403 Forbidden
403 means access is denied. If you accidentally block search bots, pages can’t be crawled or indexed.
Definition
403 Forbidden indicates the server understands the request but refuses to authorize it (permissions, WAF blocks, etc.). A common SEO issue is accidentally blocking Googlebot/Bingbot, leading to reduced crawling and deindexing.
Why it matters
- 403 directly blocks crawling and indexing
- WAF/firewall rules can cause false positives
- Hurts indexing stability and discoverability
How to implement
- Review WAF/firewall rules for bot false positives
- Monitor logs and Search Console crawl errors
- Ensure important URLs reliably return 200 and are renderable
Related
Tutorials
FAQ
Common questions about this term.