Opportunities to improve SEO are everywhere, even buried in URLs. We're not talking about what comes after the www but what's before it. Use our HTTP header checker to help further optimize SEO by checking server response and the status code of your URLs – because those codes an HTTP checker provides give you invaluable insight into the health of your site.
The process for using our page status checker couldn't be more straightforward. Painfully easy. After signing up for free access to all of our SEO tools, all you have to do is copy/paste or type the individual URL into our header checker tool and click “check header”. Job done. From there we'll check URL status in an instant and neatly present your URL status.
200! 300! 400! 500! Going once, going twice…
Almost feels like an auction but those numbers represent critical information about your site and what's happening on it. Between all those levels there are dozens of codes, all of which are hidden from the end-user, unless there's something like the infamous 404 error that we've all seen, and live in the communication between browser (or client) and server.
An HTTP header checker tool makes that exchange visible but to understand the reasons for using one we mention below, you need to first understand headers themselves a bit more. In a nutshell, what happens when someone tries to access any pages on your site is that a host of HTTP requests get sent to a server and the server sends back responses, including the content. This happens in a fraction of a second with the HTTP header containing info that you can use to enhance your site's performance and therefore put yourself in better SEO standing.
The output from our response code checker – which search engine crawlers see – includes things like server software, type of content, length of content, etag, location, language and more. Working with these oft-overlooked parts of your site and telling servers how to cache your data makes a difference.
So, the main reason to use our HTTP response checker?
While there are a lot of different response codes our HTTPS status checker can spit out, there are just a handful that you're likely to see.
Among the best codes to see, when an HTTP status check returns this it means the request was successful.
This check page status is letting you know that the page you requested has been permanently redirected and reassigned and that that page will be requested.
The server header checker returning 302 is delivering a similar message to 301 with the difference being that the redirect is only temporary.
400-level codes from the headers checker are issues on the client-side, i.e., from your website’s side. When the HTTP header tool shows you 403 you know the request was sent and understood by the server but was refused. This is generally related to a permission issue.
Arguably the most well-known, or only known, URL status checker error, 404 means the page is missing and the server just straight up can’t find what’s being requested.
All of the 500-level codes from our HTTP status code checker are related to server-side issues. 500 means there’s a general error with the internal server but, frustratingly, it doesn’t point to what that issue is.
a 503 error is telling you that the server is unavailable and just isn’t ready to take or process your request. This is a temporary issue that could be caused by something like server maintenance and is often resolved quickly.
While the above are the most common error codes, we've mentioned there are many more that are possible. Here's an exhaustive list of all the possible codes our HTTP checker may give you:
