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SEO Madmanby Adam Hafez
Free tool

HTTP status code crawl handling checker

Paste status codes and see how Google's crawlers document handling each one, plus a redirect hop count against Google's 10-hop default.

Runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is uploaded, logged or stored.

Nothing you paste here is sent anywhere; it is read in your browser only.

    Key takeaways

    • Google treats a 301 as a strong signal that the redirect target should be processed, and a 302 as a weak one.
    • A 307 is handled like a 302 and a 308 like a 301, even though the codes mean different things to other clients.
    • Google's crawlers follow up to 10 redirect hops by default, so a longer chain risks never reaching its destination.
    • A 429 is treated as a server error that signals overload, the same as 5xx codes, and makes Google's crawlers slow down.
    • A 2xx status only lets Google consider the content for processing; it does not guarantee the page gets indexed.

    What it takes

    • A list of HTTP status codes, one per line
    • An optional URL before each code
    • Optionally, the order of a redirect chain, to count hops

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    How to use it

    1. 1Paste one status code per linePut the code at the end of the line. A URL before it is fine, and a URL containing digits will not confuse the reader, since only the last three-digit token counts.
    2. 2Read the handling next to each codeEach line shows what Google's documentation says its crawlers do with that status, and whether the result is a signal to process the target, a not-found, or a server error.
    3. 3Tick the redirect chain box if the lines are a chainThe tool then counts the 3xx lines as hops and compares the total to the 10 hops Google follows by default.
    4. 4Fix codes flagged as errors firstA 429 or a 5xx makes Google's crawlers slow down, so a page returning one to a crawler is the most expensive mismatch to leave in place.
    5. 5Replace 302 with 301 where the move is permanentA 302 is only a weak signal that the target should be processed, so a permanent move should use a 301 or 308.

    A status code is the first thing a crawler learns about a URL, and it decides what happens next: whether the content is considered at all, whether the crawler follows to somewhere else, or whether it backs off. This tool takes the codes your URLs return and states, line by line, what Google’s own documentation says about each. It runs in your browser and sends nothing anywhere.

    What the tool does and does not say

    Every verdict traces to Google’s status code page. Where that page documents a code, the tool reports it. Where it does not, such as an unusual 3xx, the tool says the code is not individually documented rather than inventing a rule. It reads codes you paste; it does not fetch your URLs, so it cannot tell you what a live server returns to Googlebot today. For that, pair it with a crawl or the server logs.

    Redirect chains and the hop limit

    Redirect chains are where status codes stop being independent. Google’s documentation states its crawlers follow up to 10 redirect hops by default. Tick the chain box and the tool counts every 3xx line as one hop, so a chain of legacy redirects stacked over several migrations shows up as a number you can compare to the limit. A chain that long is also slow for users, so the practical fix is the same either way: point the first URL directly at the final one.

    Sources

    1. 1.HTTP status codes, and network and DNS errors - Google Search CentralPrimary
    2. 2.RFC 9110: HTTP Semantics - IETF
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