Google Search Console

“Server error (5xx)”: meaning and how to fix it

What it means

Your server returned a 500-range error when Google tried to crawl the page.

Is it a problem?

Yes. Repeated 5xx errors make Google crawl less, and pages can drop out of the index.

Common causes

• Server overload or timeouts during crawl spikes
• Application errors on specific templates or parameters
• Maintenance windows or deploys returning 503 for too long
• Hosting resource limits

How to fix it

1. Check server logs for the failing URLs and times
2. Fix the application error, or add capacity/caching for heavy pages
3. Use 503 with Retry-After only for short planned maintenance

How to check the fix

Validate fix once the URLs load reliably. Watch Settings → Crawl stats for new errors.

All indexing statuses

• Discovered – currently not indexed
• Crawled – currently not indexed
• Duplicate without user-selected canonical
• Duplicate, Google chose different canonical than user
• Alternate page with proper canonical tag
• Page with redirect