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Status Codes

Status codes in Prerender reflect how your content is being served or if there’s an issue with your setup. Understanding each code helps resolve content delivery and SEO issues.

Overview

When using Prerender with your website, the system returns HTTP status codes to bots like Googlebot and Bingbot based on how your content is served. These codes are crucial for SEO, as they inform bots whether content was successfully delivered or not.

If your cached or rendered pages return unexpected codes (like 504 or 403), it may affect how search engines index and display your pages. This guide outlines what each status code means, possible implications, and tips for resolving them.

Possible Causes / Scenarios

200 (OK)

Everything is working correctly. The page was cached and served successfully.

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400 (Bad Request)

This means the URL sent to Prerender was invalid. This usually results from malformed or unsupported request formats.

401 (Unauthorized)

This happens when the Prerender token is missing or incorrect. Ensure that the correct token is configured in your headers or server proxy. You can find your token in the Security and Access menu.

403 (Forbidden)

This is returned when no token is supplied at all. You must include a valid Prerender.io token to access the rendering service.

429 (Too Many Requests)

You’ve exceeded your plan’s usage limits. This is common on the free or basic plans after hitting the request cap.

308 (Permanent Redirect)

Prerender encountered a redirect (e.g., HTTP 3xx). Bots are informed that the original URL now permanently lives at another location, but Prerender won’t follow the redirect. Make sure the redirected URL is also Prerender-enabled.

503 (Service Unavailable)

Returned when your Prerender subscription is no longer active or canceled. It means the system has denied access to the rendering service.

504 (Gateway Timeout)

This occurs when rendering the page fails due to timeouts or server-side issues. Common causes include:

  • Your page renders blank due to missing or broken contents (e.g., <html><head></head><body></body></html>)
  • JavaScript errors prevent rendering
  • Other server or render-time exceptions

Bots will retry if they receive a 504. Still, persistent issues should be resolved to avoid indexing delays.

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Solution Steps / Troubleshooting Guide

  1. Review the crawler visit logs in your Prerender Dashboard to identify which URLs returned specific codes.
  2. Verify your integration: Make sure your website/server is correctly forwarding requests to Prerender and that your token is valid and present.
  3. Resolve 504 errors by:
    • Checking if the page renders properly in a non-headless browser
    • Looking for JavaScript errors in the console
    • Ensuring you’re not rendering empty skeletons for bots
  4. Upgrade your plan if you’re hitting 429 rate limits. Monitor your usage in the dashboard to stay within limits.
  5. Check timeout settings under the Settings section to configure how long Prerender waits before it returns a timeout error.

Additional Tips / Best Practices

  • Use consistent and valid Prerender tokens across all environments.
  • Ensure your page doesn’t rely on user interaction (scroll, click) to show core content needed for SEO.
  • For pages with frequent redirects, make sure final destinations are also integrated with Prerender.
  • Review blank or delayed content on the server—we recommend pre-loading essential content during SSR or hydration.

When to Contact Support

If error status codes persist and you’ve ruled out setup issues:

  • Collect the full URL
  • Include a screenshot of the status (from the dashboard or browser dev tools)
  • Mention the status code and the conditions under which it appears

Then send the details to support@prerender.io for assistance.

 

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