Http response codes are the important aspects of SEO and it also affects the search engine ranking.
WHAT IS HTTP?
Source: Wiki
HTTP stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol and they are response status codes are returned whenever search engines like Google, Bing, yahoo, or website users make a request to a web server. These 3 – digit codes denotes the response and status of HTTP requests. HTTP/2 is the latest version of HTTP was standardized in 2015, then supported by major web browser sand web servers. The status code is a section of the http/1.1 official standard (RFC- 7231).
Mostly Used Http Code for SEO
- We use 301 HTTP response code to redirect webpages rather than 302 redirects to ensure that link juice (link authority) is passing between website pages.
- Web pages that return 404 status code (File Not found) should be a redirect or removed from the website.
- It is important to have customized 404 pages with a list of pages.
Quick Overview of Status Code
Source: oncrawl
- 100s – Informational and Request has been received, the process is continuing.
- 200s – Ok, Request is received & processed successfully.
- 300s – Redirections: Request has been received, but needs to perform an additional step to complete the request.
- 400s – Client side Error: It means that request is made by the user, but the page is not valid or not available at that time.
- 500s – Server-side Error: This kind of response code indicates that the valid request mad by a user, but the server unable to complete the request.
Important http Status Codes for SEO and Search Engines
Sourec: Slideshare
1XX Informational
The code which is start with 1xxx, xxx means any number, it tells that Request is received, and the process is continuing.
Status Code: –
- 100 Continue
- 101 Switching Protocols
- 102 Processing
2XX Success
This class of status codes denotes that action requested by the client was received, understood, accepted, and processed successfully.
Status Code: –
- 200 OK
- 202 Accepted
- 201 Created
- 203 Non-Authoritative Information
- 204 No Content
- 205 Content is reset
- 206 Content is Partial
- 207 Multi-Status
- 208 Already Reported
- 226 IM Used
3XX Redirection
This class of response code indicates that the client must take additional action to complete the request. These codes are mostly used in SEO to pass the link juice or in redirection
Status Code: –
- 301 Moved Permanently- Page to permanently redirect to other URL.
- 302 Found- Temporary redirection: – We use 302 with the functionality of a 303 to redirect the webpage, and it doesn’t pass the link authority. When we do not want to give weight to redirection page on that situation we use this code.
- 303 See Other –The response to the request can be found under another URI using a GET method.
- 304 Not Modified
- 305 Use Proxy
- 306 Switch Proxy
- 300 Multiple Choices
4XX Client Error
This class of code used when a request was made by the client, but the page is not valid or not available at that time.
Status Code: –
- 400 Bad Request
- 401 Unauthorized
- 402 Payment Required
- 403 Is Forbidden
- 404 Is Not Found
- 407 Proxy Authentication Required for User
- 405 Method Not Allowed
- 406 Not Acceptable
- 408 Request Timeout
- 409 Conflict error
- 410 webpage is Gone
- 411 Length Required
- 412 Precondition Failed
- 413 Payload Too Large
- 414 URI Too Long
- 415 Unsupported Media Type
- 416 Range Not Satisfiable
- 429 Too Many Requests
5XX Server Error
This class of code shown by a server when a valid request sent by the client is not full fill by the server side.
Status Code: –
- 500 Internal Server Error
- 501 Not Implemented
- 502 Bad Gateway
- 503 Service Unavailable
- 504 Gateway Timeout
- 505 HTTP Version Not Supported
- 506 Variant Also Negotiates
- 507 Insufficient Storage
- 508 Loop Detected
Unofficial Codes
These are codes which are not approved by RFC (Request for Comments) but the third party used these code to provide semantic or RESTful error responses
Status Code: –
- 103 Checkpoint
- 450 Blocked by Windows Parental Controls (By Microsoft)
- 420 Enhance Your Calm (By Twitter)
- 499 Request has been forbidden by antivirus
- 509 Bandwidth range Exceeded (B Apache)
- 530 website is frozen
How do they Affect SEO Ranking
If you are using 302 code instead of 301 then you are not passing link juice, in that case, your ranking will be affected. In some cases 404 pages reasons for dropping in ranking once you redirect your pages by 301 status code then might be your rank will be better.a
