HTTP Status Code

Why it matters

The HTTP status code is what your server tells browsers and search engines about a URL. A 200 means the page is there and accessible. Everything else is either a redirect, a problem, or an error.

Google does not index pages that consistently return errors. A 404 or 500 on a page that previously ranked means that page is effectively removed from search until the error is resolved. Google may retain the page in its index for a time, but continued errors accelerate deindexing.

Redirects are more nuanced. A 301 passes most ranking signals to the destination URL. A 302, defined as temporary, may not pass signals depending on how long it has been in place. Redirect chains — where a 301 points to another 301 — dilute signal transfer and slow page load.

A status code of 0 in Coffeepot's output means the page failed to respond at all: connection timeout, DNS failure, or the server dropped the connection.

How we check it

We record the HTTP status code returned when Coffeepot fetches the page. This is the final status code after following any redirects — so if your URL redirects to another page, we record the status of the destination.

If the status code changes between crawls, we flag it with before/after values.

What to watch for

A page moving from 200 to anything else deserves immediate attention. A 500 means a server error. A 404 means the URL no longer exists at that path. Both should be investigated before the next crawl.

Status codes pair closely with Robots.txt monitoring. A page may return 200 while being blocked from crawling at the robots level — two different problems with the same symptom of poor organic performance.