"Blocked due to unauthorized request (401)": what it means and how to fix it
The page requires a login, so Google cannot read it.
What it means
The server returned 401 Unauthorized to Google.
Common causes
- The page is behind a login or password.
- A staging password protects the site.
How to fix it
- If the page should be public, remove the login requirement.
- If the page is private, remove it from the sitemap.
When you can ignore it
The page is private on purpose.
How to find these pages
In Search Console, open Indexing > Pages and select the "Blocked due to unauthorized request (401)" row. Search Console shows up to 1,000 example URLs. CrawlCoach checks up to 10,000 URLs from your sitemap for each site and groups them by cause, so you fix the most valuable pages first.