Fix a non-200 HTTP status code

Every web page returns a three-digit HTTP status code on every request. 200 = OK. 301/302 = redirect. 4xx = client error (404 not found, 403 forbidden). 5xx = server error. Google only indexes pages that return 200, anything else and the page is treated as broken or moved.

A page that returns 404 or 500 will be removed from Google's index within days, regardless of how good its SEO is. A 301 means Google follows the redirect and indexes the destination, fine if intentional, a problem if accidental. Fixing the status code is the only path forward.

1. 1

   Reproduce the error

   Open the URL in a private/incognito window. Use DevTools > Network > look at the document request's status code. Note whether it is consistently failing or only sometimes.

2. 2

   For 404: restore the page or redirect the URL

   If the page was deleted on purpose, set up a 301 redirect to the closest replacement (NOT the homepage, be specific). If it was deleted by accident, restore it from version control or your CMS trash.

   # Nginx: 301 redirect a deleted URL to a relevant replacement
   location = /old-services/airport-transfers {
     return 301 /services/airport-car-service;
   }

3. 3

   For 5xx: check your server logs

   A 500 error means your server crashed handling the request. Look at error logs (Nginx error_log, Apache logs, your hosting dashboard, or your framework's server logs). Common causes: database connection failure, out-of-memory, unhandled exception, plugin conflict.

4. 4

   For 403: fix permissions

   Forbidden errors usually mean a file system permission issue (chmod), a misconfigured WAF, or a Cloudflare/security plugin blocking the request. Whitelist Googlebot in any bot-filtering settings.

5. 5

   Request re-indexing after the fix

   Google Search Console > URL Inspection > paste the URL > Request Indexing. Google will re-crawl within a day or two and remove the error from your Coverage report.

Reload the URL and check the Network tab, the status should be 200. In Search Console > URL Inspection, the response should say "URL is on Google" (after re-crawl).

• Google: How HTTP status codes affect Search
• MDN: HTTP response status codes