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How HTTP status codes affect SEO
Verified against official sources · Last checked 6 October 2026
Short answer
The HTTP status code your server returns tells Google what to do with a URL: 200 means index the content, 301 and 308 move ranking signals to a new URL, 404 and 410 eventually drop the page, and 429, 500 and 503 make Google slow down crawling and retry later.
What does each status code do to SEO?
| Code | Name | Effect on Google Search |
|---|---|---|
| 200 | OK | Google passes the content on for indexing, but a 200 alone does not guarantee the page gets indexed. |
| 301 | Moved Permanently | Google follows it and takes it as a strong signal that the target URL should become canonical. |
| 302 | Found | Google follows it but takes it only as a weak signal that the target should be canonical. |
| 304 | Not Modified | Tells Google the content has not changed since the last crawl; it generally has no effect on indexing. |
| 307 | Temporary Redirect | Handled the same as a 302: followed, weak canonical signal. |
| 308 | Permanent Redirect | Handled the same as a 301: followed, strong canonical signal. |
| 404 | Not Found | Already indexed URLs are dropped from the index, new ones are not processed, and crawl frequency for them slowly falls; it does not hurt the rest of the site. |
| 410 | Gone | Google treats it like any other 4xx (other than 429): the URL is removed from the index. |
| 429 | Too Many Requests | Google treats it as a server-overload signal and slows its crawling of the site for a while. |
| 500 | Internal Server Error | Google lowers its crawl rate for the site; URLs that keep failing are eventually dropped from the index. |
| 503 | Service Unavailable | Handled like other 5xx errors: crawling slows down, and long-lasting errors lead to URLs leaving the index; suitable for short planned downtime. |
Source: Google — How HTTP status codes affect Google Search