# 200 OK

Category: [Technical SEO](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/technical-seo/) › [HTTP status codes](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/technical-seo/http-status-codes/) · Also known as: HTTP 200

The status code **200 OK** means that an HTTP request has succeeded. What it means depends on the request method. For a GET request, the server has retrieved the resource and included it in the response body. A 200 response is cacheable by default.

## What does 200 OK mean for SEO?

For a 200 status, Google passes on what it received to the next processing step, which for Search is the indexing pipeline. The systems may index the content. Google states this is not guaranteed, and that a 2xx status code does not guarantee indexing.

Google's JavaScript documentation adds that all pages with a 200 status code are sent to the rendering queue, whether or not JavaScript is present. With a non-200 status such as 404, rendering might be skipped.

## When does a 200 cause problems?

A page that shows an error message or no content but returns 200 is reported as a soft 404 in Search Console. Google describes this as a user-friendly "not found" message without a 404 response code, and recommends returning a real 404 for pages that do not exist. In the 2011 blog post, Google also describes 200 responses for server errors, downtime and "Under Construction" placeholders as a frequent problem and recommends 503 for temporary downtime. Google's current guidance on temporarily disabling a site still names a 503 response for urgent downtime of one to two days.

## Example

```http
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Cache-Control: max-age=3600
```

The server delivered the page. If the body only says "Page not found", the status is still 200, and the page counts as a soft 404.

## Common mistakes

- A page that does not exist returns 200 instead of 404 or 410.
- A maintenance page returns 200 instead of 503.
- A client-side app shows an error view without changing the status code. Google suggests redirecting with JavaScript to a URL that returns 404, or adding a `noindex` robots meta tag to error views.

## Frequently asked questions

**What is the difference between 200 and 204?** With 204 (no content) Google was not able to receive any content and cannot process it.

**What is the difference between 200 and 304?** With 304 (not modified), Google signals to the next system that the content is the same as at the last crawl.

**What about 201 and 202?** Google waits for the content for a limited time and passes on what it has received.

## At a glance

- **Status code:** 200
- **Class:** 2xx (success)
- **Duration:** not applicable, success response
- **In Google:** passes the content to indexing, inclusion is not guaranteed
- **Caching:** cacheable by default
- **Specification:** [RFC 9110, section 15.3.1](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9110.html#name-200-ok)

Last checked: October 8, 2026

## 404, 410 and soft 404 compared

| Response | Status code | Meaning per RFC 9110 | What Google does | When to use it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not Found | 404 | no current representation found; doesn't say whether this is temporary or permanent | doesn't use the content, removes a previously indexed URL and gradually crawls it less often; newly found 404 URLs aren't processed | Page removed with no replacement |
| Gone | 410 | no longer available, likely permanently | same as 404 | same as 404; per the RFC preferred when the removal is known to be permanent |
| Soft 404 (error message or empty page) | 200 | request succeeded | detects an error page from its content, excludes it from Search and reports a soft 404 in the Page indexing report | avoid; depending on the case, return 404/410, redirect to the replacement or fix the loading problems |
| Redirect to replacement | 301 | moved permanently | follows the redirect; a strong signal that the target should be processed | Content has moved or has a clear replacement |
| Page with content | 200 | request succeeded | passes the content on to indexing; inclusion isn't guaranteed | Page exists and shows real content |

Sources: [Google Crawling Infrastructure: How HTTP status codes affect Google's crawlers (last updated 2026-02-04)](https://developers.google.com/crawling/docs/troubleshooting/http-status-codes); [Google Search Central: Troubleshoot Google Search crawling errors, soft 404 errors (last updated 2025-12-18)](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/troubleshoot-crawling-errors#soft-404-errors); [RFC 9110: HTTP Semantics, 15.3.1 200 OK, 15.4.2 301, 15.5.5 404, 15.5.11 410](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9110.html#name-client-error-4xx). Last checked: October 8, 2026

## Related terms

- [HTTP status code](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/http-status-code/index.md)
- [Soft 404](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/soft-404/index.md)
- [304 Not Modified](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/304-not-modified/index.md)
- [410 Gone](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/410-gone/index.md)
- [Cache-Control](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/cache-control/index.md)
- [503 Service Unavailable](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/503-service-unavailable/index.md)

## Sources

- [200 OK – MDN Web Docs](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Reference/Status/200)
- [How HTTP status codes affect Google's crawlers – Google Crawling Infrastructure (2026-02-04)](https://developers.google.com/crawling/docs/troubleshooting/http-status-codes)
- [How to deal with planned site downtime – Google Search Central Blog, 25.01.2011](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2011/01/how-to-deal-with-planned-site-downtime)
- [Temporarily pause or disable a website – Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/pause-online-business)
- [RFC 9110: HTTP Semantics, section 15.3.1 (200 OK) – IETF](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9110.html#name-200-ok)
- [Page indexing report – Search Console Help (Soft 404)](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7440203?hl=en)
- [JavaScript SEO basics – Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/javascript/javascript-seo-basics)

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Last updated: October 8, 2026
URL: https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/200-ok/