When dealing with our websites, most of us focus on issues such as its design, content quality and SEO optimization as well as easy navigation in order to attract more traffic and get more conversions. More technical things such as page loading speed, broken links, or HTTP error codes often drift away from our focus, even though their malfunctioning can have serious consequences on the performance of our site and overall user experience. Stats show that, for example, 79% of online shoppers will bounce off your site and most likely never return if they are unsatisfied with its performance, while 75% of online visitors will judge the credibility of your business by your website.
In order to prevent such shortcomings, we’ve created a list of the most common technical, browser HTTP errors, with tips on how to handle them if and when they occur.
What are HTTP errors?
When we try to open a website, we send an HTTP request to the server, and the server responds in a similar manner, with a 3-digit HTTP status message. HTTP error message codes appear when the server isn’t able to grant you access to the page you requested. The most common types of error codes received are those which take a 4XX or 5XX form, depending on whether the error was caused by the client or the server. Even though the 4XX errors are defined as client-related, they can sometimes be solved by tweaking your server configuration, so it is important to get through them as well.
401 Unauthorized
This status code most commonly pops up when a client has been trying to log in to a resource which requires authorization for several times. The purpose of this HTTP error is to protect your website from unauthorized access to sensitive content. Still, in some cases, even those with legit credentials can end up being prevented from logging in.
This error will most often solve itself in 30 minutes, as it usually blocks the access only temporarily, but if you are in haste, you can contact your provider’s support staff to help you resolve it faster.
403 Forbidden
A forbidden status code occurs when you’ve sent a valid request, still, you don’t have permission to access the requested resource, and the server refuses it. There are several reasons for such an error to occur:
# File permissions – the user who is sending the request doesn’t have permission to read the file. You can solve this issue, if unintentional, by setting file permissions to read.
# Use of the .htaccess file to restrict access to a specific IP address or a whole range of addresses. Again, if unintentional, check whether the problem lies in your .htaccess file and make the necessary changes.
# No directory listing when a user is trying to access the directory which doesn’t have an index file. You can solve this by enabling directory listing in your web configuration.
404 Not Found
This status code signals that the client was able to connect to the server, but the server was unable to locate the resource and couldn’t fulfill the request. There are many reasons why this error may occur, and here are the most common ones:
# The user used a link with typographical errors to access your website, or they mistyped the URL.
# The location of the resource has changed (the file may have been archived, for example), or it was deleted completely.
When trying to solve this error, you might start with checking whether your files have recently been moved around or deleted, and consider restoring them from a backup. It’s always important to back up your website regularly because of events such as this one, so make a habit out of it. You can choose to do it manually, use a stable tool, or opt for user-friendly web hosting providers which offer reliable backup services.
The reason for such error can also be in your .haccess file too, especially if you are running a WordPress site, and you will maybe need to make some necessary changes and insert some configuration lines of code.
500 Internal Server Error
This is the most common server error, and it can have many possible reasons for not being able to serve a client’s request. The reason can be too much traffic on your website, scripting issues as well as various server faults.
You can try to fix this error by checking the most common issues:
# For external resource timeout issues, try increasing timeout values.
# For wrong files and directory permissions, try resetting correct permissions.
# For misconfiguration in the .htaccess file, try locating configuration errors and correcting them.
502 Bad Gateway
The 502 status error is sent by a gateway or proxy server which received an invalid response from a backend server that should serve the request. So, it is most often a problem between servers on the net, although sometimes it may be caused even by the browser on the user’s end, and can be solved by refreshing the pages, restarting the browser or clearing the cache or cookies. If this doesn’t work, you should check with your internet service provider in order to make sure all servers and connections between them are healthy.
503 Service Unavailable
This error message happens either when the server is under maintenance or overloaded with the requests it can’t handle. If the latter is happening, the server probably doesn’t have enough resources or its configuration needs to be tweaked. If this is a recurrent issue, it is best to contact your web hosting provider and check what is going on.
504 Gateway Timeout
The situation with this error is similar, except the fact that a proxy or gateway server doesn’t get a valid response from the backend server in a timely manner. There is not really much you can do about it but contact your ISP.
For your website to be fully functional and as effective as you want it to be, make sure not to leave anything to chance. Even though these mistakes may seem like minor bugs now, they may result in poor UX and high bounce rates, which is something you would definitely like to avoid.
