Understanding HTTP Response Status Codes (RFC 9110)
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) response status codes are standard 3-digit identifiers returned by web servers to communicate the result of a client's request. Governed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) under the RFC 9110 standard (which obsoleted RFC 7231 and RFC 2616), status codes fall into five distinct numerical classes:
- 1xx (Informational): Request received; protocol handshake or processing is continuing.
- 2xx (Success): The action requested by the client was received, understood, and accepted.
- 3xx (Redirection): Further action must be taken by the user agent to fulfill the request.
- 4xx (Client Error): The request contains syntax errors or cannot be fulfilled due to client input/auth.
- 5xx (Server Error): The server failed to fulfill an otherwise valid request due to an internal issue.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between 401 Unauthorized and 403 Forbidden?
401 Unauthorized strictly means "unauthenticated" (the client provided missing or invalid credentials). 403 Forbidden means the client is authenticated, but does not possess administrative permissions to access the target resource.
Does 301 or 308 transfer SEO rankings?
Yes. Permanent redirects (301 Moved Permanently and 308 Permanent Redirect) signal search engine crawlers to transfer link equity and indexation to the target URL.