HTTP status codes play a crucial role in the functionality and performance of websites, but their impact SEOAce extends beyond technical matters. When it comes to SEO, understanding HTTP status codes becomes essential.
These status codes are crucial for search engines since they can influence how Google will crawl and index your pages effectively.
What is an HTTP status code?
An HTTP status code is a server response to a request from a user’s browser. It is essentially the language used for transmitting data over the web.
In simple words, HTTP codes are little messages that servers send to indicate how they’ve handled a website request.
Think of it as the digital version of walkie-talkie communication — when your browser makes a request (“I need access to this webpage”), the server responds with status codes like “access granted” (2xx – successful response) or “redirecting you to another location” (3xx – redirect response).
How HTTP status codes work
We already established that HTTP status codes are the response that a server sends when you make a request.
But what does that mean, really?
Every time you type in a URL or click a link, you’re making an HTTP request. Your browser then sends a signal to the server (“Open this page, please”) and responds with a status line that includes the HTTP version, status code, and a status text.
For example, if the request goes through and everything is working, you might get a “HTTP/1.1 200 OK” response.
How to check HTTP status codes?
Being able to check HTTP status codes is an essential skill in managing your website’s SEO performance.
After all, you can’t fix errors unless you find them first!
a) Check them manually
Yes, you can manually check some of the HTTP status codes by using your browser’s DevTools – though be warned that this method is very time-consuming and you might end up missing some important information along the way.
If you’re up for it, you can simply:
Open a browser like Google Chrome and right-click anywhere on a webpage
Select “Inspect“, then click on the “Network” tab.
When you refresh the page, you’ll notice that you now see a list of network requests.
Click on the first one (usually the URL of the page), and you can see the HTTP status code under the “Headers” section.
b) Use Google Search Console
GSC makes it easy for even novice webmasters to check indexing issues with their website by providing a list of URL errors that a site might have, including 404s and server-side errors.
To see how your pages are doing and check whether or not there are some technical issues, simply:
Open up your GSC account
Click on the “Pages” tab in the “Indexing” section
Google Search Console will then show you indexing issues on your website along with their HTTP status codes (e.g. 5xx server errors, 401 responses, etc.):
c) Try SEO audit tool
If you want to dive deeper into your website’s performance, you can use tools like Screamingfrog that allow you to check HTTP status codes on-site in bulks.
This is especially useful when dealing with large websites with hundreds of pages.
The software crawls your site (much like a search engine would) and returns tons of useful information, including HTTP status codes, so you can stay on top of any issues that might affect your website’s SEO performance.
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