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XPath checks

Testomato can run XPath expressions against a page's HTML. Select the HTML Source Code check type, then choose the matches XPath operator and enter your expression as the check value.

What is XPath?​

XPath is a query language for selecting nodes in an XML or HTML document — think of it as a way to address a specific element, attribute, or set of elements by their position in the page structure, rather than by searching for text.

It also has built-in functions like count(), contains(), and string-length() for reasoning about what it selects.

Testomato evaluates XPath 1.0 expressions against the page's HTML source.

When to use XPath?​

Reach for XPath when the check depends on structure or count, not just content.

String and regex checks only see the page as flat text — they can match a substring or pattern, but they can't count elements, filter by attribute, or reason about a tag's position. XPath can:

  • Count elements — e.g. assert there's exactly one <h1>, or zero images missing alt text
  • Filter by attribute — select elements that have (or lack) a given attribute
  • Select by relationship — e.g. "the <td> right after the one containing Pro"

That's what makes XPath checks resilient to copy changes — the check targets the element, not the wording. If you just need to confirm a string is present or absent, a string check is simpler and enough.

Use Cases​

Duplicate or missing H1​

A page should have exactly one <h1>, giving it a single clear topic for both readers and search engines:

count(//h1)=1

You can also assert an optimal H1 length with string-length() — SEO guidance generally recommends 50–60 characters so the heading isn't truncated in search results:

string-length(//h1) >= 50 and string-length(//h1) <= 60

For example, our own pricing page H1 — "Simple, transparent pricing for every team" — is 42 characters, so this check would currently fail there.

Duplicate meta description​

Repeated descriptions hurt click-through rate because search results become indistinguishable:

count(//meta[@name="description"])=1

Missing or empty img alt​

All non-decoratieve <img> tags should have a non-empty alt attribute, for SEO and accessibility (screen readers rely on it, and Google indexes it for image search):

count(//img[not(@alt) or @alt=''])=0

You can combine this with contains() or string-length() to also assert a specific image's alt text includes a keyword, or falls within a length range.

Table row/cell pairing​

Find a row by one cell's value instead of its position, so the check still works if rows are reordered or added. Our bot page lists each monitoring node's IP address in a table; this finds the row for testomato.com and checks its IPv4 cell:

//tr[th/small="testomato.com"]/td[1]/pre/code="217.31.53.147"

Tools and Resources​

  • XPath Playground — sandbox for writing and testing expressions against real HTML
  • XPath cheat sheet — quick syntax reference
  • Browser DevTools — use $x("your-expression") in the console to test against the live page, including boolean/count results