These are the most common server errors
Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2025 10:30 am
Google separates crawl errors into two categories: site errors and URL errors.
Let's explore both.
Site errors
Site errors are crawl errors that can affect your entire website.
Server, DNS and robots.txt errors are the most common.
Server errors
Server errors (which return a 5xx HTTP status code ) occur when the server prevents the page from loading.
:
Internal Server Error (500): The server cannot complete bulgaria phone number database the request. But it can also be triggered when more specific errors are not available.
Bad Gateway Error (502): A server is acting as a gateway and receives an invalid response from another server
Service Unavailable Error (503): The server is currently unavailable, usually when the server is under repair or being upgraded
Gateway Timeout Error (504): A server is acting as a gateway and does not receive a response from another server in time. Such as when there is too much traffic on the website.
When search engines consistently encounter 5xx errors, it can slow down a website's crawl rate.
This means that search engines like Google may not be able to discover and index all of your content.
Advice
Google is likely to remove URLs with recurring 5xx issues from its index. So be sure to track down any 5xx errors using Site Audit.
Find and fix external link errors
with the Site Audit Tool
Try it for free →
ADS illustration
DNS errors
A Domain Name System (DNS) error occurs when search engines are unable to connect to your domain.
Every website and device has at least one Internet Protocol (IP) address that uniquely identifies it on the web.
DNS makes it easier for people and computers to communicate with each other by matching domain names to their IP addresses.
Without DNS, we would manually enter a website's IP address instead of typing its URL.
So, instead of entering in your URL bar, you would use our IP address: "34.120.45.191."
DNS errors are less common than server errors. But these are the ones you may encounter:
DNS Timeout: Your DNS server has not responded to the search engine's request in time
DNS Lookup: The search engine could not reach your website because your DNS server could not locate your domain name
Errors in Robots.txt
Robots.txt errors arise when search engines are unable to retrieve your robots.txt file.
Let's explore both.
Site errors
Site errors are crawl errors that can affect your entire website.
Server, DNS and robots.txt errors are the most common.
Server errors
Server errors (which return a 5xx HTTP status code ) occur when the server prevents the page from loading.
:
Internal Server Error (500): The server cannot complete bulgaria phone number database the request. But it can also be triggered when more specific errors are not available.
Bad Gateway Error (502): A server is acting as a gateway and receives an invalid response from another server
Service Unavailable Error (503): The server is currently unavailable, usually when the server is under repair or being upgraded
Gateway Timeout Error (504): A server is acting as a gateway and does not receive a response from another server in time. Such as when there is too much traffic on the website.
When search engines consistently encounter 5xx errors, it can slow down a website's crawl rate.
This means that search engines like Google may not be able to discover and index all of your content.
Advice
Google is likely to remove URLs with recurring 5xx issues from its index. So be sure to track down any 5xx errors using Site Audit.
Find and fix external link errors
with the Site Audit Tool
Try it for free →
ADS illustration
DNS errors
A Domain Name System (DNS) error occurs when search engines are unable to connect to your domain.
Every website and device has at least one Internet Protocol (IP) address that uniquely identifies it on the web.
DNS makes it easier for people and computers to communicate with each other by matching domain names to their IP addresses.
Without DNS, we would manually enter a website's IP address instead of typing its URL.
So, instead of entering in your URL bar, you would use our IP address: "34.120.45.191."
DNS errors are less common than server errors. But these are the ones you may encounter:
DNS Timeout: Your DNS server has not responded to the search engine's request in time
DNS Lookup: The search engine could not reach your website because your DNS server could not locate your domain name
Errors in Robots.txt
Robots.txt errors arise when search engines are unable to retrieve your robots.txt file.