Keyword

Everything HTTP does, and then it looks in the response body for text you specify.

Use it when

You want to catch the failures that still return 200: a blank page, a cached error, "we'll be right back", a parked domain, a database error rendered by a healthy web server.

This is the check most people should be using on their main site.

What to enter

Pick a keyword that only appears when the page genuinely works. The product name in the header is a weak choice — it is often in the template that renders on error too. Something from the part of the page that needs a database or an API behind it is a strong choice.

For must not contain, name something that only shows up when it is broken: "Exception", "Service Unavailable", your framework's error title.

Exactly when it's DOWN

• Everything that makes an HTTP monitor down; then
• Must contain: the text is not in the body.
• Must not contain: the text is in the body.

What it doesn't do

• Case-sensitive. Login does not match login.
• Not a regular expression. It is a plain substring search. For pattern matching, content freshness takes a regex for its date.
• Only the first 1 MB of the response is searched. Text past that is not seen — put your keyword high in the page where you can.
• No JavaScript. If your page renders client-side, the text you can see in a browser may not be in the HTML we receive. View source to check.

Example

URL https://example.com/pricing, keyword Add to cart, mode must contain. That one check proves the web server is up, the app is running, the template rendered and the catalogue loaded.

Alerts

Down, recovered, and latency if you set a threshold.