Technical Seo
HTTP Status Codes
Three-digit response codes returned by a server that indicate the result of a browser or bot's request. They tell crawlers whether a page loaded successfully (200), moved (301/302), doesn't exist (404), or had a server error (500).
Why HTTP Status Codes Matters for SEO
Status codes are how your server communicates with search engines at the most fundamental level. Returning the wrong code sends the wrong signal. A 200 on an error page tells Google to index it. A 302 instead of a 301 tells Google the move is temporary. Getting these right is baseline technical SEO.
How HTTP Status Codes Works
The server returns a status code with every response. The main groups are: 2xx (success), 3xx (redirects), 4xx (client errors), and 5xx (server errors). Search engines use these codes to decide whether to index a page, follow a redirect, drop a URL, or come back later when the server recovers.
Common Mistakes
- Returning 200 status codes on custom error pages (soft 404s)
- Not monitoring for 5xx server errors that block Googlebot
- Confusing 301 and 302 redirects and using them interchangeably
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