HTTP Status Checker

💡 HEAD is faster for large pages

🔄 Follow redirects, see every hop's status code with timing, and inspect the final response's headers. Bulk mode lets you check up to 25 URLs at once — ideal for verifying redirect maps after a site migration.

HTTP Response Status Codes: IETF Standards & Search Engine Behavior

Every HTTP transaction between a client (browser, crawler, API agent) and a web server produces a 3-digit status code standardized under IETF RFC 9110. These codes determine whether search engines index content, follow links, or discard URLs from their indexes.

HTTP Status Code Categories

1. 2xx Success (Resource Available)

  • 200 OK: The standard response for successful HTTP requests. Search engines parse and index the returned HTML payload.
  • 204 No Content: The server successfully processed the request but returns no message body.

2. 3xx Redirection (URL Relocation)

  • 301 Moved Permanently: Directs crawlers to transfer link equity (PageRank) to the target URL and update indexed URLs permanently.
  • 302 Found (Temporary): Tells crawlers to fetch the target URL while keeping the original URL indexed. Does not reliably transfer link equity.
  • 307 Temporary Redirect: Guarantees that the HTTP request method (e.g. POST) is not mutated when following the redirect.
  • 308 Permanent Redirect: The permanent counterpart to 307. Passes PageRank while strictly maintaining the original HTTP request method.

3. 4xx Client Errors (Resource Unavailable)

  • 404 Not Found: The server cannot find the requested URL. Googlebot deprioritizes crawling after repeated 404s and de-indexes the page.
  • 410 Gone: Explicitly signals permanent removal. Google drops 410 pages from search indexes significantly faster than 404s.
  • 403 Forbidden: The server refuses to authorize the request (often triggered by aggressive WAFs blocking legitimate search crawlers).
  • 429 Too Many Requests: Rate limiting is active. Tells crawlers to back off and reduce request frequency.

4. 5xx Server Errors (Infrastructure Failures)

  • 500 Internal Server Error: Unhandled backend exception or database failure.
  • 502 Bad Gateway / 504 Gateway Timeout: Upstream origin server failed or timed out behind a reverse proxy (Nginx, Cloudflare).
  • 503 Service Unavailable: Temporary server maintenance. When paired with a Retry-After header, Googlebot pauses crawling without dropping rankings.

Crawl Budget & Bulk Header Auditing

Search engines allocate a finite crawl budget per domain. Excessive redirect chains, unresolved 404 errors, and slow 5xx server faults exhaust crawl bandwidth, preventing new articles from being indexed promptly.

Use the Bulk Check mode above to verify up to 25 migrated URLs simultaneously, or inspect entire redirect path sequences with our Redirect Checker.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a "Soft 404" error?

A Soft 404 occurs when a server returns a 200 OK status code for a page that actually displays a "Page Not Found", blank, or thin content message. Google flags Soft 404s in Search Console because they waste crawl resources.

How does HEAD request method differ from GET?

A HEAD request returns the exact same HTTP headers as a GET request but omits the response body. It is significantly faster for auditing large asset status codes without consuming server bandwidth.

Can broken links hurt overall domain authority?

Internal broken links leak PageRank equity and create poor user navigation. Audit all outbound and internal links across your pages using our Broken Link Checker.