Top 6 HTTP Status Codes & Its Relevance To SEO

HTTP - Hyper Text Transfer Protocol

HTTP is a Stimulus - Response or Request - Response Protocol, its an app-layer protocol for Transmitting HTML - (hyper Text Markup Language), it serves as a bridge between browser (of the end user) & Web servers.

In other words these are the digital equivalents for the conversations between the web server and web browser

The steps that are involved for user to server response is as follows:

a. Direct browser to URL

b. Web Browser will look up the IP - (internet Protocol)

c. Web Browser sends HTTP request

d. Web Browser will render the response (from server to User)

HTTP Error codes that are significant to SEO

The error codes provide an idea of the errors on the website & some error codes can also divert traffic to a new link which is already moved from the website.

The Error codes range from 1 to 5 and each of them have an error response from the server.

List of HTTP Error codes

1. HTTP Status Code 200 - OK : When this code is seen, there is nothing that an SEO professional needs to do, as it indicated the website it working at its best, for bot the users and bots alike

2. HTTP Status Code 301 : Permanent Redirect - The code indicates the URL is now permanently moved to a new location or in other words - users and bots are redirected to a different link.

3. HTTP Status Code 302 - Temporary Redirect : The code indicates the URL has been temporarily moved to the URL given by the location header.

4. HTTP Status Code 404 - Not Found : This means the page that the browser is trying to find is not existing in the server - either the page is temporarily or permanently missing, its more like a dead end for the website and in terms of customer journey through the website, it may make the user move away from the website.

There can also be instance where a 404 page is kept on purpose, which will not lead the page to be indexed over and over again. Google Search Console guide. Provides guide lines for custom 404 pages.

Consider an example of a Online shopping platform and if there are products that have gone out of stock , this is an instance where custom 404 pages are required.

1. HTTP Status Code 410 - Gone : 410 is a permanent change; This means the page is gone and is not present in the server there is also no forwarding address set up, the traffic that comes to this page will move a dead end.

2. HTTP Status Code 500 - Internal Server Error - This indicates there is a problem with the server, both website visitor and search bots will be lost - This is an alarming situation and needs to be fixed on priority.

3. HTTP Status Code 503 - Service Unavailable - A server overload or server under temporary maintenance can lead to this issue, the search bots know that this is only for a short period of time and the will come back soon to fetch data.

The above listed error codes will help in identifying and fixing the website based on priority error codes.

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