# Website URL Finder by Pattern (Recent & Historical) (`igolaizola/website-url-finder`) Actor

Discover recent and historical website URLs by domain, subdomain, or path pattern, with older pages, orphan URLs, and content no longer linked. Search the 10 latest snapshots or choose a year for SEO audits, migrations, content inventories, competitor research, lead generation, and data pipelines

- **URL**: https://apify.com/igolaizola/website-url-finder.md
- **Developed by:** [Iñigo Garcia Olaizola](https://apify.com/igolaizola) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, Developer tools, Integrations
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.70 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
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.

In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md):

```bash
npm install apify-client
```

In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md):

```bash
pip install apify-client
```

In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):

````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash

In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md).

If your project is in a different language, use 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

## Website URL Finder (Recent & Historical)

Discover website URLs from recent and historical web records using a domain, subdomain, or path pattern. Build clean URL lists for active sites while also uncovering older pages, orphan URLs, and content that is no longer linked.

### 🤖 What does Website URL Finder do?

Enter patterns such as `example.com/*`, `example.com/blog/*`, or `*.example.com/*` and receive a deduplicated list of matching URLs. Each result was successfully captured at the reported time, making the dataset useful for both recent website discovery and historical research.

- **Find website URLs** across an entire domain or a specific directory
- **Discover subdomains** with a single wildcard pattern
- **Search recent records** using the 10 newest web snapshots automatically
- **Explore URL history** by searching every available snapshot from a chosen year
- **Reveal orphan and legacy pages** that may no longer appear in navigation or sitemaps
- **Export unique results** as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or other Apify dataset formats

**Great for:** SEO audits, site migrations, content inventories, competitor research, lead generation, redirect maps, and data pipelines.

> SEO keywords: **website URL finder**, **find all website URLs**, **URL discovery tool**, **historical URL finder**, **orphan page finder**, **domain URL extractor**, **website URL list**, **Apify Actor**.

### 💡 Why discover website URLs?

- 🔎 **Inventory an existing website** — collect known recent URLs without depending on its current navigation
- 🧭 **Find orphan pages** — reveal URLs that are hard to reach from the live site
- 🚚 **Plan site migrations** — build redirect maps and reduce lost traffic during redesigns
- 📈 **Improve SEO audits** — compare recent and historical paths to identify cleanup opportunities
- 🗂️ **Create datasets** — export focused URL lists for enrichment, monitoring, or research
- 🎯 **Research competitors** — discover product, category, campaign, and content structures

### 🧠 How history works

By default, the Actor searches the **10 newest web snapshots**. This is the best starting point for finding URLs associated with an existing website while retaining some recent history.

Set `historyYear` when you need a deeper historical view. The Actor then searches **all available snapshots from that year**, newest first. Results are deduplicated by exact URL across every pattern and snapshot.

The capture time describes when a URL was successfully recorded. It does not guarantee that the URL is still live or returns the same content today.

### 🚀 How to use

1. **Add the Actor** – Open **Website URL Finder (Recent & Historical)** in Apify Store.
2. **Enter URL patterns** – Add one or more values to `urlPatterns`.
3. **Choose the time range** – Leave `historyYear` empty for recent discovery, or select a year for a historical search.
4. **Set a result limit** – Use `maxResults` for a controlled run, or keep `0` to return every unique match.
5. **Run and download** – Export the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or another supported format.

### 💳 Pricing

Apify's **Free plan** includes monthly credits suitable for small searches. Broad whole-domain patterns or full-year history searches can return many URLs, so start with `maxResults` before running an unlimited job.

### 📝 Input parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
| --------- | ---- | -------- | ----------- |
| `urlPatterns` | Array of strings | Yes | Domain, subdomain, or path patterns such as `example.com/*`, `example.com/blog/*`, or `*.example.com/*`. |
| `maxResults` | Integer | No | Maximum number of unique URLs returned. Default `0` returns every match. |
| `historyYear` | Integer | No | Search every available web snapshot from this year. When omitted, the 10 newest snapshots are searched. Minimum `2008`. |

#### Example inputs

**Find up to 1,000 URLs for an existing website**

```json
{
  "urlPatterns": ["example.com/*"],
  "maxResults": 1000
}
````

**Build a historical content inventory for selected paths**

```json
{
  "urlPatterns": [
    "example.com/blog/*",
    "example.com/products/*"
  ],
  "historyYear": 2024,
  "maxResults": 5000
}
```

**Discover URLs across subdomains**

```json
{
  "urlPatterns": ["*.example.com/*"],
  "maxResults": 2500
}
```

### 📊 Output results

Each unique URL produces one dataset item:

- **`matchedPattern`** *(string)* — the first input pattern that matched the URL
- **`url`** *(string)* — the discovered absolute URL
- **`capturedAt`** *(string, optional)* — when the URL was successfully recorded, in ISO 8601 format

```json
{
  "matchedPattern": "example.com/blog/*",
  "url": "https://example.com/blog/website-migration-checklist",
  "capturedAt": "2025-07-18T14:23:09Z"
}
```

### 🧭 Patterns and common recipes

- **Whole website:** use `example.com/*` to discover paths associated with the main domain.
- **One directory:** use `example.com/blog/*` or `example.com/products/*` for a focused inventory.
- **Subdomain homepages:** use `*.example.com` to return only the root URL of each subdomain.
- **All subdomains:** use `*.example.com/*` to find URLs on hosts below the domain.
- **One path across subdomains:** use `*.example.com/blog/*` to keep only `/blog/` URLs on subdomains.
- **Multiple areas:** add several patterns; `maxResults` applies to the combined, deduplicated output.
- **Recent discovery:** omit `historyYear` to use the 10 newest snapshots.
- **Historical research:** set `historyYear: 2022` to search all snapshots available from 2022.

Patterns support subdomain wildcards and path prefixes, not arbitrary regular expressions.

For bare subdomain patterns, `capturedAt` is the capture time of the page that proved the subdomain existed; the derived root URL itself may not have been captured.

### ⚙️ Best practices

- **Start with a limit** such as `maxResults: 1000`, then expand after checking relevance.
- **Use narrow path patterns** when a full domain could contain hundreds of thousands of URLs.
- **Treat results as discoveries, not live checks** because older URLs may now redirect, fail, or contain different content.
- **Run separate years for comparisons** when researching how a site's URL structure changed over time.
- **Expect exact-URL deduplication** across all input patterns and searched snapshots.

### 🌍 Proxy usage

Direct access works for most runs. Proxy settings are available for environments that require them, but they are usually unnecessary for normal URL discovery.

### ⚖️ Legal and ethical considerations

- **Respect website terms, robots rules, and applicable data-use restrictions.**
- **Handle personal information responsibly** and comply with privacy laws such as GDPR and CCPA.
- **Keep search scopes reasonable** and avoid unnecessarily broad automated collection.
- **Preserve attribution and ownership** when publishing or redistributing derived URL datasets.
- **Review usage rights** before using discovered data in commercial products.

You are responsible for ensuring that your use of the results complies with applicable laws and third-party rights.

### ❓ FAQ

**Can it find URLs that currently exist?**

Yes. The newest snapshots are useful for finding URLs associated with existing websites. Because this is snapshot-based discovery rather than a live crawl, verify critical URLs before using them operationally.

**Can it find deleted or unlinked pages?**

Yes. A historical year can reveal older and orphan URLs, including pages that are no longer linked or live today.

**Does it download page content?**

No. It returns a focused list of discovered URLs and their capture times.

**Are duplicate URLs returned?**

No. Each exact URL is emitted once, even if it appears in multiple patterns or snapshots.

**Does `*.example.com/*` include the root domain?**

No. It returns only subdomain URLs such as `www.example.com` and `docs.example.com`. Add `example.com/*` as another pattern when you also want root-domain URLs.

**What does `maxResults: 0` mean?**

It removes the result-count limit. The Actor searches every selected pattern across the chosen recent or historical scope.

**Why might a discovered URL not work today?**

The URL was successfully recorded at `capturedAt`, but websites change. It may now redirect, return an error, or have been removed.

### 🛟 Support

Need another output field, pattern option, or specialized URL-discovery workflow? Open an issue or contact me at https://igolaizola.com/#contact

# Actor input Schema

## `urlPatterns` (type: `array`):

Domain, subdomain, or path patterns to search. Use \*.example.com to discover subdomain roots from captured pages or *.example.com/* to return all captured paths across subdomains.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of unique URLs to return across all patterns. Use 0 to return every match.

## `historyYear` (type: `integer`):

Optional year to search across all available web snapshots from that year. Leave empty to search the 10 newest snapshots.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "urlPatterns": [
    "*.example.com/*"
  ],
  "maxResults": 0
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

No description

# 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 = {
    "urlPatterns": [
        "*.example.com/*"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("igolaizola/website-url-finder").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 = { "urlPatterns": ["*.example.com/*"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("igolaizola/website-url-finder").call(run_input=run_input)

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

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

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "urlPatterns": [
    "*.example.com/*"
  ]
}' |
apify call igolaizola/website-url-finder --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=igolaizola/website-url-finder",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "Website URL Finder by Pattern (Recent & Historical)",
        "description": "Discover recent and historical website URLs by domain, subdomain, or path pattern, with older pages, orphan URLs, and content no longer linked. Search the 10 latest snapshots or choose a year for SEO audits, migrations, content inventories, competitor research, lead generation, and data pipelines",
        "version": "0.0",
        "x-build-id": "BaAG2Dyut5RMHUPgP"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/igolaizola~website-url-finder/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-igolaizola-website-url-finder",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/igolaizola~website-url-finder/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-igolaizola-website-url-finder",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK",
                        "content": {
                            "application/json": {
                                "schema": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/igolaizola~website-url-finder/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-igolaizola-website-url-finder",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "components": {
        "schemas": {
            "inputSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "required": [
                    "urlPatterns"
                ],
                "properties": {
                    "urlPatterns": {
                        "title": "URL patterns",
                        "uniqueItems": true,
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "Domain, subdomain, or path patterns to search. Use *.example.com to discover subdomain roots from captured pages or *.example.com/* to return all captured paths across subdomains.",
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string"
                        }
                    },
                    "maxResults": {
                        "title": "Maximum results",
                        "minimum": 0,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Maximum number of unique URLs to return across all patterns. Use 0 to return every match.",
                        "default": 0
                    },
                    "historyYear": {
                        "title": "History year",
                        "minimum": 2008,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Optional year to search across all available web snapshots from that year. Leave empty to search the 10 newest snapshots."
                    }
                }
            },
            "runsResponseSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "data": {
                        "type": "object",
                        "properties": {
                            "id": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "actId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "userId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "startedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "finishedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "status": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "READY"
                            },
                            "meta": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "origin": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "API"
                                    },
                                    "userAgent": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "stats": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "inputBodyLen": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2000
                                    },
                                    "rebootCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "restartCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "resurrectCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "computeUnits": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "options": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "build": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "latest"
                                    },
                                    "timeoutSecs": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 300
                                    },
                                    "memoryMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1024
                                    },
                                    "diskMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2048
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "buildId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultDatasetId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultRequestQueueId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "buildNumber": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "1.0.0"
                            },
                            "containerUrl": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "usage": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "usageTotalUsd": {
                                "type": "number",
                                "example": 0.00005
                            },
                            "usageUsd": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "number",
                                        "example": 0.00005
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```