This is how you solve the 3 most common Google Search Console errors

Google Search Console is a free tool you can use to view your website's performance in search results, in addition to Google Analystics. As you go through the performance of your website, you can get an error message from the tool.

The most common error messages you may receive are the 403 error, the 404 error, and the 5xx error. In this blog we will look at what causes these error messages and what you can do about it.

The 403 error in Google Search Console

The 403 error occurs regularly. You will receive this error message if a page on your website is protected with a password. Google reports these pages as a 'crawl error'. This immediately sounds very intense, but it simply means that the page is not indexed.

Pages with a 403 error message simply cannot be visited without logging in. The message means that the page is forbidden. There is no need to fix this. A page with a 403 error has no impact on the SEO of your website.

If you want to do something about it, you can try making the page public. In most cases, these are pages at the back-end of your website. Making the pages public is therefore usually not recommended.

The 404 error message

The 404 error message is given if a page is not found. If a URL from your website is removed or changed, you may receive this notification.

If it is a page that has been deleted, Google will update its data the next time your website is crawled. In that case, the error can be marked as resolved

To resolve a 404 error for a moved page or recently deleted page, it's best to set up a 301 redirect. With this redirect, visitors are immediately redirected to the new page.

The 5xx error message

The 5xx error message is a very general error message. You will receive this message if something has gone wrong. Causes of this include things like outdated or damaged cache or cookies and problems while requesting the resources from the server.

If you get this error message, it is best to use Google's URL Inspectie Tool to see what went wrong. If errors appear here, you can fix them. When no errors appear, click on Validation Fix next to the error message. This validates the error message in the system.