Monitoring HTTP Status Codes with Screaming Frog

In the SEO world every detail matters, especially HTTP status codes, which significantly impact your website’s success and visibility. 

Here’s why these codes are important for search engine optimization:

Crawlability

Googlebot and other search engines regularly crawl websites to index their content. HTTP status codes inform these bots whether a page is accessible. 

For example, a 200 OK status confirms access and allows indexing, while other codes may signal crawling issues.

Indexability

Even if a page is crawled, it may not be indexed if it returns a 404 Not Found. 

Google does not index URLs that return 4xx errors, and previously indexed pages returning 4xx will be removed from the index.

User Experience

SEO is not just about rankings—it’s also about providing a positive user experience. Correct HTTP status codes prevent users from encountering errors. 

A 404 error can frustrate users and increase bounce rates, which negatively affects SEO.

Page Ranking

Search engines factor user experience into rankings. Sites with broken links (404 errors) or poor user experience can see their rankings drop.

Duplicate Content

HTTP status codes help prevent duplicate content issues. 

For example, a 301 redirect indicates a page has permanently moved, consolidating ranking signals and avoiding duplicate content penalties.

What are HTTP status codes?

HTTP status codes help prevent duplicate content issues. 

For example, a 301 redirect indicates a page has permanently moved, consolidating ranking signals and avoiding duplicate content penalties.

HTTP status codes are grouped into five categories, each represented by the first digit of the code:

1xx: Informational

2xx: Success

3xx: Redirection

4xx: Client Errors

5xx: Server Errors

In SEO, you often can come across the next, most common HTTP status codes:

200 OK

301 Moved permanently

302 Found / Moved temporarily

404 Not Found

503 Service Unavailable

Now, let's dive deeper into these Status Codes: 

1. 2xx - Success

The server has successfully processed the request. Consistent 200 OK responses help ensure search engines can crawl and index your content.

2. 3xx - Redirection

301 Moved Permanently: Indicates a permanent redirect to a new URL and passes SEO value to the new address—a must when updating URLs or merging content.

302 Found/307 Temporary Redirect: Indicates temporary redirections. For SEO, always use 301 for permanent changes, as 302 may not transfer SEO equity.

3. 4xx - Client Errors

404 Not Found: This code means the page does not exist. 

Customize your 404 page with helpful info and navigation to keep visitors and avoid SEO penalties.

4. 5xx - Server Errors

500 Internal Server Error: Indicates server-side issues. Frequent errors harm SEO by reducing site reliability and crawl frequency.

Checking HTTP Status Codes with Screaming Frog

Many tools can check your website's HTTP status codes; Screaming Frog is a popular desktop solution for this purpose. 

Here’s how to use it:

1. Download and install Screaming Frog SEO Spider from the official website (https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/).

2. Open the application, enter your website's URL at the top, and click "Start" to begin crawling.