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03.23.09 Understanding What HTTP Status Codes Mean  By
Stephen Pitts Sometimes not understanding why a website isn't performing well can be a difficult thing to figure out. However, many times it is important to take a step back and look at what signals can be seen. When looking for technical concerns can appear to be a daunting task, however, we are going to review server responses and hopefully I can help you take a look at a website and not feel like you just pulled up to the intersection pictured here. If you are like me, you like to leave the mechanics of pretty much everything important to those who know not only what is going on, but also how to fix the concern. But, if you are also like me, you really want to know what is going on and knowing what the outcome should be can ensure proper management of expectations, usually your own! To ensure accuracy you might need a tool and a couple of minutes to check things out, however, showing up at the desk of the person in charge of the web server with the right information is usually the first step in a speedy recovery if anything is wrong. So, with that I will cover the most common classes and numbers of HTTP Status Codes, what they do and what they should do send the right signals to search engines. HTTP Status Codes • 200 Series - Successful • 200 - The request has been successfully completed, aka "here it is." • 300 Series - Redirected • 301 - The page requested has been permanently moved to the given page, aka "permanent detour." • 302 - The page requested has been temporarily moved to the given page, aka "temporary detour." • 400 Series - Error Request • 404 - The requested information is not available, aka "can't find it." • 500 Series - Server Error • 500 - Internal server error resulting in inability to fulfill request, aka "too busy."
I know, you are thinking, I know the lingo and what these mean to the engines but I really don't know how or where to find these mysterious server responses. Here are a couple of tools that are easy to use and understand. The first is a plugin for Firefox called Httpfox and the other way, if you are using IE, Chrome or another browser, is to use a browser based tool like Web Sniffer. I prefer Httpfox because you can keep it running and check the server response code while you surf, bonus! So, you know what to look for and you have the tool to check it out, what now? Know when and why a certain server response should be used. Every page you publish intentionally should return a 200 response, except your custom 404 page. This let's the search engine crawler know that everything is good to go. Continue reading this article. About the Author: In-house SEO for a private travel company with great success. Has been influential in developing and building a niche travel directory and search engine. I enjoy learning and sharing information on my blog, SEOPittfall.com to others in an effort to build relevant, content driven websites with the user in mind. | ||||||||
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