Frequently asked questions
What to monitor, how often to check, and how to use the changes you find.
What is URL monitoring?⌄
URL monitoring checks a webpage at regular intervals and records whether important properties have changed. For SEO teams, that can include response status, redirects, indexability, canonical URLs and page-level signals.
Why should SEOs monitor important URLs?⌄
A deployment, CMS edit, migration, plugin update or content change can alter a page without the SEO team being directly involved. Monitoring surfaces those changes so they can be reviewed before they remain unnoticed for days or weeks.
What URL changes should I monitor for SEO?⌄
Common signals include HTTP status codes, redirects, indexability directives, canonical URLs and important page elements. Prioritize signals according to the page’s value and the kinds of changes it is exposed to.
How often should URLs be monitored?⌄
It depends on how often a page can change and how important it is. High-value pages or URLs affected by frequent deployments may need more frequent checks; relatively static pages can be checked less often.
Can a page have an SEO problem even if it still returns 200 OK?⌄
Yes. A page can load successfully while its indexing directives, canonical URL, metadata or content has changed.
How is URL monitoring different from uptime monitoring?⌄
Uptime monitoring asks whether a page or service is available. SEO URL monitoring also checks page-level signals that matter to search visibility, including changes that happen while the page remains online.
What happens when Lazy SEM detects a change?⌄
Lazy SEM records the detected change and makes previous and current states available for review. Depending on the configured alerting options, you can be notified and decide whether the change was intentional.
Should I monitor every URL on my website?⌄
Start with pages where an unnoticed change would matter most: key landing pages, high-traffic content, commercial pages or URLs involved in a migration. Expand monitoring based on your site’s risk and workflow.