What Your Website Errors Really Mean (And Why Google Cares)
Ever landed on a page that says “404 Not Found” or “500 Internal Server Error”? You're not alone—and neither are your visitors. These errors aren’t just frustrating for users; they’re also big red flags for search engines like Google.
When your site throws these errors, Google sees more than just a hiccup—it sees a reason to lower your rankings or pull pages out of search results entirely.
Let’s break it down:
404 Not Found means the page is missing. If people (or Googlebots) hit too many of these, your site looks broken.
301 Redirect tells search engines a page has moved permanently. Used right, this preserves SEO value. Used wrong? You lose link equity.
500 Internal Server Error is a server-side failure. It’s like a digital “uh oh,” and it tells Google your site might not be trustworthy.
Broken links, bad redirects, and server errors all tell a story—just not the one you want Google to hear.
Want to know exactly what these codes mean and how to fix them before they wreck your SEO?