Today companies need solutions and no problems. The digital medium has become a business opportunity for some, but also a pending issue for others. Many companies specialize in a specific type of job, in which they stand out from the rest. However, his presence online contradicts this statement. We talk about companies with web pages that are not very intuitive, not adapted to mobile formats or with poor search engine positioning. Overall a bad user experience.
What are status code?
To understand what lies beyond a web page, it is important to know how it works. When making an optimal website, both the aspects of its creation and the external aspects influence both, that is, how users have accessed it. To study user behavior in depth, status codes can be very useful.
We are talking about a series of codes and numbers that identify different situations, also known as status. This means that we can know what state our browser is in or what state a user's browser is in on our website. For example, we can see if you are online or if your connection is intermittent for some reason. Innovation in the sector is making it possible to know more and more in a consensual way about the connection and intercommunication of users and the web.
This provides vital information for the UX or User Experience, the new science that studies the feelings and opinions that users have when interacting with an element, in this case a web. If this website has an excessive load time, it is likely that the score in terms of user experience will go down.
Let's see what types of codes we can find:
5XX Errors
On the one hand, there are the codes that start with 5, which refer to a failure on the part of the server, that is, the provider of the connection and the structure of the web. Within this category we also find different variants. To begin with, the 500 code refers to unexpected conditions that prevent an order from being executed, while the 501 appeals to a functionality incompatible with the server when processing a request. As we go through these types of figures, we find the error 502, very common too. This is related to an invalid response from a server acting as a gateway. These kinds of technical issues are easy for a computer specialist to deal with. They are also very common errors 503 and 504, with very different utilities.
4XX Errors
Then we have the three-digit errors that start with 4, which are usually linked to errors made by the user, that is, the client browsing the web page in question. The first is one of the most common and is identified with the number 400. Is the call bad request, which refers to a request that the server could not interpret due to bad syntax. Also this request may be unauthorized, as in the error 401. This refers to the cases in which a response requires the user's self-identification. In this area we find the cases in which the user is unable to provide such validation. Also the server can refuse to accept the request, as in the error 403. Another reason may be the 405, which mentions that the request method used is invalid. This request can also be canceled if the user or their team takes too long to formalize it, as in the error 408.
The 404 Not Found error It is one of the most common errors found on the internet and refers to a search for which the server has no response. It may be that the page we are looking for does not exist, is poorly written or that our search is too specific. We will delve into this error in the next section.
How to troubleshoot 4xx and 5xx errors
Having a department within the team can be difficult, especially in the case of small companies whose business does not have its core online. However, it is necessary to regularly examine e-commerce and web pages for errors that cause indexing and UX problems on the page.
- To fix 5xx errors, it is advisable to perform a log analysis to obtain additional information on why they are being generated. On many occasions, these errors arise as a result of a bad configuration of the server or, even, as a consequence of some of the last web changes made (such as a bad plugin update or the change of some functionality of the page).
- 4xx errors The most common are 404s and, sometimes, they can be caused by a logical behavior if content has been deleted on the web that will not return. However, it is common to find content similar to the one removed on the page, to which to direct users to facilitate navigation. Therefore, in cases like this, it is important to redirect through the.htaccess.
In both cases, through the use of web crawling tools that simulate how Google views the page and what blocks it encounters to do so, we can detect the http status of the URLs that make up any web page. This work is usually carried out by specialists in SEO, but that will technically solve the IT team or company IT. And, if we do not have this department internally, today it is possible hire a web developer . to analyze the health of the website and solve errors according to their nature. Also, have fluid communication with the web hosting provider It is essential to be able to solve certain errors in an agile way, as well as to be alert of any server problem that can cause an overload or crash of the web page.
How to optimize 404 error page
La 404 error page it is more common than it seems on the web. This often occurs when a specific tab is being prepared but is not yet ready. Thus, users can click on links or write very specific requests that do not lead anywhere. One way to optimize this error page is to customize it in some way so that it doesn't look like such a serious computer error. Some companies already implement IT solutions that make this page provide solutions.
We speak, for example, of small sections of Q&A (Questions and Answers) in which the most frequent cases that have been able to lead the user to said digital limbo are mentioned. Companies that don't optimize this error page or anticipate errors in advance can be viewed as digitally inept.
It is important to have specialists who can get the best version of a company or independent professional on the internet. Optimizing HTTP codes is just one of the reasons why your services are essential.