What is HTTPS for SEO?

HTTPS stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure. It is an encrypted version of HTTP. In normal scenarios, HTTP data is unencrypted or we can say not secured. When you send a request to a server for a particular website then it goes through a lot of traffic on the way before it reaches you. In HTTP every information is visible to every traffic and every server on the way. But when you use HTTPS, the information remains between the main server and you about whatever site you want to visit. 

What is HTTP2 for SEO?

HTTP2 is a new and more efficient way of transferring the web pages. It requires HTTPS to work. It makes websites faster. The HTTP1 opens and closes a request for every single file, image, script file, etc. On the other hand, HTTP2 opens one connection and sends each file through that single connection. For that reason, it is faster.

HTTP status code and what they mean for SEO?   

HTTP status codes like 404, 301, and 505 may seem simple and normal for the users or the visitors but they play a significant role in SEO. They inform the search engine spiders about the health of a certain site. They also explain the things that happen in between the server and the browser. All these status codes have different meanings. For example, some of them say the website is available to visit and some say it can not be found. We will discuss in detail all about them.

What are HTTP status codes and why do you see them?

When the browser makes a request to the server, the server sends a message on whether the request is fulfilled or not. This message is called the HTTP status code. There are various status codes that tell us about the site. 

Different Ranges

HTTP status codes have five different ranges that define the different aspects of the transaction process between the client and server. Here are the ranges:

• 1XX Informational 
• 2XX Success
• 3XX Redirection
• 4XX Client Error
• 5XX Server Error 

What are the main HTTP status codes for SEO?

• 200 OK/Success: All the messages that contain 2XX means success. When the user requests a server for something and the server returns 200, then it means the client got the requested content. In this case, both the server and client are happy. 

• 301 Moved Permanently: Sometimes pages are moved from one location to another. Make sure to inform the server about the modified location. For this, use the 301 HTTP header. Otherwise, the client will see a 404 error page not found. The 301 header will make sure that the link of the old URL transfers to the new one.

• 302 Found: A 302 means that the target destination has been found but it lives under a different location. One disadvantage of this status is that it does not give information on whether the location is temporary or permanent. Use this status code if you want to move the URL on a temporary basis and will use the same URL again. Now the search knows that you will use the same URL again and that is why it will not transfer the link value to the new URL location. So it is suggested not to use this 302 status code when moving your domain or making some important changes to your site structure.

• 307 Temporary Redirect: Redirect status code indicates that the source requested has been moved temporarily to the URL given in the header. You can use the 307 redirect method if you need to redirect the URL temporarily to a new location while keeping the original request method intact. It looks like 302 but the difference is that it tells that the URL is moved temporarily but 302 does not specify.

• 403 Forbidden: This status code means the client is requesting the resource that is forbidden due to some reason. There is a client-related issue due to which server is able to understand the request but can not fulfill it. This may occur when they do not have the correct credential to login and the content stays forbidden for the user. 

• 404 Not Found: This is the most important status code and we often see this. When the server gives the 404 error message it means the page is not found or may be deleted. It should be fixed as soon as possible. We should set a redirect status code to send the user from the old URL to the new page. 

• 410 Gone: 410 status code means no content found. It is similar to 404 but the difference is 410 tells the search engine that you deleted the requested content. In this way, you inform the search engine to remove the page from the index. 

• 451 Unavailable for Legal Reasons: 451 error code is displayed when the user searches for the content which is removed due to legal reasons. If you get orders from the government that you can not use the content and you are asked to remove the content then you can use this 451 status code to inform the search engines what happened to that page or content. 

• 500 Internal Server Error: This general status code means there is something wrong with the site’s server but the server is not sure about what exactly happened to that. This error can come anywhere, maybe your web host is doing something funny or a script on your site is malfunctioning. To check where the things go wrong you can check your company’s logo. 
• 503 Service Unavailable: You can use this code when you need to make some changes to your site. This status code gives the error when it is not possible to provide the requested queries due to overload or outage.