# 500 Internal Server Error

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: 500 error

A **500 Internal Server Error** is a generic HTTP server error. The server hit an unexpected condition and could not complete the request, and no more specific 5xx code applies.

## What does a 500 error mean for SEO?
The status says only that the problem sits on the server side. MDN lists typical causes such as misconfiguration, out-of-memory conditions, unhandled exceptions and wrong file permissions. The details are in the server's logs.

Google's documentation says 5xx and 429 errors make its crawlers slow down. The reduction scales with the number of URLs that return errors. Already indexed URLs stay in the index for a while but are eventually dropped if the errors persist. Once the server returns 2xx responses again, Google gradually raises the crawl rate.

Google names persistent server errors as the reason URLs are dropped, so a short, one-off 500 is unlikely to affect indexing, while recurring or sitewide 500 errors can (assessment).

## Example
```http
HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error
Content-Type: text/html
```

## Common mistakes
- A broken page returns 200 with an error message in the body instead of a 5xx code.
- A planned downtime returns 500. For planned downtime, a 503 fits better.

## At a glance

- **Status code:** 500
- **Class:** 5xx (server error)
- **Duration:** not specified
- **In Google:** crawl rate drops in proportion to the number of error URLs; persistent errors lead to removal from the index
- **Specification:** [RFC 9110, Section 15.6.1](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9110.html#name-500-internal-server-error)

Last checked: October 8, 2026

## Server errors and 429 compared

| Status code | Meaning per RFC | How Googlebot reacts | Effect on the index | Retry-After |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 429 Too Many Requests | too many requests in a given amount of time (rate limiting, RFC 6585) | treated as a sign of an overloaded server and as a server error; crawling temporarily slows down | indexed URLs are kept for now; if Googlebot sees the code on the same URL for multiple days, it may be dropped | RFC: may be included; Google: tells crawlers when they can retry |
| 500 Internal Server Error | unexpected condition on the server | the site's crawl rate drops in proportion to the number of URLs returning a server error | indexed URLs are kept for now; persistent errors get them removed, possibly after multiple days on the same URL | Google only describes it for 503 and 429 |
| 502 Bad Gateway | a gateway or proxy got an invalid response from the server behind it | same as 500 | indexed URLs are kept for now and removed if the error persists | Google only describes it for 503 and 429 |
| 503 Service Unavailable | temporarily unavailable, for example due to overload or maintenance | same as 500 | indexed URLs are kept for now; if Googlebot sees the code on the same URL for multiple days, it may be dropped | RFC: may be included and states the expected downtime; Google: tells crawlers when they can retry (seconds or a date) |
| 504 Gateway Timeout | a gateway or proxy didn't get a timely response from the server behind it | not listed individually by Google; for all 5xx codes, crawling temporarily slows down | indexed URLs are kept for now but eventually dropped (statement for all 5xx) | Google only describes it for 503 and 429 |

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 Crawling Infrastructure: Reduce the Google crawl rate (last updated 2026-10-06)](https://developers.google.com/crawling/docs/crawlers-fetchers/reduce-crawl-rate); [Google Crawling Infrastructure: Debug network and DNS errors (last updated 2025-12-18)](https://developers.google.com/crawling/docs/troubleshooting/dns-network-errors); [RFC 9110: HTTP Semantics, 15.6 Server Error 5xx and 10.2.3 Retry-After](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9110.html#name-server-error-5xx); [RFC 6585: Additional HTTP Status Codes, 4. 429 Too Many Requests](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6585.html#section-4). Last checked: October 8, 2026

## Related terms

- [5xx server errors](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/5xx-server-errors/index.md)
- [404 error](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/404-error/index.md)
- [503 Service Unavailable](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/503-service-unavailable/index.md)
- [Server response time](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/server-response-time/index.md)

## Sources

- [500 Internal Server Error – MDN](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Reference/Status/500)
- [How HTTP status codes, and network and DNS errors affect Google Search – Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/crawling/docs/troubleshooting/http-status-codes)
- [RFC 9110, Section 15.6.1: 500 Internal Server Error](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9110.html#name-500-internal-server-error)

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Last updated: October 8, 2026
URL: https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/500-internal-server-error/