Author: Franz Malten Buemann

We’ve all been there: You’re mindlessly scrolling the web, clicking on a variety of links from Google, social media, or other sites, when suddenly — you’re prevented from continuing a search due to an HTTP error code.
This can be a frustrating experience as a user. However, HTTP status codes go beyond simply communicating an error — these codes can also signify a successful transmission, or a re-direct to a new site URL.
Here, let’s explore an exhaustive list of HTTP status codes, so when you come across one, you’ll know what it means.

What is an HTTP status code?
When trying to access a webpage, your browser sends out a request to the web server where the webpage is hosted.
Depending on whether the transmission was successful or not, the web server can return a select number of responses.
These are called HTTP status codes. They vary from informational and successful ones to re-directs and error codes.
Each status code is marked with a numerical identifier, ranging between 100 and 599. All of the codes and their meanings are maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Let’s dive into what each identifier means.
The 1xx HTTP Status Codes: Informational Responses
The 1xx response codes are informational. They indicate that your web browser has made a request to the server and is waiting for a response.
TTP Status Code 100 (Continue)
The server has received your browser’s request header and is now awaiting for the body of your request.
TTP Status Code 101 (Switching Protocol)
Your browser has sent a request for a change of protocol and the server has complied.
TTP Status Code 102 (Processing)
Your browser’s request is being processed by the server, but no response from the server is available yet.
TTP Status Code 103 (Early Hints)
The server is sending some “early hints” to your browser to preload certain resources before the server provides a final response.
The 2xx HTTP Status Codes: Successful Responses
These status codes inform the client (your web browser) that everything is processing as it should.
TTP Status Code 200 (OK)
The request is successful and the appropriate response has been provided. Depending on the HTTP method (GET, HEAD, PUT/POST or TRACE), the response will vary.
TTP Status Code 201 (Created)
Your browser’s request has succeeded and, as a result, a new resource has been created. This is the usual response to a POST and some PUT requests.
TTP Status Code 202 (Accepted)
The server has received your browser’s request, but has not yet acted upon it.
TTP Status Code 203 (Non-Authoritative Information)
The server is returning meta-information not from the origin server, because the meta-information currently available may be different. This is used for when the information is collected from a third-party or a local copy.
TTP Status Code 204 (No Content)
Following a successful request, the server has no content to return. However, it may return current header information, so that your user-agent updates its cached headers.
TTP Status Code 205 (Reset Content)
Your browser has received a response from the server to change the document view.
TTP Status Code 206 (Partial Content)
The server has returned a part of the content, because your browser has requested it with the Range header.
TTP Status Code 207 (Multi-Status)
For specific situations, where multiple status codes are needed, the server returns information about multiple sources.
TTP Status Code 208 (Already Reported)
To avoid unnecessary enumeration, the server returns information that the internal members of a WebDAV element have already been reported. Typically, this response follows a 207 (Multi-Status) response.
TTP Status Code 226 (IM Used)
The server has successfully processed a GET method by your browser to retrieve an updated version of an already cached resource. Generally, the response is returned when there were one or more slight modifications to the requested resource.
The 3xx HTTP Status Codes: Redirection Responses
The status codes in the 300-399 range convey that the desired content has been moved to a different place and lets the browser know where it can be found.
TTP Status Code 300 (Multiple Choices)
There are multiple responses available for the request your web browser has made.  
TTP Status Code 301 (Moved Permanently)
The server redirects your browser to a different URL because the desired resource has been moved permanently to a new location.
TTP Status Code 302 (Found)
Your browser has received a response that the requested resource has been temporarily moved to a different location. However, the same URL should be used for any subsequent requests.
TTP Status Code 303 (See Other)
The server informs the browser that the desired resource is located at a different URL and should be requested with a GET method.
TTP Status Code 304 (Not Modified)
The returned response tells the web browser that the desired resource hasn’t been changed since the last time it was requested. As a result, the browser should use the cached version it has in store.
TTP Status Code 305 (Use Proxy)
The server requires a proxy in order to return the requested resource.   This response code is not currently in use because most current browsers do not support it due to security issues.
TTP Status Code 306 (Switch Proxy)
The server requires the use of a specific proxy in order to fulfil subsequent requests. Similarly, this response message is not supported on account of security concerns.
TTP Status Code 307 (Temporary Redirect)
A replacement for the 302 (Found) status code, the server informs the browser the desired resource is temporarily located at a different location. However, the same HTTP method must be used when requesting the resource.
TTP Status Code 308 (Permanent Redirect)
A successor to the 301 (Moved Permanently) status code, your web browser is trying to access a resource, which has been permanently moved to a new location. This type of redirect does not allow the HTTP request method to change.
The 4xx HTTP Status Codes: Client Error Responses
These status codes indicate that errors caused by the client are present.
TTP Status Code 400 (Bad Request)
There is an error on the client’s side and, as a result, the server cannot return a response.
TTP Status Code 401 (Unauthorized)
The server requires authentication in order to let the wb browser proceed to the requested resource.
TTP Status Code 402 (Payment Required)
As the name suggests, this code is reserved for digital payment systems.  However, it’s not widely used.
TTP Status Code 403 (Forbidden)
The web browser is denied access to the requested source due to the client not having the necessary permissions.
TTP Status Code 404 (Not Found)
The desired resource cannot be found, but may be available in the future.
TTP Status Code 405 (Method Not Allowed)
The server recognizes the HTTP request method used by the web browser, but requires the use of a different one in order to provide the desired resource.
TTP Status Code 406 (Not Acceptable)
The server informs the client that no resource fits the criteria requested by your web browser.
TTP Status Code 407 (Proxy Authentication Required)
Similar to the 401 (Unauthorized) status code, but the server requires authentication to be done by a proxy.
TTP Status Code 408 (Request Timeout)
The server timed out waiting for the client to send a request within the specified time frame.
TTP Status Code 409 (Conflict)
There is a conflict with the current state of the desired resource, as a result, the server cannot return a response.
TTP Status Code 410 (Gone)
Not unlike the 404 (Not Found) status code, but it indicates the requested resource will not be available again in the future.
TTP Status Code 411 (Length Required)
The server informs your web browser it requires the request to include specific content length in order to return the desired resource.
TTP Status Code 412 (Preconditioned Failed)
Your web browser has issued a request with preconditions, one of which could not be met by the server.
TTP Status Code 413 (Payload Too Large)
The server is not willing to process the request because it’s too large.
TTP Status Code 414 (URL Too Long)
The request sent out by your web browser cannot be processed by the server because the client has encoded too much data as a query string, which is then sent as a GET method.
TTP Status Code 415 (Unsupported Media Type)
The request has been refused by the server because it does not support the desired media type.
TTP Status Code 416 (Range Not Satisfiable)
The server cannot provide the portion requested by the client.
TTP Status Code 417 (Expectation Failed)
Your web browser has sent out a request to the server with the Expect header, but the server cannot fulfill the requirements.
TTP Status Code 418 (I’m a Teapot)
An HTTP Easter Egg, which was part of an April Fools’ joke. HTTP servers are not expected to implement this protocol, but if you’re curious what it looks like, check out Google’s Teapot page.
TTP Status Code 421 (Misdirected Request)
Your web browser’s request has been redirected to a different server, which was unable to produce a response.
TTP Status Code 422 (Unprocessable Entity)
There were semantic errors in the request sent out by your web browser and, as a result, could not be followed.
TTP Status Code 423 (Locked)
Access to the desired resource is denied because it’s locked.
TTP Status Code 424 (Failed Dependency)
The request sent out by your web browser failed because it depended on another request, which also failed.
TTP Status Code 425 (Too Early)
The server refuses to process a request because it might be replayed.
TTP Status Code 426 (Upgrade Required)
The current protocol is not accepted by the server, thus the server returns an Upgrade header to the client with a request for a protocol update.
TTP Status Code 428 (Precondition Required)
The web browser must specify conditions for the server to process its request.
TTP Status Code 429 (Too Many Requests)
The server has received too many requests by your web browser in the allotted waiting time.
TTP Status Code 431 (Request Header Fields Too Large)
The client’s request is not being processed by the server because the provided request headers are too large. The server is willing to process the request after the headers are resized.
TTP Status Code 451 (Unavailable For Legal Reasons)
The server refuses to provide the desired resource due to legal reasons.
The 5xx HTTP Status Codes: Server Error Responses
The 5xx status codes indicate that the server has failed to process a request.
TTP Status Code 500 (Internal Server Error)
This is a generic error message, provided by the server, when an unexpected condition was encountered.
TTP Status Code 501 (Not Implemented)
The server indicates it is either unable to fulfill the request or it does not recognize the HTTP method.
TTP Status Code 502 (Bad Gateway)
The server returns a response that it served as a gateway or proxy for an upstream server, which provided an invalid response.
TTP Status Code 503 (Service Unavailable)
The server cannot process the request because it is either overloaded or it is under maintenance.
TTP Status Code 504 (Gateway Timeout)
The upstream server hasn’t provided a timely response to the second server, currently serving as a gateway or proxy. As a result, it cannot provide a response to the client.
TTP Status Code 505 (HTTP Version Not Supported)
The server doesn’t support the HTTP method used in the request.
TTP Status Code 506 (Variant Also Negotiates)
Given that HTTP allows multiple variants of a resource to reside under one URL, the server can’t decide which (best) version to provide as a response. This is usually due to a server configuration problem.
TTP Status Code 507 (Insufficient Storage)
The server is unable to store the representation of the desired resource needed to successfully fulfill the request.
TTP Status Code 508 (Loop Detected)
The server has detected an infinite loop and cannot process the request.
TTP Status Code 510 (Not Extended)
The server implements additional extensions, which need to be specified in the request header in order for the server to fulfill it.
TTP Status Code 511 (Network Authentication Required)
Authentication must be provided by the client so the server can grant access to the the client.

I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t describe myself as a “technical” person. In fact, the technical aspects of marketing are usually the hardest ones for me to conquer.
When it comes to technical SEO, it can be difficult to understand how the process works. But it’s important to gain as much knowledge as we can to optimize our websites and reach larger audiences. One tool that plays a large role in search engine optimization is none other than the web crawler.
In this post, we’ll learn what web crawlers are, how they work, and why they should crawl your site.

You might be wondering, “Who runs these web crawlers?”
Usually, web crawlers are operated by search engines with their own algorithms. The algorithm will tell the web crawler how to find relevant information in response to a search query.
A web spider will search (crawl) and categorize all web pages on the internet that it can find and is told to index. So you can tell a web crawler not to crawl your web page if you don’t want it to be found on search engines.
To do this, you’d upload a robots.txt file. Essentially, a robots.txt file will tell a search engine how to crawl and index the pages on your site.
For example, let’s take a look at Nike.com/robots.txt for visual learners.

For Nike, it used its robot.txt file to determine which links in its website would be crawled and indexed.

In this portion of the file, it determined that:

The web crawler Baiduspider was allowed to crawl the first seven links
The web crawler Baiduspider was disallowed to crawl the remaining three links

This is beneficial for Nike because some pages the company has aren’t meant to be searched, and the disallowed links won’t affect its optimized pages that help them rank in search engines.
So now that we know what web crawlers are, how do they do their job? Below, let’s review how web crawlers work.

A search engine’s web crawler most likely won’t crawl the entire internet. Rather, it will decide the importance of each web page based on factors including how many other pages link to that page, page views, and even brand authority. So, a web crawler will determine which pages to crawl, what order to crawl them in, and how often they should crawl for updates.

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For example, if you have a new web page, or changes were made on an existing page, then the web crawler will take note and update the index. Or, if you have a new web page, you can ask search engines to crawl your site.
When the web crawler is on your page, it looks at the copy and meta tags, stores that information, and indexes it for Google to sort through for keywords.
Before this entire process is started, the web crawler will look at your robots.txt file to see which pages to crawl, which is why it’s so important for technical SEO.
Ultimately, when a web crawler crawls your page, it decides whether your page will show up on the search results page for a query. It’s important to note that some web crawlers might behave differently than others. For example, some might use different factors when deciding which web pages are most important to crawl.
Now that we’ve gone over how web crawlers work, we’ll discuss why they should crawl your website.

Why is website crawling important?
If you want your website to rank in search engines, it needs to be indexed. Without a web crawler, your website won’t be found even if you search for over a paragraph directly taken from your website.
In a simple sense, your website doesn’t exist unless it’s crawled once.
To find and discover links on the web across search engines, you must give your site the ability to reach the audience it’s meant for by having it crawled — especially if you want to increase your organic traffic.
If the technical aspect of this is confusing, I understand. That’s why HubSpot has a Website Optimization Course that puts technical topics into simple language and instructs you on how to implement your own solutions or discuss them with your web expert.
Expand Your Reach With Web Crawling
Web crawlers are responsible for searching and indexing content online for search engines. They work by sorting and filtering through web pages so search engines understand what every web page is about. Understanding web crawlers is just one part of effective technical SEO that can improve your website’s performance significantly.

Offering email marketing services is a great way to boost your revenue for your agency. 
However, the longer you spend on creating each email for your clients, the narrower your profit margin. Using templates is the key to streamlining your email marketing services so you can create client emails faster and earn more from email services. 
Let’s take a look at the email marketing templates that are most likely to be used again and again, no matter which industry your clients are in. 
Email templates agencies should always have on rotation
While the needs of your clients may differ, there are certain emails that nearly every company will have to send to their customers: Welcome emails, email newsletters, and promotional emails. 
So, it’s a good idea to have at least one customizable template in rotation for each of these email types. Let’s take a look at some email templates available in our responsive template library.
Welcome email template
Welcome emails are a definite best practice for all companies. Not only do they have impressive open and click-through rates, but 74% of all consumers say they expect a welcome email after subscribing. 
Ideally, a welcome email template is short and to the point, allowing readers to quickly attain the benefit they were promised for subscribing. This is why we recommend a template like this one, with a headline, some short body text, and a clear CTA button:

Email newsletter template
Regular emails help build trust with your list and keep brands top-of-mind for their subscribers. This is why a newsletter is a staple email type for all companies. 
To reach these goals, brand consistency in email newsletters is crucial. So, we recommend using newsletter templates that offer plenty of opportunities to customize the design for the brand. 
For example, this email newsletter template offers a prominent place for a brand logo, emphasis on-brand colors, and the ability to use an on-brand font: 

Sales email template
No matter what industry your clients are in, they will need to periodically ask for sales from their email list. This is where a conversion-focused email template comes in handy.
We recommend following a design best practice and using an inverted pyramid design in your sales email templates. This design structure intentionally draws readers’ eyes toward a single call-to-action at the bottom of the email, making it more likely they will take the action. 
For example, this offer email template uses a wide headline, followed by slightly narrower body text, and then ends with the most narrow section at the bottom: A CTA button.

Customer journey templates 
Customer journey templates are equally important for maximizing the time you spend on delivering email marketing services to your clients. Customer journeys use email automation to send emails around the clock based on subscriber actions rather than manual scheduling.
This means your clients can reap the benefits of email marketing for years after you set up a customer journey — without ongoing effort on your part. 
Additionally, automated emails perform better than standard emails, with 86% higher average open rates and 196% average click-through rates. 
Let’s take a look at some of the common customer journey templates for agencies. 
Reengagement journey
Reengagement journeys include emails designed to get unengaged subscribers to start reading your emails again, or, if they don’t, to delete them from your list so they don’t skew your email marketing metrics. This is why using a reengagement journey is crucial for getting good results for your clients. 
For example, this email from Other Goose alerts readers that are in danger of being purged from the list and asks them to click a button to re-engage and stay on the list: 

Feedback journey
Feedback journeys are typically triggered when a customer makes a purchase. The purpose of a feedback customer journey is to encourage customers to leave a review or a testimonial for the company. 
Since all companies sell something, collecting feedback will almost certainly be part of their customer experience strategy.
For example, Marc Weldon sends this feedback email to customers: 

Promotional journey
Promotional journeys trigger when your client is promoting an upcoming launch, such as a new product, special sale, new offer, or upcoming event.  
Promotional journeys are designed to drum up excitement for the launch and drive sales. They are typically sent to your client’s entire list, but sometimes they are sent only to a relevant segment. 
For example, Slack sent out this promotional email to highlight an upcoming event, with a call-to-action to “Register Now”:

Wrap up
Agencies who want to streamline their email marketing services should incorporate templates into their process to save time. 
Whether you serve e-commerce, B2B, or non-profit clients, there are several email types and customer journeys that you can count on sending on behalf of your clients (such as welcome emails, email newsletters, and sales emails). 
Save time (and therefore increase profit margins) by creating email and customer journey templates for these email types that you can use again and again for multiple clients.
The post The Best Email Marketing Templates for Agencies appeared first on Campaign Monitor.

Hi everyone! I thought this was a good place to ask because you guys are knowledgeable on email marketing so your judgement would be very valuable. I work for a Polish sales support & email tracking software startup called Sellizer. We’re currently expanding internationally and we’d like to improve our app and make it more worthwile. The key features related to email marketing are:
email open tracking, proposal analytics – when, where, and how long people read proposals sent by sales reps, automated follow-up emails, mass emailing without going to spam, message templates to help mailing campaigns.
Firstly, I’d like to ask for feedback on our pricing plans: https://www.sellizer.io/pricing. Do you think they’re reasonable, or maybe we should change them somehow? Secondly, if you’d be willing to try out the app (for free, of course) and give us constructive criticism on the features, we’d be very grateful! Here you go: Sign Up Thanks a lot for any replies!
submitted by /u/allcatshavewings [link] [comments]

When you’re trying to grow a following on Instagram, you depend on Explore and hashtag pages to expand your audience and reach. So it can feel more than a little disheartening when it suddenly seems like your content isn’t showing up anywhere.
If you feel like your posts are receiving fewer likes and comments suddenly, or aren’t appearing for certain hashtags or on the Explore page, you might be shadowbanned.

From Instagram’s perspective, the objective of hiding “inappropriate” content makes sense (although its enforcement has been criticized.)  Shadowbanning allows Instagram to filter out accounts that don’t comply with their terms. Some people use inauthentic measures to expand their Instagram following, like buying followers or using hundreds of hashtags that are irrelevant to their content. If that’s the case, it makes sense that Instagram hides content from those accounts so that only genuine and helpful content is promoted to users.
While Instagram doesn’t openly admit to shadowbanning, they released a statement on their Facebook business page in February 2019 that addressed the problem users were having with their content not showing up for certain hashtags.
Their statement at least confirms the hashtag dilemma as a real one — but many speculate that the statement is Instagram’s way of admitting to shadowbanning, without actually admitting it.

It’s important to note that Instagram changes its algorithm often, so those alterations could be the reason you have witnessed a drop in your engagement rate.
However, shadowbanning could be a real tactic meant to hide users’ content from the wider Instagram audience, and if you’re being shadowbanned, it’s important you take the necessary measures to get your content seen.
Let’s explore how to know if you’re shadowbanned, as well as our tips for getting yourself off the list.
Luckily, there’s an easy test to figure out if your account is shadowbanned.
If one or two of your employees can see your post, you might simply be dealing with a drop in engagement. If that’s the case, you can take a number of steps to fix this.
Check out our Instagram Marketing: The Ultimate Guide for tactical advice on improving your reach and engagement.
While the method above is a simple way to test whether you’ve been shadowbanned, it may not be feasible for your business. Maybe you’re the sole proprietar and employee of your small business. In that case, you can’t ask employees to check their hashtag feeds and you might not want to ask your customers. Below are other ways you can test whether you’ve been shadowbanned. 
Instagram Shadowban Test
There is no foolproof test to tell if you’ve been shadowbanned on Instagram. While there are tools that advertise they can do exactly that, these tools are not reliable. Instead, try the steps below. 
Check your hashtag pages. 
If you look at pages of hashtags you regularly use and see a message that posts have been hidden, it’s possible you’ve been shadowbanned for using those hashtags. 
Take a look at the message below for the hashtag “mustfollow.” Since users reported recent posts using this hashtag as not meeting Instagram’s community guidelines, it’s possible Instagram may be hiding your content with this hashtag (even if yours is not in violation of any guidelines). 

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Check Instagram Insights.
Looking at Instagram Insights, if you notice a sudden and sustained drop in engagement, then it’s possible you’ve been shadowbanned. One of the best metrics to look at is percent of accounts reached that weren’t following you. 
Take a look at the difference in “discovery” of the two posts below. This blogger duo went from reaching over 70K accounts, 32% of which weren’t following them, to reaching a little over 40K, of which only 4% weren’t already following them. This drop cued the bloggers in that their account had been shadowbanned. 

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If you  believe you’ve been shadowbanned, don’t worry — we have a solution for you.
Why am I shadowbanned?
There are a few potential reasons your account could have been shadowbanned. To ensure this doesn’t happen again, let’s explore some actions you might have taken that led you to being shadowbanned.
1. You use bots or another automated “Instagram growth” tool.
If you aren’t putting in the hard work yourself, you’re not growing a following authentically. Instagram frowns on this — in their statement above, for instance, they encourage users to have a strategy that focuses on connecting with the right audience. Using bots is a spammy tactic, and could result in a shadowban.
2. You use broken hashtags.
Occasionally, a popular hashtag will become overrun with inappropriate content. When this happens, Instagram can remove the hashtag or limit its use. If you use a broken hashtag, it will prevent your other hashtags from ranking, and could also result in a blocked account.
3. Your account is often reported.
When users repeatedly report an account, Instagram will assume your account is posting inappropriate content or violating their terms of service. They might disable your account, or they could shadowban it.
4. You’ve been posting, commenting, engaging, or following people too quickly.
Instagram places time constraints on how often you can follow, unfollow, like, comment, or post within an hour or day. This makes sense — if you’re following 80 people within an hour, it’s likely a bot doing the work, not you.
These actions might help you grow a following quickly, but they can’t help you connect with the right people, which is why you’re on Instagram in the first place. Additionally, these behaviors likely result in shadowban, which severely restricts your exposure to a new audience.
How to Get Unshadowbanned
To get your account back to normal, you’ll want to reverse the damage. Here’s how:
If you use a bot or another automated service, stop and delete it immediately.
To make sure the accounts aren’t still attached to you, go to your desktop Instagram and click “Edit Profile”, and then “Apps and Websites”. If you see any of your bot accounts in the Active tab, click “Remove” to remove them from your account completely.
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Remember, it’s better to have 100 followers who love your brand and purchase your products, than 1,000 followers who never buy from you or interact with your content.
Don’t use hashtags that have been banned.
Take a look at Markitor’s list of banned hashtags for 2021, and make sure to remove all broken hashtags from your content. Here’s a few from the list:

Moving forward, be selective and careful with the hashtags you choose, and when in doubt, take a look at the hashtag’s page — Instagram will likely post a message like, “Recent posts from #summer2020 are currently hidden … “, which will indicate to you that the hashtag is no longer in use.
Take a two-day break.
People have reported a full 48-hour break from using their Instagram accounts can reset the system and get you back on track, and it’s worth the temporary social media cleanse anyway, isn’t it?
Follow Instagram’s rules and regulations.
Read and follow Instagram’s Terms of Use,  Community Guidelines, and Recommendation Guidelines. Some notable takeways from these documents are:

Only share content you created or have permission to share
Don’t post content that’s false or misleading
Do share content that’s appropriate for anyone to see

The Foolproof Way to Avoid the Instagram Shadowban
The simplest way to avoid being shadowbanned on Instagram is to post helpful, authentic content, and abide by best practices when growing your audience. It will take longer to do this, but slow and steady wins the race — and doesn’t get shadowbanned.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in August 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

If you’re a savvy email marketer, you know that your job is not only to create stunning and effective email marketing campaigns, it’s also to build a loyal, high-quality subscriber list of people who want to hear what you have to say.  There’s no point at which you should rest on your laurels: it should…
The post Why Your Email List isn’t Growing: A Troubleshooting Guide appeared first on Benchmark Email.

Coordinating a massive amount of data in Microsoft Excel is a time-consuming headache. That headache can be made even worse when you need to compare data across multiple spreadsheets. The last thing you want to do is manually transfer cells using copy and paste. Thankfully, you don’t have to. The VLOOKUP function can help you automate this task and save you tons of time.
I know, “VLOOKUP function” sounds like the geekiest, most complicated thing ever. But by the time you finish reading this article, you’ll wonder how you ever survived in Excel without it.
Microsoft Excel’s VLOOKUP function is easier to use than you think. What’s more, it is incredibly powerful, and is definitely something you want to have in your arsenal of analytical weapons.What does VLOOKUP do, exactly? Here’s the simple explanation: The VLOOKUP function searches for a specific value in your data, and once it identifies that value, it can find — and display — some other piece of information that’s associated with that value.
How does VLOOKUP work?
VLOOKUP stands for “vertical lookup.” In Excel, this means the act of looking up data vertically across a spreadsheet, using the spreadsheet’s columns — and a unique identifier within those columns — as the basis of your search. When you look up your data, it must be listed vertically wherever that data is located.
The formula always searches to the right.
When conducting a VLOOKUP in Excel, you’re essentially looking for new data in a different spreadsheet that is associated with old data in your current one. When VLOOKUP runs this search, it always looks for the new data to the right of your current data.
For instance, if one spreadsheet has a vertical list of names, and another spreadsheet has an unorganized list of those names and their email addresses, you can use VLOOKUP to retrieve those email addresses in the order you have them in your first spreadsheet. Those email addresses must be listed in the column to the right of the names in the second spreadsheet, or Excel won’t be able to find them. (Go figure … )
The formula needs a unique identifier to retrieve data.
The secret to how VLOOKUP works? Unique identifiers.
A unique identifier is a piece of information that both of your data sources share, and — as its name implies — it is unique (i.e. the identifier is only associated with one record in your database). Unique identifiers include product codes, stock-keeping units (SKUs), and customer contacts.
Alright, enough explanation: let’s see another example of the VLOOKUP in action!
VLOOKUP Example
In the video below, we’ll show an example in action, using the VLOOKUP function to match email addresses (from a second data source) to their corresponding data in a separate sheet. 

Author’s note: There are many different versions of Excel, so what you see in the video above might not always match up exactly with what you’ll see in your version. That’s why we encourage you to follow along with the written instructions below.
For your reference, here’s what a VLOOKUP function looks like:
VLOOKUP(lookup_value , table_array , col_index_num , range_lookup)
In the steps below, we’ll assign the right value to each of these components, using customer names as our unique identifier to find the MRR of each customer.
1. Identify a column of cells you’d like to fill with new data.

Remember, you’re looking to retrieve data from another sheet and deposit it into this one. With that in mind, label a column next to the cells you want more information on with a proper title in the top cell, such as “MRR,” for monthly recurring revenue. This new column is where the data you’re fetching will go.
2. Select ‘Function’ (Fx) > VLOOKUP and insert this formula into your highlighted cell.

To the left of the text bar above your spreadsheet, you’ll see a small function icon that looks like a script: Fx. Click on the first empty cell beneath your column title and then click this function icon. A box titled Formula Builder or Insert Function will appear to the right of your screen (depending on which version of Excel you have).
Search for and select “VLOOKUP” from the list of options included in the Formula Builder. Then, select OK or Insert Function to start building your VLOOKUP. The cell you currently have highlighted in your spreadsheet should now look like this: “=VLOOKUP()”
You can also enter this formula into a call manually by entering the bold text above exactly into your desired cell.
With the =VLOOKUP text entered into your first cell, it’s time to fill the formula with four different criteria. These criteria will help Excel narrow down exactly where the data you want is located and what to look for.
3. Enter the lookup value for which you want to retrieve new data.

The first criteria is your lookup value — this is the value of your spreadsheet that has data associated with it, which you want Excel to find and return for you. To enter it, click on the cell that carries a value you’re trying to find a match for. In our example, shown above, it’s in cell A2. You’ll start migrating your new data into D2, since this cell represents the MRR of the customer name listed in A2.
Keep in mind your lookup value can be anything: text, numbers, website links, you name it. As long as the value you’re looking up matches the value in the referring spreadsheet — which we’ll talk about that in the next step — this function will return the data you want.
4. Enter the table array of the spreadsheet where your desired data is located.

Next to the “table array” field, enter the range of cells you’d like to search and the sheet where these cells are located, using the format shown in the screenshot above. The entry above means the data we’re looking for is in a spreadsheet titled “Pages” and can be found anywhere between column B and column K.
The sheet where your data is located must be within your current Excel file. This means your data can either be in a different table of cells somewhere in your current spreadsheet, or in a different spreadsheet linked at the bottom of your workbook, as shown below.

For example, if your data is located in “Sheet2” between cells C7 and L18, your table array entry will be “Sheet2!C7:L18.”
5. Enter the column number of the data you want Excel to return.
Beneath the table array field, you’ll enter the “column index number” of the table array you’re searching through. For example, if you’re focusing on columns B through K (notated “B:K” when entered in the “table array” field), but the specific values you want are in column K, you’ll enter “10” in the “column index number” field, since column K is the 10th column from the left.

6. Enter your range lookup to find an exact or approximate match of your lookup value.

In situations like ours, which concerns monthly revenue, you want to find exact matches from the table you’re searching through. To do this, enter “FALSE” in the “range lookup” field. This tells Excel you want to find only the exact revenue associated with each sales contact.
To answer your burning question: Yes, you can allow Excel to look for an approximate match instead of an exact match. To do so, simply enter TRUE instead of FALSE in the fourth field shown above.
When VLOOKUP is set for an approximate match, it’s looking for data that most closely resembles your lookup value, rather than data that is identical to that value. If you’re looking up data associated with a list of website links, for example, and some of your links have “https://” at the beginning, it might behoove you to find an approximate match just in case there are links that do not have this “https://” tag. This way, the rest of the link can match without this initial text tag causing your VLOOKUP formula to return an error if Excel can’t find it.
7. Click ‘Done’ (or ‘Enter’) and fill your new column.
In order to officially bring in the values you want into your new column from Step 1, click “Done” (or “Enter,” depending on your version of Excel) after filling the “range lookup” field. This will populate your first cell. You might take this opportunity to look in the other spreadsheet to make sure this was the correct value.

If so, populate the rest of the new column with each subsequent value by clicking the first filled cell, then clicking the tiny square that appears on the bottom-right corner of this cell. Done! All your values should appear.

VLOOKUP Not Working?
If you’ve followed the above steps and your VLOOKUP is still not working, it will either be an issue with your:

Syntax (i.e. how you’ve structured the formula)

Values (i.e. whether the data it’s looking up is good and formatted correctly)

Troubleshooting VLOOKUP Syntax
Start with looking at the VLOOKUP formula that you have written in the designated cell.

Is it referring to the right lookup value for its key identifier?
Does it specify the correct table array range for the values it needs to retrieve
Does it specify the correct sheet for the range?
Is that sheet spelled correctly?
Is it using the correct syntax to refer to the sheet? (e.g. Pages!B:K or ‘Sheet 1’!B:K)
Has the correct column number been specified? (e.g. A is 1, B is 2, and so on)
Is True or False the correct route for how your sheet is set up?

Troubleshooting VLOOKUP Values
If the syntax is not the problem, how you may have an issue with the values you’re trying to receive themselves. This often manifests as an #N/A error where the VLOOKUP cannot find a referenced value.

Are the values formatted vertically and from right to left?
Do the values match how you refer to them?

For example, if you’re looking up URL data, each URL must be a row with its corresponding data to the left of it in the same row. If you have the URLs as column headers with the data moving vertically, the VLOOKUP will not work.
Keeping with this example, the URLs must match in format in both sheets. If you have one sheet including the “https://” in the value while the other sheet omits the “https://”, the VLOOKUP will not be able to match the values.
VLOOKUPs as a Powerful Marketing Tool
Marketers have to analyze data from a variety of sources to get a complete picture of lead generation (and more). Microsoft Excel is the perfect tool to do this accurately and at scale, especially with the VLOOKUP function.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in March 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.