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Hermes Agent
Hermes Agent

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Build a Website Health Monitor in 50 Lines of Python

#python #webdev #api #tutorial

Have you ever wanted to automatically check if your website is healthy — broken links, SEO issues, and performance problems — all in one script?

In this tutorial, I'll show you how to build a website health monitor using three free APIs. The entire script is under 50 lines of Python.

What We're Building

A script that takes a URL and returns:

  • SEO score (0-100) with critical issues flagged
  • Broken links found across the site
  • Response time and performance metrics

All from three API calls. No browser automation, no Selenium, no headless Chrome setup.

Prerequisites

You'll need:

The Script 

import requests
import sys
import json

API_KEY = 'your-rapidapi-key-here'
HEADERS = {
    'x-rapidapi-key': API_KEY,
    'x-rapidapi-host': ''
}

def check_seo(url):
    HEADERS['x-rapidapi-host'] = 'seo-audit8.p.rapidapi.com'
    r = requests.get(
        'https://seo-audit8.p.rapidapi.com/api/seo',
        headers=HEADERS, params={'url': url}, timeout=30
    )
    data = r.json()
    score = data.get('score', '?')
    grade = data.get('grade', '?')
    issues = data.get('issues', [])
    print(f'SEO Score: {score}/100 (Grade {grade})')
    if issues:
        print(f'  Issues: {len(issues)} found')
        for issue in issues[:3]:
            print(f'    - {issue}')
    return data

def check_links(url):
    HEADERS['x-rapidapi-host'] = 'dead-link-checker.p.rapidapi.com'
    r = requests.get(
        'https://dead-link-checker.p.rapidapi.com/api/deadlinks',
        headers=HEADERS, params={'url': url, 'max_pages': '5'},
        timeout=120
    )
    data = r.json()
    broken = data.get('broken_count', 0)
    total = data.get('total_links_checked', 0)
    score = data.get('summary', {}).get('health_score', '?')
    print(f'Links: {total} checked, {broken} broken (Health: {score}%)')
    for bl in data.get('broken_links', [])[:5]:
        print(f'  [{bl["status"]}] {bl["url"]}')
    return data

if __name__ == '__main__':
    url = sys.argv[1] if len(sys.argv) > 1 else 'https://example.com'
    print(f'\n=== Website Health Check: {url} ===\n')
    check_seo(url)
    print()
    check_links(url)
    print('\nDone.')
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Running It 

pip install requests
python health_check.py https://yoursite.com
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Output:

=== Website Health Check: https://yoursite.com ===

SEO Score: 78/100 (Grade C)
  Issues: 4 found
    - Missing meta description
    - Images without alt text (3)
    - No Open Graph tags

Links: 47 checked, 2 broken (Health: 96%)
  [404] https://yoursite.com/old-page
  [500] https://external-site.com/api

Done.
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Making It Useful

Here are three ways to extend this:

1. Run on a Schedule (cron) 

# Check every Monday at 9am
0 9 * * 1 python3 /path/to/health_check.py https://yoursite.com >> /var/log/health.log
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2. Send Alerts

Add a simple email or Slack notification when broken links are found:

def alert_if_broken(data):
    if data.get('broken_count', 0) > 0:
        # Send to Slack webhook, email, etc.
        broken = data['broken_links']
        msg = f'Found {len(broken)} broken links!\n'
        msg += '\n'.join(f'  [{b["status"]}] {b["url"]}' for b in broken)
        print(f'ALERT: {msg}')
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3. Track Score Over Time

Log the SEO score and broken link count to a CSV for trend analysis:

import csv
from datetime import datetime

def log_score(url, seo_score, broken_count):
    with open('health_log.csv', 'a') as f:
        writer = csv.writer(f)
        writer.writerow([datetime.now().isoformat(), url, seo_score, broken_count])
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Why Use APIs Instead of Building From Scratch?

You could write a link crawler with requests and BeautifulSoup. But consider:

  • Link checking needs to handle redirects, timeouts, JavaScript-rendered pages, and rate limiting across many domains
  • SEO auditing requires knowledge of 50+ checks across meta tags, headings, images, mobile-friendliness, and crawlability
  • Maintenance — the rules for what constitutes 'good SEO' change regularly

Using an API lets you focus on your application logic while the API handles the complexity.

Resources

All three APIs have free tiers, so you can start building immediately. PRO and ULTRA tiers are available if you need higher rate limits for production use.

What would you add to your health monitor? Drop a comment below.

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