The Reliability Gut-Check
Look, HTTP status codes are the first thing a bot sees before it
even thinks about your content. If your server returns anything
other than a 200 OK for your primary pages, you're
telling every crawler that your site is unstable. For an AdSense
reviewer, a site with broken links or server crashes is a site
that isn't ready for their ads. It’s a trust-killer that
usually leads to an instant rejection.
Common Codes That Kill Approval
You don't need to know all 50+ status codes, but you absolutely need to avoid these four:
- 404 Not Found: The page is missing. This is usually due to a URL change without a redirect. It makes the site feel "Under Construction."
- 403 Forbidden: Your server is explicitly blocking the crawler. This often happens because of "Security" plugins that are being too aggressive.
- 500 Internal Server Error: Your server crashed. This signals that your hosting or your scripts aren't ready for traffic.
- 503 Service Unavailable: The server is overloaded. Reviewers aren't going to wait around for your site to wake up.
Pragmatic Status Management
I’m a developer, and I know that "stuff happens," but you need to stay on top of your logs. A "Soft 404"—where a page looks broken but returns a 200 status—is just as bad because it confuses the indexer. Technical hygiene here is about ensuring every request is met with a stable, predictable answer.
Step-by-Step Resolution1.
2. 3. 4.
Reliability Checklist
- Do all pages in your sitemap return 200 OK?
- Have you resolved all 4xx/5xx errors in Search Console?
- Is your custom 404 page helpful and functional?
- Are your redirects 301 (Permanent) rather than 302 (Temporary)?