Get HTTP Headers

When your browser requests a web page, the server doesn't just send back HTML. It sends a set of headers first — a block of metadata that tells the browser how to handle the response. These headers control caching behavior, content types, security policies, redirects, and more. Most people never see them. Get HTTP Headers puts them right in front of you.

For developers, header inspection is a routine part of debugging. If a page isn't caching correctly, the Cache-Control and Expires headers will tell you why. If you're investigating a redirect, the Location header shows you exactly where the server is pointing the request. If you want to know what server software a site is running, the Server header often reveals it — though security-conscious administrators sometimes strip or modify this deliberately.

Security headers deserve special attention. Headers like Strict-Transport-Security, Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options are the browser-side controls that defend against common attacks like clickjacking, cross-site scripting, and protocol downgrade attacks. Checking whether a site has these configured is a quick and useful part of any security audit.

For SEO professionals, response codes matter. A 200 means everything is fine. A 301 confirms a permanent redirect. A 404 means the page doesn't exist. A 500 means the server is having problems. Getting the raw HTTP response in a readable format saves a lot of time compared to digging through browser developer tools, especially when you're checking multiple URLs quickly.