Redirect & Canonical Checker for Website Migrations

A direct migration QA tool: source URLs in, redirect-chain and canonical evidence out, with optional previous-run drift detection. Returns structured, machine-readable results for repeatable research, monitoring, automation, Apify Tasks, API workflows, and AI agents. Returns.

Quick start

Start with this working example and replace the target values with your own:

{
  "urls": [
    "https://example.com"
  ],
  "expectedTargets": {
    "https://example.com": "https://example.com/"
  }
}

The Actor writes structured results to the default Apify Dataset and can be used from the Store, API, schedules, Tasks, automations and MCP-compatible AI workflows.

Input

• urls — Source URLs: Public source URLs to audit for redirects, final destinations and canonicals.
• expectedTargets — Expected migration targets: Optional mapping of source URL to expected final destination for migration QA.
• previousSnapshots — Previous snapshots: Optional prior snapshots keyed by source URL to detect routing or canonical drift.
• maxUrls — Maximum URLs: Maximum number of source URLs processed in one run.
• maxRedirects — Maximum redirect hops: Maximum redirect hops followed before the chain is treated as excessive.
• timeoutSeconds — Request timeout seconds: Per-request timeout for public HTTP requests.

All integration and advanced analysis fields are optional. The default example is intentionally runnable without configuring MCP or a previous-run baseline.

Output

The Dataset exposes predictable machine-readable output. Representative fields include dataset.

Pricing

This Actor uses Pay Per Event. The current factory base price is $0.002500 per result event. The Apify Store remains the source of truth for the price and plan/tier details shown to the buyer.

Use cases

• Run the buyer-ready workflows exposed as Apify Tasks without preparing a custom integration first.
• Use the Actor from API or schedules for recurring collection, comparison or monitoring.
• Feed the structured Dataset output into spreadsheets, databases, automations or AI agents.
• Compare repeat runs when the product supports snapshots or previous-run inputs.

Automation and AI

Use the same Actor through Apify API, schedules, public Tasks and the Apify MCP server. Outputs are structured for downstream workflows and AI agents rather than requiring manual copy/paste.

Limitations

• Public websites and upstream APIs can change markup, access rules, rate limits or field availability without notice.
• Fields that are not publicly available are returned as unavailable or omitted rather than fabricated.
• Analytical outputs depend on the quality and coverage of the supplied or collected source data.
• Treat marketplace, reputation, workforce, safety or commercial signals as decision support and validate material decisions against the underlying source evidence.

Detailed documentation

Detailed documentation

Give source URLs and expected targets. Follow redirect chains, verify final destinations and canonicals, and flag migration mismatches.

Turn redirect checking into migration intelligence. This Actor verifies where each source URL actually lands, whether it matches the expected migration target, whether the final page is healthy and HTTPS, whether its canonical agrees with the destination, and whether routing changed since a previous snapshot.

Why use this Actor

A migration can look successful while valuable URLs quietly land on the wrong page, collect multiple hops, lose HTTPS, change canonical targets or drift after a later deployment. This Actor produces one structured risk result per source URL so SEO, engineering and AI-agent workflows can act on evidence instead of manually following browser redirects.

Key features

• Follow and record complete redirect chains.
• Validate expected source-to-target migration mappings.
• Check final HTTP status, HTTPS landing and canonical consistency.
• Detect redirect loops and excessive chains.
• Compare final URL, status, canonical and hop count with previous snapshots.
• Produce migrationRiskScore, migrationReadiness, agentAction and concise evidence.
• Optional fail-on-risk behavior for CI and release gates.
• Concurrent HTTP-first execution in a 256 MB runtime.

Input

Provide public source URLs. Optionally add expectedTargets and previousSnapshots to turn a one-time audit into migration verification and ongoing drift monitoring.

{"urls":["https://example.com/old"],"expectedTargets":{"https://example.com/old":"https://example.com/new"}}

Output

Each source URL creates one dataset row containing the redirect chain, final URL and status, canonical evidence, expected-target match, changed snapshot fields, migration risk and an agent-oriented recommended action.

Example

A source URL that lands on an unexpected destination with a conflicting canonical can return migrationReadiness: BLOCK, a high migrationRiskScore, and agentAction: FIX_MIGRATION_MAPPING. A stable one-hop redirect to the expected HTTPS destination can return PASS.

Use cases

Use it for domain migrations, CMS and ecommerce replatforming, URL redesigns, HTTP-to-HTTPS projects, post-deploy QA, canonical drift monitoring, agency client audits, weekly routing checks and AI-agent release gates.

Pricing

Pay per result. The base configured price is $0.0025 USD per source URL result, with tiered discounts applied by Apify account tier where supported. One source URL produces one independently useful migration intelligence row.

Limitations

Only public HTTP/HTTPS targets are supported. Canonical analysis uses returned HTML and does not execute client-side JavaScript. The Actor reports observed routing and SEO signals; it does not guarantee search-engine indexing, rankings or traffic outcomes.

Gen2 decision intelligence

This Actor preserves its original analysis and adds a decision layer with baseline awareness, regression detection, confidence, GO/WARN/BLOCK executive output, and an optional economic-impact estimate. Economic estimates are produced only when the user supplies valuePerImpactUnitUsd; the result states the calculation basis instead of inventing monetary value.