Keyword Monitoring

Keyword monitors extend HTTP checks by scanning the response body for a specific string. Use them to detect silent failures — cases where an endpoint returns 200 OK but the application is actually broken.

Use Cases

Scenario	Keyword to Check
App returns error page with 200	Absence of "Internal Server Error"
Confirm database is connected	Presence of "status":"ok"
Detect maintenance mode	Absence of "under maintenance"
Confirm CDN is serving fresh content	Presence of a known content marker
Verify payment page loads	Presence of "Checkout"

Creating a Keyword Monitor

1. Go to Monitors → New Monitor
2. Select Keyword
3. Enter the URL and configure HTTP options as normal
4. Add keyword rules

Keyword Rule Configuration

Field	Description
Keyword	The exact string to search for (case-insensitive by default)
Match Type	Contains — string must be present; Does Not Contain — string must be absent
Case Sensitive	Exact case match (default: off)

You can add multiple keyword rules per monitor. All rules must pass for the check to succeed.

Example Configuration

Goal: Confirm the API returns a healthy JSON response.

URL:                    https://api.yourapp.com/health
Method:                 GET
Expected Status:        200
Keyword Rule 1:         "status" → Contains
Keyword Rule 2:         "error" → Does Not Contain

Result: The check fails if the response body does not contain "status" OR if it contains "error".

API — Create Keyword Monitor

POST /v1/monitors
Authorization: Bearer psk_live_xxx
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "name": "API Health Content Check",
  "type": "keyword",
  "url": "https://api.yourapp.com/health",
  "method": "GET",
  "interval": 60,
  "timeout": 10,
  "expectedStatusCode": 200,
  "keywords": [
    { "value": "\"status\":\"ok\"", "type": "contains", "caseSensitive": false },
    { "value": "error", "type": "not_contains", "caseSensitive": false }
  ],
  "alertPolicyId": "pol_xxxxxxxx"
}

Limitations

• Keyword search operates on the raw response body — HTML, JSON, or plain text
• Maximum response body scanned: 1 MB (content beyond this is truncated)
• Regular expressions are not supported — use exact strings
• Binary responses are not supported

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Resolution
Monitor DOWN but URL returns 200	Keyword not found in response	Check actual response body content
Intermittent failures	Dynamic content changes	Use a stable marker string
Encoding issues	Response uses non-UTF-8 encoding	PingSLA normalizes to UTF-8 automatically