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4xx Series
Safe to retry
401 Unauthorized
Similar to 403 Forbidden, but specifically for use when authentication is required and has failed or has not yet been provided.
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SEO Impact
Pages returning 401 are dropped from search indexes natively. Ensure no public content requires authentication.
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Common Causes
- 1Expired JWT token
- 2Missing Authorization header
- 3Incorrect password
Code Examples
Python (Django)
return HttpResponse('Unauthorized', status=401)