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pageoneresults
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From: Orange, CA USA
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Check Server Headers - HTTP Status Code Checker - 1/2/2004 11:17:06
Let's talk about HTTP Status Codes today and what they mean to you as a web site developer, owner, promoter, etc.
An HTTP Status Code is what your server returns in the header for that particular URI (or URL which is now deprecated in favor of URI). So, if you were to use one of the many Server Header Checker tools out there, you might see something like this for your page if everything is set up properly...
Server Response: http://www.seoconsultants.com/w3c/status-codes.asp
Status: HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: Microsoft-IIS/5.0
Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2003 05:31:00 GMT
Content-Length: 25468
Content-Type: text/html
Cache-control: private
The status of HTTP/1.1 200 OK means that everything is okay. Any pages that are visible to the public should return this status code (in most instances).
Now, let's talk about the other three that are of primary importance from an indexing and search engine marketing perspective.
301 | 302 | 404
A 301 is referred to as a Permanent Redirect. The specification labels it 301 Moved Permanently. Anytime you have a page that is renamed or moved and it was linked to heavily or had search engine positions that you don't want to lose, a 301 should be put in place to handle the requests and Permanently Redirect them to the new URI. If you don't have the facilities to do this, check with your host to see if they are willing to work with you to implement it.
A 302 is referred to as a Temporary Redirect. The specification labels it 302 Found. I've not seen any reason as of yet for our clients to utilize a 302 as it tells the indexing spider to maintain the current URI but to temporarily use the returned URI for indexing. This can cause some issues especially when using the redirect features of most registrars which return a 302. Anytime you set up a domain for type-in traffic, it should be set up as a 301 permanent redirect. If you don't have the facilities to set this up, then don't try to capture that type-in traffic if the returned server header response is 302.
A 404 is referred to as a Not Found. The specifaction labels it 404 Not Found. This is what is returned if the requested resource (URI) no longer exists. This should happen if someone types in an incorrect address for your resource. It will also happen if you've removed a page and not set up a 301 to redirect the request to the new URI.
I've seen many 404 pages returning a 200 status code which is incorrect. You don't want the spiders indexing your 404s. If a 200 status is returned for a 404 request, the spider thinks the request is valid and traverses your 404 page if you have one in place.
You should check your server headers to make sure the proper HTTP Status Codes are being returned where applicable. You should request that your host set up a 301 permanent redirect for seoconsultants.com to permenantly redirect to www.seoconsultants.com. This is important as seoconsultants.com is a sub-domain of www.seoconsultants.com and in theory could have different content. Most search engines realize this and will maintain one or the other in their database. It is all relative to how many links you have that point to seoconsultants.com or www.seoconsultants.com. You should encourage your link partners to link to the full URI with the www. Unless of course you are promoting the non www version of your domain then you would want to make sure that the www.seoconsultants.com is permanently redirected to seoconsultants.com.
For more information on HTTP Status Codes and access to a tool that will check your server headers, go here...
HTTP Status Codes - Redirecting URIs in Apache and IIS
Check Server Headers - HTTP Status Code Checker
The above check server headers tool we built over the holiday weekend. If you have any questions regarding any of this, feel free to ask. I will do my best to provide the information you may be looking for in reference to HTTP Status Codes.
< Message edited by Thomas Brunt -- 9/28/2004 16:53:57 >
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faca5
Posts: 1
Joined: 9/26/2004
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RE: Check Server Headers - HTTP Status Code Checker - 9/26/2004 4:46:04
Hello.
It is avaible for download? Something like that (http://www.seoconsultants.com/tools/headers.asp), I will need at this moment?
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pageoneresults
Posts: 1001
From: Orange, CA USA
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RE: Check Server Headers - HTTP Status Code Checker - 9/29/2004 12:25:22
Hello faca5, Welcome to Outfront!
I sent faca5 a response to a message they sent us about our Check Server Headers Tool. We could not fill their requirements but it reminded me that my programmer built a SOAP utility to check your server headers. Don't ask me how it works! This is strictly for the techies. If you do utilize our Web Services, please provide credit to the source. ;)
Here is a copy of the email I sent to faca5 talking about the SOAP interface...
quote:
We do have web application that you can utilize here...
http://www.seoconsultants.com/webservices/main.asmx
My programmer set that up for me months ago and I've not had the time to test or try to figure out what the heck is going on there. ;)
If you can get it to work for your requirements, please do explain to me how it works and what you did to get it to work.
We've been real busy with other priorities so the above tool has been neglected. Based on what my programmer tells me, it's the bomb!
Good luck. Don't forget to provide credits to the SEO Consultants Directory (http://www.seoconsultants.com/). Thanks!
Thomas, thanks for the mention in this weeks newsletter. Our Check Server Headers Tool has been one of the most visited and used pages on our site. We get rave reviews regularly.
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_gail
Posts: 2874
From: So FL
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RE: Check Server Headers - HTTP Status Code Checker - 9/29/2004 12:48:07
You're over my head, PageOne. Not your fault, it's mine. But I have some questions.
When checking my stats, I have a number of Document Not Found, Moved permanently, etc. I created custom error pages but have been told they do not work for FrontPage users...so I am stuck.
How does what you're suggesting compare to custom error pages? Does it work for those with FrontPage extenstions installed?
gail
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pageoneresults
Posts: 1001
From: Orange, CA USA
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RE: Check Server Headers - HTTP Status Code Checker - 9/29/2004 21:40:09
quote:
ORIGINAL: _gail
When checking my stats, I have a number of Document Not Found, Moved permanently, etc. I created custom error pages but have been told they do not work for FrontPage users... so I am stuck.
Custom error pages concern me. I've seen many of those custom 404 pages returning a 200 status when they should be returning a 404 status. Have you checked yours with the Server Header Tool to verify that they are returning the proper status codes?
I've run into quite a few of those custom 404 pages that were generating loops through various pages and varying status codes. I'd guess that would not be a real friendly solution for spiders. ;)
quote:
How does what you're suggesting compare to custom error pages? Does it work for those with FrontPage extenstions installed?
This has nothing to do with FP Extensions. If you are on a Windows Server and can have your host install ISAPI_Rewrite, that would be the very first step to take as many hosts refuse to install ISAPI Filters on their shared hosting servers. What they fail to realize is, ISAPI_Rewrite operates flawlessly and without fail 100% of the time. We've not had one problem related to this since installation a couple of years ago.
Your host needs to install the ISAPI_Rewrite .ini at the root level of the server. It is a very simple process and does not affect any sites if the installation is correct. From there, you can then drop a local .ini file at the root of each site. You purchase the $69.00 single server license and that covers whatever sites are hosted on that server. Since each site has its own httpd.ini file at the root, the site owner controls his/her redirect and URI rewrite routines.
I know, I know, some of this, if not all of it may sound like Greek to most of you. It did to me too when I first started studying all of this. Man, that was five, six years ago. And it just really hit me a couple of years ago how important all of this is. You would be surprised at the number of problems created with incorrect server header responses. Take the 404 example, the purpose of a 404 is to tell the requestor that the page cannot be found. It does not exist. Do not index again. When you return a 200 status code which is OK, then the spider is instructed to maintain that URI in its database. This creates problems. Some that I still don't understand. But, I know enough to avoid them and find them when they exist. That one tool, the Server Header Checker, will become your best friend when verifying the technical aspects of site deployment.
quote:
When checking my stats, I have a number of Document Not Found, Moved permanently, etc.
These could be any number of things. Many could be favicon requests, bad bots, etc. Why do you have Moved Permanently? Do you have something set up with 301s/302s?
quote:
I created custom error pages but have been told they do not work for FrontPage users...so I am stuck.
Nope, your not stuck. You just need a host who is willing to work with you to install the ISAPI filter. And then you may want to hire a consultant to perform a few rewrites and redirects for you so you can see how it all works. Most of the time it is just a few lines of code in the httpd.ini file that controls all aspects of server header response management.
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_gail
Posts: 2874
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RE: Check Server Headers - HTTP Status Code Checker - 9/30/2004 17:47:24
Thanks so very much, pageone, for the reply. You've given me a lot to digest and think about.
btw, I am not using custom error pages at my site. I created them but they won't work because I publish with FrontPage and use FP extensions. I'm not on a windows server. Also, the host bends over backwards for clients so if something could be done with custom error pages, it would have been accomplished already.
gail
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Reflect
Posts: 4767
From: USA
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RE: Check Server Headers - HTTP Status Code Checker - 10/4/2004 8:50:45
quote:
Custom error pages concern me. I've seen many of those custom 404 pages returning a 200 status when they should be returning a 404 status. Have you checked yours with the Server Header Tool to verify that they are returning the proper status codes?
Bingo!!!!!
Every host I have asked for a custom 404 page would ALWAYS give a 200 status when checking after the request had been marked completed. Normally it would come down to a phone call with tech. support to get it changed to the right status.
Take care,
Brian
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business
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RE: Check Server Headers - HTTP Status Code Checker - 12/15/2006 13:50:48
theres always more than one avenue to chose from
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pageoneresults
Posts: 1001
From: Orange, CA USA
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RE: Check Server Headers - HTTP Status Code Checker - 1/5/2007 19:45:21
Happy New Year everyone!
To start the New Year off with a bang, we've taken our Check Server Headers Tool and have bumped it up a notch (or two). We have now included advanced features such as the ability to mimic a predefined User Agent like Googlebot or Slurp. We've also added backwards support for HTTP/1.0. GET and HEAD requests are supported. And get this, we now show you what the final destination page looks like. That's right! Not only do you get to see all of the server responses (recursive lookups), you can also view the resulting page just as the User Agent would. ;)
Enjoy!
http://www.seoconsultants.com/tools/headers/
P.S. We are gladly accepting feedback, your wish list, etc. If we see a feature you want to add is of benefit, which I'm sure most will be, we're going to add it for you.
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treetopsranch
Posts: 963
From: Cottage Grove, OR, USA
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RE: Check Server Headers - HTTP Status Code Checker - 1/5/2007 22:29:38
OK I tried it but it only seemed to look at the index page. Is that the way it is supposed to act or did I do something wrong?
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BobbyDouglas
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RE: Check Server Headers - HTTP Status Code Checker - 1/5/2007 22:33:52
It will only check the response headers for a specific URL. It doesn't crawl your website and then report each page's response header.
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treetopsranch
Posts: 963
From: Cottage Grove, OR, USA
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RE: Check Server Headers - HTTP Status Code Checker - 1/6/2007 15:50:06
Yes, but since we are mainly concerned about error codes 301, 302, and 404, (See first post by Pageoneresults) does it really make sense to just check the home page. Golly, if that page returns one of those codes then that site has real problems. Would'nt you want to crawl the whole site to see if any links produce any of those error codes?
Or am I not understanding the problem?
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BobbyDouglas
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RE: Check Server Headers - HTTP Status Code Checker - 1/6/2007 16:16:36
Most people are going to use that tool to make sure that the correct error code is sent.
If you are looking for a tool that checks if you have missing pages, then you will want something specifically for that (these will actually crawl the links on your website). Here's one that will check your website for missing pages.
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