Using HTTP status code checker before you publish

A status code is the first thing a crawler reads and the last thing most audits show. We checked six URLs — live pages, deliberately missing ones and redirects — to show a full result.

What do real URLs return?

URL	Hops	Final	Final URL
https://www.gov.uk/	200	200 OK	same
https://www.gov.uk/this-page-does-not-exist-crawlwise-test	404	404 Not Found	same
http://wikipedia.org/	301 → 301 → 200	200 OK	https://www.wikipedia.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_page_does_not_exist_crawlwise	404	404 Not Found	same
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Status/404	301 → 200	200 OK	…/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Reference/Status/404
https://github.com/	200	200 OK	same

Checked on 2026-10-05. The summary line read “6 URLs checked · 4 end in 2xx · 2 redirected · 2 end in 4xx or 5xx”. No URL carried an X-Robots-Tag header. Response times are per hop and vary run to run, so we have left them out.

Why does a real 404 matter?

Because the alternative is a soft 404: an error page served with 200, which Google describes as “a URL that returns a page telling the user that the page does not exist and also a 200 (success) status code.” Both GOV.UK and Wikipedia return a true 404, so crawlers know the page does not exist. Google treats “All 4xx errors, except 429” the same way, and notes that “5xx and 429 server errors prompt Google's crawlers to temporarily slow down with crawling”. HTTP status codes for SEO covers each code.

When is a redirect in the results a problem?

When your own links point at the start of it. The MDN URL redirects because the documentation moved, which is the right response; links that still use the old path cost every visitor and crawler a hop. Check your internal links and sitemap against the final URL, and see redirect chains and loops for how many hops are too many.

A page that does not exist should say so with a 404. A friendly error page with a 200 is a polite lie to every crawler.

Adnan Arodiya, Crawlwise

What can the HTTP status code checker not tell you?

These are the tool’s own limits, shown above it on its page too:

• It checks up to 10 URLs per run. URLs beyond that are counted and skipped, not checked.
• It sends one automated request from one location. A site that answers bots differently, or a CDN region that disagrees, can return a different code to a browser.
• Response time is the time to the response headers of each hop, not how long the page takes to load or render.
• It follows HTTP redirects only, up to six hops. A JavaScript or meta refresh redirect is invisible to it.

How Crawlwise checks this

The HTTP status code checker accepts up to 10 URLs (more are counted and skipped), rejects private addresses before fetching, and probes five at a time without automatic redirects, recording each hop’s status, Location and time to headers, up to six hops or nine seconds. For the final response it shows content type, cache-control and X-Robots-Tag, with a note when that header contains noindex.

What each check reads, what counts as a failure, and what the checks cannot see are written up on the methodology page.

What a plan actually costs

The free tools stay free. You can open them, run them, and leave without an account. A plan is for the moment you want the report saved, a few sites watched, or the same checks from the API. The price on this table is the price at checkout. A yearly plan is ten months of the monthly price, so two months are on us.

A single-page audit is about 1.25 credits, and that includes the live probe of answer-engine crawlers. You see the estimate before anything runs. If a hold is not used, it comes back to your balance. Extra credits, when you already subscribe, are $9.99 for 20.

Where to read next

• HTTP status codes for SEO
• Redirect chains and loops
• noindex vs robots.txt disallow

Frequently asked questions

Should a deleted page return 404 or 410?

Either works for Google, which treats all 4xx except 429 the same. 410 says the removal is deliberate and permanent.

Why might a browser get a different status?

The checker sends one automated request from one location. A site that treats bots differently, or a CDN region, can answer a browser differently.

Is response time the page load time?

No. It is the time to the response headers of each hop, not how long the page takes to render.

Do I need a Crawlwise account to use the HTTP status code checker?

No. Every tool in the free toolkit runs without sign-up, card, or email. Saved history and site crawls need an account and credits.

Sources

We ran the tool’s own code on 2026-10-05 — probeUrl() in lib/network.ts and statusReading(), the functions behind /api/tools/http-status — against www.gov.uk, wikipedia.org, en.wikipedia.org, developer.mozilla.org and github.com, one request per URL from a single location. The outputs quoted above are copied from those runs. Sites change, so run the tool for today’s answer.

Documentation was read on 2026-10-05. Vendors change these pages without notice, so check the original before you act on a detail.

• Google Search Central — How HTTP status codes, and network and DNS errors affect Google Search
• Google Search Central — Troubleshoot Google Search crawling errors (soft 404s)
• Google Search Central — Site moves with URL changes