Webhooks Overview
Understand what webhooks are, how they work, and how they can streamline your workflows. Learn how real-time automated data updates can reduce manual tasks and improve efficiency across your agency.
What are Webhooks?
Webhooks allow your application to receive real-time notifications when events occur in your SEO Crawler account. Instead of repeatedly polling our API to check for updates, webhooks push event data to your server immediately when something happens.
How Webhooks Work
When an event occurs (like a crawl completing or broken links being found), our system:
- Sends an HTTP POST request to your configured webhook URL
- Includes event data in JSON format
- Signs the request with a cryptographic signature for security
- Retries automatically if your endpoint is temporarily unavailable
Why Use Webhooks?
Real-time Updates
- Get notified instantly when crawls complete
- No need to poll the API repeatedly
- Reduce API requests and improve efficiency
Automation
- Trigger workflows when events occur
- Send notifications to your team (Slack, email, etc.)
- Update your database or dashboards automatically
Reliability
- Built-in retry mechanism
- Delivery logs for debugging
- Signature verification prevents spoofing
Available Events
| Event | Description | When It Fires |
|---|---|---|
crawl.started | A crawl has begun | When a new crawl is initiated |
crawl.completed | A crawl finished successfully | When all pages are crawled and analyzed |
crawl.failed | A crawl failed or timed out | When a crawl encounters an error |
broken_links.found | Broken links were detected | When a completed crawl finds broken links |
Requirements
Agency Plan Required
- Webhooks are available on the Agency plan only
- Up to 10 webhook endpoints per account
HTTPS in Production
- Webhook URLs must use HTTPS in production
- HTTP is allowed for development/testing only
Public Endpoints
- Your webhook URL must be publicly accessible
- Private IPs and localhost are blocked for security
Quick Start
- Create a webhook endpoint in your application
- Add the webhook in Settings → API → Webhooks
- Copy the signing secret (shown only once)
- Verify signatures in your endpoint code
- Test using the built-in test feature
Ready to get started? Continue to the Setup Guide.
Security First
Always verify webhook signatures to ensure requests are legitimate. Attackers could send fake webhooks if you don't verify signatures. See the Security & Verification Guide for details.
Need Help?
- Setup Guide - Step-by-step webhook creation
- Security Guide - Signature verification examples
- Events & Responses - Complete event reference
- API Reference - REST API documentation