browser.

Your page content stays private

The checker that fetches your site inspects the page body, and the body never leaves the checker. DomainDash records only the pass-or-fail result. It doesn't store or transmit the contents of your pages.

When a content check fails

If the page responds but fails its content check, DomainDash opens an Urgent (P0) incident: a content-mismatch incident. That's the same severity as a site being Down, because a page serving the wrong content is usually as bad for your visitors as one they can't reach. The site shows as Down from the first failed check and stays Down until the content is right again.

Like a Down incident, a content mismatch is Confirming until two checks in a row have failed, and DomainDash sends nothing before then, so a one-off blip doesn't raise a false alarm. Once the incident is confirmed, DomainDash alerts you through your notification channels. Outbound webhooks don't send an event for a failed content check, though its recovery sends site.recovered. See how incidents work for the full picture.

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between a content check and an uptime check?

An uptime check confirms your site responds and returns a healthy status code. A content check also confirms the page contains what it should: a phrase, an element, or a snippet of JSON. A page can return a 200 status while serving the wrong content after a bad deploy, and only a content check catches that.

Does DomainDash send my page content anywhere?

No. The checker that fetches your page inspects the body and stores only the pass-or-fail result. It checks the HTML your server returns, before any JavaScript runs.

What happens when a content check fails?

The site shows as Down from the first failed check. After two failed checks in a row, DomainDash confirms an Urgent (P0) incident, the same severity as a site being down, and alerts you. The site stays Down until the content is right again.

Related

• Uptime checks — content checks run alongside every uptime check
• Site settings — where you configure the content check, on the Uptime tab
• How incidents work — what happens when a content check fails
• Plans and pricing — which plans include content checks