Server Errors That May Affect SEO

The server is the foundation of your company’s website. There are status codes that can affect SEO, but only a few marketers know them.

Mostly, three types of status codes can drain your site’s SEO value. When a server is sent a request, it sends back a server header status code. It is followed by HTML codes that display the web page to the visitor.

Each status code delivers a different message to the visitor’s browser. And each has a different effect on SEO.

One of the status codes that are beneficial to SEO is 200 OK. It results in a page being displayed in the visitor’s browser. This code tells the search engines that your site is operating as expected. That is if the page shows the desired page.

In turn, the search engines will view it that the page can be trusted.

Now, if the 200 OK status is not delivered as the content does not exist, a 301 server header status code is the option. Also known as a 301 redirect, it changes the address card and tells the search engines and browser where the content is located now.

301 redirects are beneficial as they pass link authority to the new page or URL. They also redirect the visitor to the right content while they prompt the search engine to de-index an old URL.

Harmful Server Errors

If 301 is beneficial to SEO, the 302 status code is detrimental. It redirects the visitor to the new content. For your site’s visitors, this code is okay as they obtain the content and make a purchase.

Unfortunately, the 302 does not pass link authority to the new page. It also does not tell the search engines to de-index the old URL.

Another server error that’s harmful to SEO is the 400-level status code. 404 and 410 are the most common. But 404 tells the search engines that the URL is no longer available, and it must be reindexed without passing the link authority to the latest page.

Because link authority is vital in SEO, it is better to use 301 redirects, instead of 404 or 410. Furthermore, search engines do not rank a site with so many 400 errors.

The 500-level status code is another harmful server error. It means that the server is experiencing errors preventing them from delivering the right page to the user. If your site returns 500 errors frequently, your site’s rankings will fall.

Remember that search engines do not want to rank a site with poor uptime.