Website Status Checker
Frequently asked questions
Why might a site be unavailable?
The server's response code points to the reason.
| Response code | What it means |
|---|---|
| 200 | the site is working normally |
| 301 / 302 | the site has moved to another address, a redirect |
| 403 | access denied – blocked by IP, region or server settings |
| 404 | the specific page was not found, the site itself usually still works |
| 500 / 502 / 503 | a server-side error – overload, a crash, maintenance |
| no response | the server is unreachable, the domain does not answer, or DNS does not resolve |
Why does a site open for me but show as unavailable in the check?
A local block at the provider or region level can show a site as working in your browser while a check from an external server gets a different result – the reverse also happens, when a site is blocked in your region but is actually up.
How is this check different from opening a site in a browser?
A browser shows what is visible from your device and your network. The check runs from the service's server and does not depend on a local block, your cache or your provider's settings.
Why check a site's availability regularly?
A site being unreachable hits rankings directly: if a search crawler gets a server error several times in a row while crawling, pages can temporarily drop out of the index, and recovering the rankings afterwards takes longer than the downtime itself did. Regularly checking the links on your own site helps catch broken addresses before a crawler or a visitor does.
Can a site be checked automatically at set intervals?
The form runs a one-off check on click – for ongoing automated monitoring with alerts, a dedicated specialized service is needed, this check does not keep a schedule.
What should be done if the check shows a 403 code?
Most likely the server is blocking requests based on some criteria – IP, region or headers. It is worth checking the firewall settings and access rules on the server itself, if it is your site.
Does the check differ for sites on HTTP and HTTPS?
The principle of the check is the same – the service requests the given address and looks at the response code, regardless of the protocol.
Enter a domain or link in the field and press "Search" – the tool checks whether the site responds right now and shows the server's response code. The check runs from the service's side, not from your browser.
How to check whether a site is working
- Enter the domain. It is enough to give the domain itself with no protocol – the result shows whether the site responds at that address.
- Press "Search". The check runs server-side at the moment of the request, so the result reflects the site's state right now, not in your browser or region.
How to check a link before following it
Checking a link comes in two different flavors, and it matters not to mix them up.
- Checking whether a link works. That is exactly this tool's job: paste a link and find out whether the address is alive, whether the server responds and with what code. This is how links in articles, emails and directories get checked before publishing – to avoid sending someone to a page that does not exist.
- Checking a link for safety. That is a different task – working out whether a link leads to a phishing or infected site. A server's response code says nothing about that: a malicious page responds exactly the same way as a normal one. That check needs antivirus services and domain reputation databases, not an availability check.
What's next
If the response code points to a specific page rather than the whole site, the HTTP status checker shows the situation more precisely. For a systematic check of indexing, meta tags and other technical parameters, the site audit fits.