404s, 301s, and 500s: What Your Errors Say to Google

We’ve all hit a “404 Not Found” page or watched a site crash with a “500 Internal Server Error.” To a visitor, it’s annoying. To Google? It’s a ranking signal.

Your website’s error codes say a lot—about your structure, reliability, and trustworthiness. And if you’re sending the wrong messages, your SEO could be quietly bleeding out.

Let’s decode what these HTTP status codes mean and what they’re really telling Google.

404 Not Found: The Dead End

A 404 error means the page doesn’t exist. Maybe the URL changed. Maybe it was deleted. Maybe someone misspelled a link. Either way—it’s a bad user experience.

SEO Impact:

• Occasional 404s are fine (Google understands they happen)
• A high number of broken links = poor site maintenance
• Internal 404s can drain crawl budget and authority
• Backlinks pointing to 404s waste valuable link equity

Fix It:

• Set up 301 redirects for any deleted or moved pages
• Use tools like Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, or Google Search Console to crawl for broken links
• Create a custom 404 page with helpful links (so users don’t bounce immediately)

301 Moved Permanently: The Helpful Detour

A 301 redirect tells both users and bots that the content has moved permanently to a new location. This is the gold standard for preserving SEO when you restructure or rebrand.

SEO Impact:

• Passes 90–99% of link equity to the new URL
• Ensures old pages still contribute to rankings
• Keeps users from hitting dead ends
• Helps Google update its index faster

Fix It:

• Use 301s anytime you move content to a new URL
• Avoid redirect chains (Page A → B → C) and loops
• Audit redirects regularly to ensure they’re accurate and efficient

Bonus: Use HTTPS + 301s when migrating from HTTP for secure SEO benefits.

302 Found (Temporary Redirect): Use with Caution

302s tell crawlers that the move is temporary. That might sound useful—but unless you really intend to bring the old page back, it’s better to use a 301.

SEO Impact:

• Doesn’t reliably pass link equity
• Can confuse search engines about which page to index
• May delay ranking updates for the destination page

Fix It:

• Use 301s unless you truly plan to make the change short-term
• Double-check your CMS or plugins—some default to 302s without telling you

500 Internal Server Error: The Panic Button

This one’s a red flag. A 500 error means your server had a meltdown—couldn’t load the page, couldn’t complete the request. Google hates this one.

SEO Impact:

• Can lead to deindexing if it happens frequently
• Kills crawlability during downtime
• Wrecks trust if users keep encountering it

Fix It:

• Check your error logs and hosting setup
• Scale up server resources if traffic is spiking
• Use uptime monitoring (like UptimeRobot) to catch issues fast
• Always back up before major updates that could break the site

Other Codes to Know

• 410 Gone – Tells Google a page is gone for good. Use when content is permanently removed and shouldn’t be redirected.
• 200 OK – The standard for healthy pages. This is what Google wants to see!
• 503 Service Unavailable – Temporarily down (useful for maintenance windows—tells Google not to deindex your site)

Error Management = SEO Maintenance

Errors aren’t just technical hiccups. They’re messages to Google. They say:

• “This site is reliable.”
• “This site is a mess.”
• “This site takes care of its content.”
• “This site doesn’t know what’s happening.”

Which one do you want to say?

Clean Errors = Clean Rankings

You don’t need a perfect website—but you do need a clean one. Fix your 404s. Use your 301s wisely. Watch for 500s like a hawk. Keep your crawl health strong, and your rankings will thank you.

If you need help running a full SEO health check or fixing redirects the right way, Managed Nerds can handle it—clean, clear, and crawler-approved.