HTTP Status Codes for SEO: A Complete Reference

HTTP status codes are the language your server uses to communicate with search engines about the state of your pages. Using the wrong status code can cause pages to drop from the index, redirect equity to be lost, or crawl budget to be wasted on error pages. Despite their importance, status codes are frequently misconfigured — we routinely find sites returning 200 status codes for error pages, using 302s where 301s are needed, or failing to implement 410 codes for permanently removed content.

Status Codes That Matter for SEO

200 OK

The standard success code. The page exists and is being served correctly. Every page you want indexed should return a 200 status code. The most common 200-related SEO problem is soft 404s — pages that return a 200 status code but display error or empty content. Google may detect soft 404s and exclude these pages from the index, but the crawl budget is still wasted.

301 Moved Permanently

Signals that a page has permanently moved to a new URL. Google transfers the majority of ranking signals from the old URL to the new one. Use 301 redirects when pages are permanently relocated — during migrations, URL restructuring, or content consolidation. Google has confirmed that 301 redirects pass full link equity, though there may be a brief transition period during reprocessing.

302 Found (Temporary Redirect)

Signals that a page has temporarily moved. Google keeps the original URL in the index and does not transfer ranking signals to the redirect target. Use 302 redirects only when the original URL will return — A/B testing, temporary maintenance, or seasonal pages. In practice, Google often treats long-standing 302s as 301s, but relying on this behavior is risky.

404 Not Found

The page does not exist. Google will eventually remove 404 pages from the index and stop crawling them, but this process can take weeks to months. Pages returning 404 that previously had backlinks or rankings lose that value permanently unless redirected. Use 404 only for pages that never existed — mistyped URLs or random crawl attempts.

410 Gone

The page existed but has been permanently removed. Google processes 410 codes faster than 404s — removing the URL from the index more quickly. Use 410 for content you have intentionally and permanently deleted. This is the preferred code for content pruning operations where you want Google to stop crawling the URL quickly.

503 Service Unavailable

The server is temporarily unable to serve the page. Google will retry the URL later and will not remove it from the index. Use 503 during planned maintenance or temporary server issues. This code tells Google the outage is temporary and to check back soon. Never use 503 for pages that are permanently gone — Google will keep recrawling indefinitely.

Soft 404 Detection and Resolution

Soft 404s are pages that return a 200 status code but contain no meaningful content — custom 404 pages, empty search results, or pages with minimal content that Google deems unhelpful. Google identifies these through content analysis and reports them in Search Console. Fix soft 404s by either adding meaningful content to the page or returning an appropriate error code (404 or 410).

• Check Search Console's Pages report for pages excluded due to 'Soft 404' status
• Verify that your custom 404 error page returns a proper 404 status code, not 200
• Check empty search result pages, empty category pages, and thin parameter URLs for soft 404 status
• Ensure server error pages return 5xx codes, not 200

Monitoring Status Codes

Set up automated monitoring for unexpected status code changes. A page that was returning 200 and suddenly returns 500 indicates a server problem. Pages silently changing from 200 to 302 or 404 can indicate CMS issues or accidental deletions. Use tools like Screaming Frog scheduled crawls, Ahrefs alerts, or custom scripts that check critical page status codes daily and alert on changes.