There are several SEO-relevant HTTP response status codes that can impact the ability of a page to be indexed and rank well in search results. These are the most common ones:
- 200 OK: This status code indicates that the page is successfully accessible and can be indexed by search engines.
- 301 Moved Permanently: This status code is used for permanent redirects and signals to search engines that the page has moved to a new URL. Search engines will typically transfer any ranking and link juice from the old URL to the new URL.
- 302 Found (Temporary Redirect): This status code is used for temporary redirects and does not transfer ranking and link juice to the new URL.
- 404 Not Found: This status code indicates that the page cannot be found and is not accessible. Search engines will not index pages that return a 404 status code.
- 410 Gone: This status code indicates that the page is no longer available and will not be coming back. Search engines will typically remove pages that return a 410 status code from their index. Google also ignores the power and meaning of all in links pointing towards a 410 URL, which is enabling webmasters to get around a portal-wide penalty when setting a URL with bad links to a page giving a 410 status code back.
- 500 Internal Server Error: This status code indicates a server-side issue that prevents the page from being accessible. Search engines may have difficulty indexing pages that return a 500 status code.
- 503 Service Unavailable: This status code indicates that the website is temporarily down for maintenance or due to an issue with the server. Search engines may temporarily de-index pages that return a 503 status code.
Tooltip
Whenever you are checking a page’s internal links and you want to find out fast which links are redirected or broken you can find a list of useful Chrome Browser Extensions here.