Understanding Web Statistics Part III – Understanding Server Response Codes

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21st
NOV

Understanding Web Statistics Part III – Understanding Server Response Codes

Posted by Zulfikar under Statistics

Response codes (also called status codes) are the coded results of a server’s attempt to understand and satisfy a request. Web server responses indicate whether a Web object (Web page, graphics file, CGI script, etc.) was successfully retrieved or executed and, if not, the reason for the unsuccessful result. Unsuccessful results are also referred to as server error codes.

Log files record these codes, and the Visitor Statistics tool includes a report on them.

The following codes are some of the most common responses:

* Code 200 – OK: The request was fulfilled. The Web page was successfully downloaded without error.

Notes: In the strictest sense this not an error but a confirmation that things are working just fine.

* Code 401 – Unauthorized: The code indicates that users have tried to access pages that are restricted to a private network or IP address.

* Code 404 – Not Found: The server has not found anything matching the URL given, which can indicate broken links in the Website due to the removal of a Web page or other resource. Alternatively, the response may indicate spelling errors in the URL.

Notes: This can be and is a very annoying error both for the site owner and the visitors. As a site owner you stand to loose your readers as well as PR link juice. For readers who are repeat visitors this can be very frustrating and more so if the page/post they are trying to access has very important information.

Tip: It is a good idea to code your 404 page to redirect your visitors to the main/home page should there be an error, be it a site error or a mistyped or misspelled URL. – If there is indeed a site error and you are aware of it then its a good idea to let your readers know and reassure them that you are doing everything possible to resolve it.

* Code 403- Forbidden: The request is for something forbidden. The code indicates that users have tried to access pages that require user authorization, such as password-protected administration areas or members areas.

Notes: If there are no pages/post requiring such authentication then you need to check your site for unwanted scripts and to avoid reader frustration.

* Code 500 – Internal Error: The request failed. The server encountered an unexpected condition which prevented it from fulfilling the request. This code often indicates a script error.

Note: 9 times out of 10 this error is related to the .htaccess. It’s a good idea to check your site and analyse the .htaccess to make sure it only contains the codes it is supposed to. If you are not familiar with the .htaccess codes, renaming the file and generating a fresh (if your site script settings are capable) one usually helps resolve the problem.

If all else fails, consult an expert.

Reader's Comments

Reza Winandar from Blogging Guide
Twitter: rezawinandar
| November 22nd, 2009 at 6:38 am
I think the 40 error page not found is usually happen when blogger change their permalink and it cause the visitor from search engine will not found the page because the permalink has changed. To solve this just use a page redirect plugin. I don’t know what its name but you can give a try on Wordpress plugin database or Google.
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laskavy
Twitter: laskavy
| November 23rd, 2009 at 8:50 am
Quite short but the most important in RC were said.
.-= Read laskavy´s last blog post>> ..Интернет-реклама. Мифы и заблуждения =-.
Reply – Read laskavyÂ´s last blog post>> ..<a href=\"http:\/\/webstudio2u.net\/ru\/internet-ad\/272.html\">Ð�Ð½Ñ�ÐµÑ�Ð½ÐµÑ�-Ñ�ÐµÐºÐ»Ð°Ð¼Ð°. Ð�Ð¸Ñ�Ñ� Ð¸ Ð·Ð°Ð±Ð»Ñ�Ð¶Ð´ÐµÐ½Ð¸Ñ�<\/a> '); return false;">Quote
Zulfikar
Twitter: zulfnore
| November 24th, 2009 at 9:16 am
@Reza Winandar@Blogging Guide – Yes that’s correct. Either that or the page/post has been deleted. This often happens if the page/post was bookmarked somewhere or the search engines still hold a cached listing of the page.
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Zulfikar
Twitter: zulfnore
| November 24th, 2009 at 9:17 am
@laskavy – Sometimes its good to be short and sweet, give the readers the oportunity to open up more by asking many relatd questions or actully inputing their findings
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Matt from Scarface T-Shirts | November 30th, 2009 at 1:48 am
really great list, i don’t think i’ve found all these put together on one page. thanks, it is very helpful and already in my bookmarks.
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john from forbrukslån | December 3rd, 2009 at 7:44 pm
How does a redirect to the homepage after 404 affect google SERP results? I am kinda confused about this issue, and some seem to say that the best thing is to have a seperate 404 page, tell that something is up, and from there link to your homepage and other pages you want to rank on. Right or wrong? (Or is it impossible to know for sure)
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blog-admin
Twitter: zulfnore
| December 5th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
@John – A redirect to the home page helps in distributing the PR to one of the most important pages of your site. One of the reason someone lands on 404 page is either because they misstyped a link or the page/post has been deleted, and if that particualr post/page had some PR attached to it then it is transfered to the linking page – i.e the Home page.

You can set the 404 page to point to other pages on your site – i.e the sitemap with links on all the pages you have, but this in turn dilutes the PR juice across many pages and is therefore of very little value to the entire site. I believe it is best to distribute link juice from the main page to the internal pages instead of from within the internal pages themselves – if an internal page has good PR then its ok to link to other internal pages, but if the PR is low then its best fed to the main page which usually holds the highest PR and then distributed to other internal pages.

I hope that makes some sense.
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blog-admin
Twitter: zulfnore
| December 5th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
@Matt – glad to be of service and thanks for the bookmark
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Samuel Sawyer from overcome social anxiety | December 8th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Thanks, I did not know that 500 error is related with the .htaccess file. I think I still have a lot of things to learn about servers and browsing the internet.
Thanks.
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Comment Tags: great advice
Zulfikar
Twitter: zulfnore
| December 11th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
@Samuel Sawyer@overcome social anxiety – You are welcome Samuel. The internet is a vast ocean and we shall always be learning new things as it continues to evolve, so you are not alone
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dave from home improvements | December 13th, 2009 at 1:52 am
Great stuff, the only error I know how to control is the 404 one, and I try to make that page have many links pointing back to the site. Never had a clue though about the rest of the errors you speak of…good stuff to know
.-= Read dave@home improvements´s last blog post>> ..How To Fix a Leaking Faucet =-.
Reply – Read dave@home improvementsÂ´s last blog post>> ..<a href=\"http:\/\/homeimprovementteam.com\/how-to-fix-a-leaking-faucet\">How To Fix a Leaking Faucet<\/a> '); return false;">Quote
Nick from 50X-FIGHT BOREDOM | December 20th, 2009 at 5:56 am
One of my blogs keep receiving a lot of spam. The spam is like “we]g[4g][g]g[]30ri3290″
I don’t like Akismet plugin because of the registration with wordpress API.
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Zulfikar
Twitter: zulfnore
| December 20th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
@Nick@50X-FIGHT BOREDOM – Akismet is probably on of the best spam fighting plugin there is and the registration at Wordpress.com is well worth it. In addition to Akismet you can use other plugins in conjunction to help combat spam.

The ones I use are:
NoSpamNX available at http://www.svenkubiak.de/nospamnx-en/
SI Captcha Anti-Spam which is available at http://www.642weather.com/weather/scripts-wordpress-captcha.php

By combining these plugins with Akismet I have managed to cut down on spam from around 30-40 to 2-5 per week. At one time it was as bad as 50-60 spam comments a day!

I highly recommend using all 3 for maximum protection.
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Daniel from Property Development Finance | December 20th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
These codes are invaluable to web developers such as myself. I am finding that a lot of browsers are now preffering to show their own messages instead of the codes. This is really annoying as by having the codes I can understand what the problem is.
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