# Indexability Audit (`conserving_mastodon/indexability-audit`) Actor

Can search engines index this page, and if not, why? Checks the meta robots tag, X-Robots-Tag header, canonical link, and robots.txt in one call and returns a plain verdict with the exact directive responsible. Charged only on completed audits.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/conserving\_mastodon/indexability-audit.md
- **Developed by:** [Chris Arsenault](https://apify.com/conserving_mastodon) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$150.00 / 1,000 completed audits

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Indexability Audit

**"Why isn't this page showing up in Google?"** — answered in one call. This Actor checks every reason a page can be excluded from search and tells you which one applies: the meta robots tag, the `X-Robots-Tag` HTTP header, the canonical link pointing elsewhere, and a `robots.txt` disallow — each a common, easy-to-miss cause of pages silently vanishing from search.

### What you get

```json
{
  "url": "https://example.com/page/",
  "verdict": "NOT indexable",
  "blockers": ["noindex directive present (X-Robots-Tag header); this page is explicitly excluded from search"],
  "warnings": ["canonical points elsewhere (https://example.com/other/); search may index that URL instead"],
  "signals": {
    "x_robots_tag": "noindex",
    "meta_robots": null,
    "canonical": "https://example.com/other/",
    "robots_txt_disallow": null
  }
}
```

The verdict is plain (indexable / not indexable); the blockers name the exact directive so the fix is obvious.

### Why it is more useful than a generic checker

It separates the two things people conflate: a `noindex` (which removes a page from the index) versus a `robots.txt` disallow (which blocks crawling but does not deindex an already-known URL). It also catches header-level `X-Robots-Tag` directives that never appear in the HTML and are the hardest to spot by eye.

### Use cases

- **SEO triage**: the first check when a page won't rank or disappeared from search.
- **Publishing safeguards**: run after a deploy to catch a staging `noindex` that shipped to production (a classic, costly mistake).
- **Agents managing sites**: verify a new page is indexable before waiting weeks to discover it wasn't.

### Honesty notes

- Reads the page, its response headers, and robots.txt; nothing is modified.
- Reflects the directives as sent to a normal client; it does not guarantee Google's eventual behavior, which also depends on content quality and crawl budget.
- Unreachable pages report cleanly and **you are not charged**; billing is per completed audit.

Built by 1450 Enterprises, alongside the AI Access Audit and Structured Data Audit.

# Actor input Schema

## `url` (type: `string`):

The page whose search-engine indexability is checked.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "url": "https://www.apify.com"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Indexable yes/no, the blockers and warnings, and the raw signals (meta robots, X-Robots-Tag, canonical, robots.txt disallow).

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "url": "https://www.apify.com"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("conserving_mastodon/indexability-audit").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "url": "https://www.apify.com" }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("conserving_mastodon/indexability-audit").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "url": "https://www.apify.com"
}' |
apify call conserving_mastodon/indexability-audit --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,conserving_mastodon/indexability-audit"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/dggyP7FuACt7GoxkM/builds/eM2aelpwAEt4hBM7S/openapi.json