What Is a Soft 404? Fix This Silent SEO Killer
A soft 404 refers to a webpage that technically loads (HTTP status 200) but shows content indicating the page doesn't exist—like 'Sorry, page not found.' Unlike a true 404, search engines view the page as functional, which can lead to indexing errors. Google may treat it as a low-quality or irrelevant page, draining crawl budget and watering down your site authority. Fixing soft 404s is crucial for maintaining clean, optimized site architecture and winning in search.
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Use Cases
Prevent product pages from becoming soft 404s by redirecting discontinued items to relevant categories or alternatives.
Turn deleted or merged blog posts into 301 redirects to posts with similar content, avoiding thin content flags.
During a domain or platform migration, catching soft 404s helps preserve link equity and ensures smooth crawling.
Improved Crawl Budget Efficiency
Frequently Asked Questions
What causes a soft 404?
Typically, soft 404s happen when pages are removed or broken but still return a '200 OK' status. Common causes include deleted products, broken internal links, and CMS misconfigurations.
How do I identify soft 404s?
Use Google Search Console's Coverage report, crawl tools like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb, or check manually by testing URLs and verifying HTTP responses.
How do I fix a soft 404?
Return a proper 404 or 410 status code, or better—set up a 301 redirect to a relevant live page. Avoid displaying 'not found' messages with a 200 response.
Do soft 404s affect SEO rankings?
In most cases, yes. A real 404 tells search engines to remove the page from the index. A soft 404 looks like valid content, which can mislead bots and hurt your site health.
Is a soft 404 worse than a real 404?
At least quarterly, or monthly for large or frequently updated sites. Integrate soft 404 detection into your regular site audit routine.
Related Terms
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