How to Check URL Status Code in Google Sheets

You have a list of URLs in a spreadsheet and you need their HTTP status codes. Checking them one by one in a browser gets old fast. Here is how to check URL status code in Google Sheets without leaving the sheet.

It is a free Google Apps Script that adds a =getStatusCode() function. Paste a URL, get its code in the next cell. The script tests the common http/https and www variations, with and without a trailing slash, and returns the first non-301 code.

Why check URL status code in Google Sheets#

A status code tells you whether a URL works. 200 is fine, 404 is gone, 5xx is broken, 301 means it moved. When you are auditing a site, the URLs are usually sitting in a sheet already: a crawl export, a list of redirects to verify, an XML sitemap, or backlinks you are validating. Checking them in the sheet keeps the data where you will analyse it. I lean on this constantly during migrations, where you are validating thousands of old and new URLs at once.

The script#

The function has two parts. getStatusCode normalises the URL and builds the variations to test, and tryUrls fetches each one until it gets a non-301 response.

1function getStatusCode(url) {
2  var url_trimmed = url.trim();
3  if (url_trimmed === '') return '';
4  var cache = CacheService.getScriptCache();
5  var cacheKey = 'status-' + url_trimmed;
6  var cached = cache.get(cacheKey);
7  if (cached) return cached;
8  // Normalize input (strip protocol + www)
9  var clean = url_trimmed
10    .replace(/^https?:\/\//, '')
11    .replace(/^www\./, '');
12  // Base variations (protocol + www)
13  var bases = [
14    "https://" + clean,
15    "https://www." + clean,
16    "http://" + clean,
17    "http://www." + clean
18  ];
19  // Add trailing slash variations
20  var variations = [];
21  bases.forEach(function (b) {
22    variations.push(b);
23    if (!b.endsWith('/')) {
24      variations.push(b + '/');
25    }
26  });
27  var status = tryUrls(variations);
28  cache.put(cacheKey, status, 21600); // 6 hours
29  return status;
30}
31
32function tryUrls(urlList) {
33  var options = { muteHttpExceptions: true, followRedirects: false };
34  for (var i = 0; i < urlList.length; i++) {
35    try {
36      var response = UrlFetchApp.fetch(urlList[i], options);
37      var code = response.getResponseCode();
38      // Skip 301 - continue testing next version
39      if (code == 301) continue;
40      return code.toString();
41    } catch (e) {
42      // Try next variation
43    }
44  }
45  return "Error";
46}

The caching matters. Google Sheets re-runs a custom function every time the sheet recalculates, so without a cache you would spend fetch quota fast. This version stores each result for six hours with CacheService, so repeated recalculations do not re-fetch the same URL.

How to use it#

1. Open the Google Sheet where you want this.
2. Go to Extensions, then Apps Script. A blank editor opens.
3. Paste the code above, save it (File, Save), and close the editor.
4. Back in the sheet, put a URL in a cell, for example A1.
5. In another cell, enter =getStatusCode(A1).
6. The cell returns the status code: 200, 404, and so on. If every variation fails, it returns Error.

Bulk-check URL status code in Google Sheets#

The function works down a column, so checking a list is the same as checking one URL. Paste your URLs into column A, put =getStatusCode(A1) in B1, then fill the formula down the column.

For a whole site, pull a sitemap straight into the sheet with =IMPORTXML("https://example.com/sitemap.xml","//*[local-name()='loc']"), which returns every URL in column A. Then run =getStatusCode() in the column next to it.

It tries all URL combinations automatically: https, https www, http, http www, each with and without a trailing slash, and returns the first non-301 status code. If everything fails, it returns Error.

Redirects, errors and rate limits#

The script skips 301s on purpose. It is testing several URL variations, and a 301 usually just means one variation redirects to another. Skipping it and reporting the first real status gives you the destination code rather than the redirect itself.

The six-hour CacheService stores results so repeated sheet recalculations do not re-fetch the same URLs. This is what keeps quota usage low on larger lists.

UrlFetchApp, the service the script uses, has a daily quota: 20,000 fetch calls per day on consumer accounts (gmail.com) and 100,000 on Google Workspace accounts. The current figures are on Google's Apps Script quotas page. For a few hundred or a few thousand URLs you will not notice the limit. For tens of thousands in one sheet, split the job into batches.

When to use a dedicated tool instead#

The script is built for quick checks inside data you already have. It only reports a status code. The things it does not do each have a dedicated tool:

• Redirect chains and response headers: my HTTP status tool shows the full hop sequence and the X-Robots-Tag.
• A list of redirects to confirm in bulk: bulk redirect checker.
• Whether a URL is actually indexed: Google index checker.

Other useful Google Sheets functions for SEO#

This is one of several Google Sheets SEO workflows I use regularly. A few others worth keeping:

• =IMPORTXML(A1,"//title") pulls the title tag of the URL in A1, handy for spotting missing or duplicate titles.
• The Search Analytics for Sheets add-on pulls Google Search Console data into a tab, which is how I map keyword cannibalization.
• Conditional formatting on the status column flags anything that is not 200.

Frequently asked questions#

How do I check a URL status code in Google Sheets?#

Add the getStatusCode Apps Script above to your sheet, then use =getStatusCode(A1) where A1 holds the URL. The cell returns the HTTP status code, like 200 or 404.

Why does the script skip 301 redirects?#

It tests several variations of a URL, and a 301 usually just means one variation points to another. The script skips the 301 and reports the first variation that returns a real status, so you get the destination's code rather than the redirect.

Can it check status codes in bulk?#

Yes. Put the URLs in a column and fill =getStatusCode() down the next column. The six-hour cache keeps repeated recalculations from re-fetching the same URLs.

Does this use up any API quota?#

It uses the Apps Script UrlFetchApp quota: 20,000 calls a day on consumer accounts, 100,000 on Workspace. The script caches each result for six hours to limit repeat calls.

What does it return if a URL is unreachable?#

It returns Error after trying every http/https, www and trailing-slash variation without a valid response.

Where to go next#

Drop the script into any sheet where you already keep URLs and you have status checks on tap, no add-on, no copy-paste. Next time you run a migration or a content audit, pull the URLs into a column, fill the formula, and sort by anything that is not 200. For the redirect chains and headers the function does not cover, send those URLs to a dedicated checker. The pattern that scales is simple: keep the raw URLs and the checks in the same sheet, cache the calls, and reach for a heavier tool only when the question gets deeper than a status code.