**Before a page can rank or be cited, it has to return a healthy `200 OK` — with real content behind it.** This check reads the final HTTP status code after any redirects and flags anything that isn't a clean 200: a 4xx or 5xx error, a chain of redirects, or a *soft-404* — a page that returns 200 but actually shows a "not found" message. Search engines and AI crawlers only index pages that respond correctly, so a broken status is an instant block.
It reads the final HTTP status code the URL returns after following any redirects, and confirms it's a genuine success response with real content. It distinguishes between several cases:
- `200 OK` with real content — the healthy state; the page is eligible to be indexed.
- 3xx redirects — a single clean 301 to the final URL is fine, but a chain that resolves to 200 is a warning (it adds latency and risk).
- Soft-404 — a page that returns 200 but whose content is a "not found" or error message; engines may treat it as an error and drop it.
- 4xx / 5xx — a client (404, 403) or server (500, 503) error; the page can't be indexed.
GEObubbly requests the URL, follows the redirect chain to the final destination, and reads the status code there — then inspects the response body to catch soft-404s (a 200 paired with error-style content). It's a core check worth 3 points in Crawlability & Indexability, because a page that doesn't respond cleanly can't be crawled, indexed or cited no matter what's on it.
The status code is the page's handshake with a crawler: a clean 200 says "here's a real page, go ahead and index it." Anything else interrupts that. A 404 or 500 means the page isn't available, so it drops out of search and can't be cited by AI engines. The sneakier problem is the soft-404 — a broken or empty page that still returns 200, so monitoring tools think it's fine while search engines quietly de-index it for thin or error content. Redirect chains add their own risk: extra hops slow the page and give impatient AI fetchers more reasons to give up before reaching it. Returning a real 200 for every page you want found is the most basic crawlability requirement — get it right, then the rest of the Crawlability & Indexability signals can do their job.
200 OK is the HTTP status code a server returns when a page exists and loaded successfully — it's the "all good, here's the content" response. It matters for SEO and GEO because search engines and AI crawlers only index pages that respond with a genuine 200; any error code means the page isn't available to be stored or cited. A clean 200 with real content is the baseline requirement before any other ranking or AI-visibility factor can even come into play.
A real 404 tells crawlers honestly that a page doesn't exist, so they stop trying to index it. A soft-404 is the deceptive version: the page returns a success 200 status, but its content is actually a "not found," empty, or error message. Because the status says 200, automated checks think the page is healthy, while search engines detect the thin/error content and quietly de-index it. Soft-404s are dangerous precisely because they hide a broken page behind a successful-looking status code.
A 200 only confirms the server responded — it doesn't guarantee the page is indexable or worth ranking. The page could be a soft-404 (200 status but error/thin content), carry a noindex directive, be blocked in robots.txt, or canonical to another URL. So a 200 is necessary but not sufficient: it clears the status hurdle, but the indexability verdict combines it with robots, meta robots, the X-Robots-Tag header and canonical to give the full picture of whether the page can actually appear.
A single clean 301 (permanent redirect) to the final URL is fine and passes ranking signals to the destination. Problems start with chains: multiple hops add latency, waste crawl budget, and can cause crawlers — especially impatient AI fetchers — to give up before reaching the content. Using a 302 (temporary) for a move that's actually permanent is also a mistake, because it tells engines not to transfer the ranking value. Aim for zero or one hop, with the correct redirect type.
You can inspect it in your browser's developer tools (Network tab → click the document request → look at the Status column), or use a status-code checking tool or a command like curl -I. The key is to follow the full redirect chain and read the final status, not just the first response. GEObubbly's checker above does this for you: paste a URL and it follows any redirects, reports the final status, and flags soft-404s so you catch broken pages that masquerade as healthy ones.