Sometimes when you’re browsing the web you might hit a link and come across a broken page. Usually these pages will indicate an error and a corresponding code. Common error codes are 403, 404, 500 and so on. Here is a guide to five of the more common HTTP error codes and what they mean.
401 (unauthorized) – This error occurs when you try to visit a restricted page, like a page or an area of a site that requires a log in, of which you aren’t actually logged into.
400 (bad request) – This error indicates that the application you are using (i.e. a web browser) tried to access a webpage incorrectly or the request was somehow corrupted.
403 (forbidden) – Similar to a 401 error, a 403 error is when you try to visit a section of a site that need special permission to be accessed. For example, some webpages have back-end log-ins only available to developers. If you somehow tried to access a developer section, you’d get a 403 error.
404 (not found) – Perhaps the most recognizable error code. This error occurs for a number of reasons such as attempting to visit a broken link, a mis-typed URL, or that a previously placed page has been moved elsewhere.
500 (internal server error) – The most common error code, according to Google, and the description basically says it all. This error is a general-purpose message for when a web server encounters some form of internal error. An example of this, the web server could be overloaded and therefore unable to handle the request properly.