401 Unauthorized
401 means authentication is required. If key content returns 401, search engines generally can’t crawl or index it.
Definition
401 Unauthorized indicates the request lacks valid authentication (login, token, etc.). For SEO, if important pages are behind authentication, search engines usually can’t access the content and won’t index it.
Why it matters
- Auth walls prevent crawlers from accessing content
- Leads to “content exists but isn’t searchable”
- Requires a public-content SEO strategy
How to implement
- Keep SEO-critical pages publicly accessible
- If content must be gated, publish an indexable public summary page
- Use an indexability checker to verify status codes and directives
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