How to use the HTTP status checker
- 1Choose One URL or Bulk (up to 20).
- 2Pick the Request method (GET downloads the page, HEAD asks for headers only), a User agent, and whether to Follow redirects.
- 3Enter the address and press Check status (or paste a list and press Check).
- 4Read the status and its meaning, the timings, the Response headers and the HTTPS certificate. In bulk mode, download the CSV.
Example: what a single check reports (illustrative)
https://www.example.com/old-offer/ · GET · Googlebot · Follow redirects: off
410 Gone: the page was removed on purpose. Search engines drop it slightly faster than a 404. Time to first byte: 84 ms · Total time: 86 ms Headers: content-type: text/html; charset=utf-8 · cache-control: no-cache · x-robots-tag: noindex HTTPS certificate: valid, TLSv1.3, expires in 61 days
Status meanings are the tool's own text. Timings and headers vary by site.
Status code classes: 2xx to 5xx
| Class | Meaning | Common codes |
|---|---|---|
| 2xx | Success | 200 OK, 204 No Content |
| 3xx | Redirect | 301, 302, 304 Not Modified, 307, 308 |
| 4xx | Client error: the request can't be served | 401, 403, 404 Not Found, 410 Gone, 429 Too Many Requests |
| 5xx | Server error: the server failed | 500, 502 Bad Gateway, 503 Service Unavailable, 504 Gateway Timeout |
The checker explains each code it receives in plain English, including Cloudflare's 52x codes.
Checking a list of URLs
Bulk mode checks up to 20 URLs per run, five at a time, and lists the final status, the number of redirects, the final URL and the total time for each, with a CSV download. Use it after a migration (do the old URLs redirect?), before submitting a sitemap (do all URLs return 200?), or to test the four http/https and www/non-www versions of your homepage. The method and user agent you choose apply to every URL; redirects are always followed in bulk mode.
Response headers worth checking
x-robots-tag: anoindexhere hides the page from search even if the HTML allows indexing.cache-control,etag,last-modified,age: how long browsers and CDNs keep the page.content-encoding: gzip or br means the response is compressed.strict-transport-security: forces HTTPS on return visits.link: can carry a canonical or hreflang for non-HTML files.server,via,cf-cache-status,x-cache: which server, proxy or CDN answered.
The table shows these and other SEO-, cache- and security-related headers; cookies and others are left out.
Server errors and timeouts
A 5xx status means the server answered but failed. A timeout (no answer in 10 seconds), a DNS failure (the domain doesn't resolve), a refused connection or a certificate error means it didn't answer properly at all. All of these are results about the site and are shown as such. If instead our own checker fails, the page says so separately, so a problem on our side is never reported as your site being down. For a plain up-or-down answer, use is it down.
Status codes and SEO
Only 200 pages are indexed. Search engines drop 404 and 410 pages over time (410 slightly faster), follow 301/308 redirects to the new URL, and treat 5xx and 429 as temporary, slowing crawling and retrying later; if errors persist for days, pages start dropping out. A soft 404, a missing page that returns 200 with "not found" text, wastes crawling and can't be detected from the status code; Search Console reports them.
What happens to the address I enter?
To check a URL, our server requests the address you enter and returns the result to you. We don't store the pages we fetch or keep a list of the addresses you check. Like any website, our hosting provider keeps short-lived technical request logs for security. See the privacy policy.