What Does 5xx Server Error Mean, and How Can it be Fixed?

Even if you are a below-average internet user, you must have encountered an error that starts with 5 followed by two other numerical digits.

Every website is prone to these errors, and it’s completely normal. However, they are acknowledged to affect the website in many ways.

Let’s jump into the details and inform ourselves about it.

What Is a 5xX Error?

When a client request is not completed successfully by the server, it generates the user a 5xx error.

These HTTPS status codes could be 500, 501, 521, or any other relevant number. You can also hear these errors with names like 5xX code error” or  5xX server error”.

Why Do These Errors Matter?

These errors are meant to be taken seriously, and here are a few of the reasons:

• These errors signal server-side problems. This simply means that the server is facing a problem that is stopping it from fulfilling the asked request.
• Users’ experience is negatively impacted, and they leave the site frustrated and never visit again.
• These errors can hinder business operations as if they happen frequently, then they disrupt online transactions, leading to loss of customers.
• Affects the SEO performance. I will explain this later.
• These errors are indications of server overloading or misconfiguration that require your immediate attention.
• These errors can lead to incomplete data processing, which causes potential issues with data consistency.

Why Do These Errors Affect SEO?

As promised, let’s look into the details of why 5xx errors affect SEO negatively.

• Search engines set specific crawl budget to every website, and if they consistently face these errors, they are deliberately going to lower it. Lowering this budget means that your site is slowly going to reindex and will rank slowly or not rank at all.
• If your site is being seen frequently with 5xx errors by search engines, they will derail you and decrease your site authority. Your site will be less likely to appear against a search query.
• It will negatively impact user experience, and the more they leave your site/increase in bounce rate, the more blow you will receive from search engines.
• It will directly impact your organic ranking and traffic.
• A high volume of 5xx errors from your site affects your site’s speed, stability and availability, which are important ranking factors.
• If search engines cannot access a page that has valuable backlinks, those backlinks will not pass on any SEO benefits, diminishing the site’s overall link profile.

What are Common 5xX Errors?

Common 5xX server errors include:

• 500– Internal Server Error: This is a generic response that indicates that the server is not able to fulfill the request. The reason could be server misconfiguration, scripting errors, temporary server overload, improper file permissions, out-of-memory (OOM) issues, unhandled exceptions, database problems, or resource limitations.
• 501– Not Implemented: This error means that the server is unable to support the required functionality to complete the request. Possible causes are the presence of viruses or malware, server overloads, and expired server software.
• 502– Bad Gateway: This error occurs when a server acting as a gateway gets an invalid response from another server. It means that servers are unable to communicate effectively with each other. Possible causes may include Domain Name System (DNS) issues, PHP timeout, Caching or security plugins, router misconfiguration, loose physical cable, security software, and temporary glitches.

• 503– Service Unavailable: This is a temporary response that is shown to the user when the server is cannot handle the request. Possible reasons include server overload, maintenance work, technical difficulties on the hosting side, incorrect credentials in the config file, a non-working hostname, or a corrupted database.
• 504– Gateway Timeout: This error occurs when a server acting as a gateway or proxy doesn’t receive a timely response from the other server to whom the request has been placed. Possible causes of 504 include server overloading, network issues, slow or unresponsive backend servers, DNS resolution failures, firewall or security configurations or configuration errors, API or third-party delays, heavy server load or traffic spikes, or long-running processes.
• 505– HTTP Version Not Supported: As the name suggests, this error indicates that the server you used is unable to support the HTTP protocol version used in the request. Possible causes include incompatible HTTP versions, server misconfiguration, incorrect client requests and outdated server software.
• 506– Variant Also Negotiates: This error indicates a misconfiguration in the server content negotiation setting. Possible causes include incorrect server setup, errors in the configuration file, and faulty implementation of content negotiation.
• 507– Insufficient Storage: This error occurs when the server doesn’t have enough space to fulfil the request. Possible causes include server disk space exhaustion, database storage limits, file system limitations, temporary storage overuse, exceeded quota limits and misconfigured servers.
• 508– Loop Detected: This error occurs when the server encounters an infinite loop while processing a request. Possible causes include redirections, caching systems, proxy servers, symbolic links, WebDAV properties and scripts.

509—Bandwidth Limit Exceeded: This error indicates that your site is receiving more traffic than its hosting plan allows. Such server error prevents users from visiting the site and thus negatively impacts your SEO performance. Some common causes associated with this error include high traffic, large media files, outdated hosting plans, sudden traffic spikes, insufficient hosting resources, bot traffic or DDoS attacks, using a shared hosting plan, external embedded, and hotlinking.

• 524 – A Timeout Occurred: This code indicates a timeout between the user browser and the server. Possible causes are server-side issues, long-running processes on the hosting server, the origin server being overloaded with work, website experience sluggishness, high traffic scenarios and server overload.

Difference Between 5xX and 4xX

The major difference between 4xX and 5xX is that 4xX is a client-side issue while 5xX is a server-side issue.

4xX– Client-Side Issue:

These errors occur when the client’s browser sends a request that cannot be processed either due to the non-availability of the asked resources or invalid syntax.

The fault here is of the client. Possible examples include:

• 400– Bad Request: The client used a malformed syntax; thus, the request couldn’t be processed.
• 404– Not Found: The request made is not available on the server.
• 403– Forbidden: The information the client is asking from the server doesn’t allow the client to access it.

5xX– Client-Side Issue:

Opposite to 4xX, 5xx errors happen when the server has an issue and is unable to fulfil the client’s request. Internal server issues are the real reason here.

Common 5xX errors are already explained, so I will only give the name here:

• 500 –Internal Server Error
• 501– Bad Gateway
• 503– Service Unavailable

What Causes The 5xX Error

A few common reasons for the happening of 5xX server errors include:

• Bugs in code: An internal bug is causing such an error while functioning.
• Updates: Any application update can cause a 5xX error, as the new version might not be able to handle the request correctly.
• Incompatibilities: Your application is not compatible with the required software specification.
• Issues in the hardware: Misconfiguration or failure of hardware can lead to such errors.
• Back-end failure: Failure in a database or some other backend function necessary for the application to work properly causes such errors.
• Overloaded server: Potentially, when the server goes down or is overloaded, 5xX errors are caused.
• Incorrect DNS settings: When you turn off your computer without properly closing your programs, 5xX errors can happen. Cleaning your DNS cache fixes it.

How to Find 5xX Server Errors?

Two common ways to find 5xX errors are:

Cloud Base Monitoring

Monitor your website’s internals regularly with tools like NinjaOne or Zabbix. These tools will alert you via email, SMS, or other channels the moment a 5xX error occurs.

Google Search Console (GSC)

GSC is a free tool provided by Google that helps you monitor your site visibility in Google. This tool has an amazing feature, namely the Crawl Stats report that gives you data about how often Google crawls your pages.

An anomaly present in your Crawl Stat suggests that Google was unable to crawl your pages/page. Make sure your server is running properly to avoid such errors.

Besides this, the Index Coverage Report available in GSC is a quick way to identify server errors Google has detected.

Follow these steps to do so:

• Log into your GSC account.
• Choose the right property available at your top left side.
• Click on the Coverage under the Index heading.
• Under the error issue, look for the URLs that Google tracks for the 5xX
• Click Server error (5xX) to see details of affected URLs.

How Long Does the 5xX Errors Last?

The duration of the 5xX error ranges from a few minutes to many hours. Generally, you need to refresh your page to fix the error. Other major issues, like misconfiguration, maintenance, or hardware failure, require more time than usual.

How to Fix 5xXErrors?

Fixing 5xX errors is important as it can have many negative drawbacks on your site. Here is how you can do it:

• Reloading the page generally fixes the error, but only if it is temporary.
• Clearing the cookies associated with your site also fixes it.
• Allocate more memory or processing power to increase the server resources.
• Fix any misconfiguration or syntax error by reviewing your .htaccess file.
• Enable error logging to spot issues in custom scripts.
• Consult your hosting provider if the server errors persist.

What You Can Do to Reduce the Server Errors (5xX)

For you to reduce the occurrence of 5xx errors, you need to do the following things:

• You should use a reliable hosting service so that you enjoy maximum uptime.
• You should implement load balancing so that your traffic is evenly distributed across multiple servers so that the load remains balanced.
• You should also look at your server resources like your CPU, memory, or disk space. This is important to ensure the prevention of resource exhaustion.
• Furthermore, you can also implement a caching mechanism that lets you reduce server load and speed up your response time.
• Update your plugins and software. This will prevent potential security vulnerabilities and fix bugs.
• Ensure that your application has no or very few bugs or broken code issues. Otherwise, the server might fail.
• Ensure you have sufficient bandwidth to handle your website’s peak hours. This will avoid overloading issues.
• You should also make sure you have a backup server so that in case your primary server fails, you have a backup plan already in action.