What is the Server Error (5xx) error and why does it occur?

What is a 5xx Server Error?

A 5xx error refers to server-side errors in the HTTP protocol. These errors occur when the server is unable to properly process a request. The number 5 at the beginning of the status code indicates that the issue is on the server-side, not the client side. The client refers to the user who is interacting with the website.

Common 5xx Errors
500 - Internal Server Error: There’s an internal problem on the server, and it can’t process the request.
502 - Bad Gateway: The server connected to another server but didn’t receive a valid response.
503 - Service Unavailable: The server is temporarily unavailable, often due to maintenance or high traffic.
These errors typically indicate a server-side issue that needs to be addressed.

Why Should You Care About 5xx Errors?
5xx errors are problematic because they directly affect the user experience on your website. Imagine you have an online store, and your visitors constantly encounter these errors. Do you think they’ll stick around and complete a purchase?

No! They’ll quickly leave and go to a competitor’s website.

Now, consider Google. If it encounters 5xx errors occasionally, it won’t be a big deal. But if these errors persist, your organic traffic will gradually decrease.

In this article, I’ll explain why 5xx errors harm SEO, what the most common 5xx errors are, how to detect them, their causes, and how to fix them.

Why Do 5xx Errors Ruin Your SEO?

We know that 5xx errors harm user experience, but their impact is not limited to just that! These errors directly affect your website’s SEO as well.

Why does this happen?

If Google crawlers (the bots that review your website) frequently encounter 5xx errors, they’ll understand that your website has problems and will avoid crawling it. As a result, your crawl budget decreases, meaning that new or updated content will take longer to be indexed.

Keep in mind: If a page isn’t indexed, it won’t show up in search results!

If these errors continue, Google will think, “Why should I keep showing these problematic pages in search results?” After all, if users land on those pages and encounter an error, their experience will be awful.

If this situation continues, Google will start pushing your pages down in rankings or even remove them from the search results entirely.

Summary: Even if you have the best content and the strongest backlinks, if your site constantly throws 5xx errors, ranking in Google will become a nightmare for you!

Common 5xx Server Errors

Here are the most common 5xx errors:

500 - Internal Server Error: There was an issue processing the request. This could be caused by technical problems, bugs, or software incompatibilities.
502 - Bad Gateway: The request failed because an upstream service didn’t respond properly. This could involve a combination of PHP and a CMS like WordPress.
503 - Service Unavailable: The server is temporarily unavailable and will be back online later. This usually happens when the server is under maintenance or too busy.
504 - Gateway Timeout: This error is similar to 502. The server acts as a gateway but couldn’t receive a timely response from another server. For example, this error might occur if your site’s support section is slow to respond.
509 - Bandwidth Limit Exceeded: Your site has exceeded the server’s bandwidth limit and is no longer accessible. This is common in shared hosting when there’s a surge in traffic. This error is quite common but isn’t defined in official internet RFCs.
524 - A Timeout Occurred: This error is generated by the Cloudflare CDN and occurs when your server fails to respond on time. If the CDN doesn’t receive a response, it can’t provide one to users or crawlers.

How to Detect a 500 Server Error?

Just as we mentioned in the image, follow the steps below to detect and fix the error:

Go to Google Search Console.
Navigate to the "Pages" section.
Find 5xx errors in the Crawl Stats report in Google Search Console.
The Crawl Stats report provides statistics about Google’s crawling history on your site. This report includes:

The most requested files.
The purpose of the crawl requests (such as updating content or finding new content).
Most importantly, the response that Googlebot received.
To find 5xx errors in this report, you should check the "crawl response" section. This section shows if your server encountered errors like 500, 502, or 503. By examining these responses, you can identify crawling issues for Google and prevent the negative impact of these errors on your site’s SEO.