Last Updated on June 6, 2025 by Admin
Experiencing “Server error (5xx)” in Google Search Console indicates that Googlebot requested to visit and crawl your page but couldn’t due to server issues. This error hinders your pages to crawl & index by search engine due to malfunction of your website. Addressing these errors is essential to ensure your content is indexed and your site will get traffic and users.
What Causes “Server Error (5xx)”?
Google Search Console displays the “Server error 5xx” status for URLs that Googlebot couldn’t access because your server communicated a malfunction. Without access to your content, Google won’t initiate the indexing process discover the page content before Indexing. A server error (5xx) prevents Googlebot from crawling, so Google excludes the URL from indexing to avoid overloading your server further. These server errors could be:
- 500 Internal Server Error: This general error means the server encountered an unexpected problem when loading the page. Something went wrong inside the server itself that made it crash.
- 502 Bad Gateway: This error occurs when there is poor communication between the website servers. The servers can’t understand the messages they send each other about the page request like they are dealing different languages.
- 503 Service Unavailable: This means too many visitors tried to access the website simultaneously, and the server couldn’t handle it. It has to take a break and shut down temporarily, just like a store might close early.
- 504 Gateway Timeout: When the main front-end server does not get a response from the background servers in time to load the page. The front and back servers aren’t communicating properly.
- 524 Origin Timeout: In this case, the first server waits too long (timeout period) for the origin server to respond with the required files to process the page request.
How 5xx Errors Affect SEO?
Frequent server errors can significantly worsen your SEO. It creates a poor user experience that may cause Google to avoid surfacing your pages by lowering allocated crawl budget so fewer pages are discovered and updated by Googlebot. This causes indexing issues, so old content remains ranking without capturing recent improvements. Do some task like:
- Identifying Affected URLs: The main places to find affected pages are:
- Google Search Console’s Page Indexing Report: This report likely notified you of the problem. Filter to only see error pages also in your sitemap that need indexing.
- Google Search Console’s Crawl Stats Report: Check the server responses section. Select the 5xx status codes to view URLs and trends over time.
- Server Log Files: Server logs record all crawler and user requests and errors. Inspect them to identify the most problematic areas.
- Troubleshooting Solutions: Try these fixes to resolve “Server error (5xx)” issues:
- Check Pages on Computer: Clear out old cookies and cache files first to see the newest website version on local system. If the pages normally show on your computer, the issue could be that your server cannot handle spikes in visitor traffic. Getting a better server may help.
- Turn Off Problems with Plugins: If your website uses WordPress or any CMS system with broken plugins, it could also cause this. Try turning off plugins once and rechecking if the 500 error disappears.
- Go Back to Old Server Settings: Did you recently change something on your website server, like the version of PHP or, MySQL server? Try returning to the old version to see if that stops the 500 error.
- Look at the .htaccess File: The .htaccess file controls settings on your server. If someone edited this file recently, check if they made a mistake that could crash pages.
- Prevent Future 5xx Errors: While the above can resolve current problems, focus on these to avoid recurring server errors long-term:
- Optimize Code: Ensure all site code follows best practices to prevent performance and stability issues.
- Compress Resources: Optimize page weight through file compression, image optimization, and minification.
- Upgrade Hosting: Robust infrastructure handles traffic fluctuations more easily with fewer errors.
- Refresh Hardware: Older servers fall behind on performance needs. Regularly updated equipment.
Conclusion
Addressing “Server error (5xx)” quickly is crucial for maintaining search visibility and consistent site accessibility. Remove affected URLs and methodically troubleshoot potential causes like plugin conflicts, recent server changes, or shared hosting limitations. For stability, pursue holistic site optimizations to support rising traffic demands without overtaxing servers to the point of failure. Contact AlgoSaga Internet marketing agency for professional help to fix Server error (5xx).