Let's say I have a directory that has a 403 forbidden error for all of the content in it, however a few of the images in its subdirectories return a normal 200 status. Will this fact affect my ranking?
For example:
test.com/system/
returns 403 for all filestest.com/system/pie/
returns 403 for all filestest.com/system/pie/image.png
does not return 403, and this image is embedded on publicly accessible page
This sort of pattern repeats for about 10 different images. This directory is like a secret "system", however all of the content on the main site is still accessible to everyone from the public.