It is critical for search engine optimization specialists (SEOs) to understand how the HTTP protocol operates and how it affects the crawling and indexing of web pages by search engines. In this post, we quickly and simply lay out the subtleties of HTTP Status Codes.
What are HTTP status codes?
These HTTP response codes are the internet dialogues between the browser and the corresponding server in layman’s words. Identifying the HTTP Protocol aids in the detection of site issues, as well as the reduction of downtime and bounce rate, which enhances search engine ranking.
When Google crawls content, the first thing it looks for is HTTP status codes, according to John Mueller.
The question was posed to him:
‘Wondering if Google checks status codes before anything else, like before rendering content?’
In response, Mueller verified that before rendering or indexing content, Google checks the status codes. Before crawling any farther, Google checks for a status code of ‘200.’ A 200 status code communicates to Google that it is crawling a valid page with potentially valuable material. Here’s a video on the various types of mistakes that Google may discover and report while crawling your page.
List of HTTP Status Codes
Http Status Codes are broadly divided into four groups which are:
- 2xx HTTP response code group
- 3xx HTTP response code group
- 4xx HTTP response code group
- 5xx HTTP response code group
This is an intriguing and thorough picture that will help you to understand the different types of HTTP response codes that a webpage may receive. The following is a list of HTTP status codes and their meanings:
1. 200 Status Code: Shows Success
This is the ideal status code for sites that are normal and functional. These linked pages are visited by visitors, bots, and link equity.
2. 3xx Status Codes: For Redirection
301 Status Code: Permanent Redirection
This code indicates that a web page has been replaced with a different resource indefinitely. You can redirect traffic from one location to another using redirect. While making the adjustments and routing users to the correct place of your site, ensure proper SEO. This is usually the one you’ll want to use for SEO purposes to avoid 404 issues. Here’s what Google’s John Mueller has to say about how long it takes for a new URL to rank after a 301 redirect:
302 Status Code: Temporary Redirection
This number indicates that the browser’s request for a web page was fulfilled, but the URL or content has been temporarily relocated.
304 Status Code: Not Modified
This message is an HTTP response code that causes the requesting resource to be implicitly redirected to a cached version. This code informs the browser that the resources in the cache have not changed. Using the downloaded resources, the HTTP status code 304 is also utilised to speed up web page delivery.
3. 4xx Status Codes: Client-Side Error
401 Status Code: Unauthorized Error
This means that the browser’s request was unable to be verified. Although the client provided authentication, the client is not permitted to access the requested resource.
403 Status Code: Forbidden Error
Although the server recognises the request, it refuses to allow it. When a user tries to access something they don’t have authorization to see, this code is returned.
404 Status Code: Page Not Found
Let’s say someone tries to go to example.com/news-events, but the news-events page is empty. The user will get status code 404 since the request for that particular page does not exist, even if the webserver is up and running. It’s not simply the page; any missing item on the server can result in a 404 error code, such as an incorrect URL, a missing image file, a missing JavaScript or CSS file, and so on. Here’s what Google’s John Mueller has to say on how to handle outdated 404 problems.
405 Status Code: Method Not Allowed
This response code indicates that the server has recognised the request but is denying the requested resource. The 405 error code indicates that the requested resource is genuine and exists, but that the client used an unacceptably insecure HTTP technique to request it.
4. 5xx Status Codes: Internal Server Error
501 Status Code: Not Implemented
When the web server does not recognise the request method and is unable to support it, this status code is returned.
502 Status Code: Bad Gateway
This is a status code that indicates that one internet server received an invalid answer from another server. The 502 bad gateway errors are represented differently by different webservers and OS systems. They all mean the same thing, though.
503 Status Code: Service unavailable
Due to server overload or downtime for maintenance, the server is momentarily unable to handle the request.
504 Status Code: Gateway Timeout
When a server fails to obtain a timely response from another server it was attempting to contact while loading a web page or fulfilling a browser request.
Bottom Line
You should have a decent knowledge for diagnosing difficulties with your web servers or applications now that you’re familiar with the most common HTTP errors.
If you encounter any error codes that aren’t listed above, please post them in the comments area.