HTTP status codes are short responses from a web server that explain what happened to a request. You do not need to memorise all of them, but a few are useful when troubleshooting hosting issues.
200 OK
The request worked. If a page returns 200, the server delivered a normal response.
301 and 302 Redirects
A 301 is a permanent redirect. A 302 is temporary. Use 301 redirects for changed URLs you want search engines and visitors to treat as moved permanently.
403 Forbidden
The server understood the request but refuses access. This can be caused by permissions, security rules, missing index files, or blocked IP addresses.
404 Not Found
The requested URL does not exist at that path. Check permalinks, rewrite rules, file paths, and whether the URL changed.
500 Errors
A 500-series response usually means the server or application hit an error. Check error logs, recent code changes, plugin updates, and PHP compatibility.
Status codes are clues, not final answers. Pair them with logs and recent change history.
Success and Redirect Codes
200 means the server returned content, not necessarily the correct content. 301 and 308 indicate permanent redirects; 302 and 307 are temporary. Check the Location header and avoid chains that send visitors through several hops.
Client Error Codes
400 indicates a malformed request, 401 requires authentication, 403 refuses access, 404 cannot find the resource and 429 signals rate limiting. A branded error page must still return the correct status rather than a misleading 200.
Server and Gateway Errors
500 usually points to application or server configuration, while 502, 503 and 504 often involve upstream services, unavailable capacity or timeouts. Record the URL and timestamp, then inspect application, web-server and proxy logs before changing settings.
Check the Response Directly
Browser pages can hide redirects and substitute friendly error screens. Use developer tools or a command such as curl -I to inspect the actual status and headers. Test both the canonical URL and the failing request, and check whether a CDN returns a different response from the origin.
Fix the Cause, Not the Number
Do not force every response to 200. Removed pages should return 404 or 410 unless a relevant replacement exists, permanent moves should redirect, and temporary outages may justify 503 with a retry period. Correct status codes help browsers, monitoring and search engines understand what happened.
