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Soft 404

FigureThe mismatch that causes a Soft 404. The user sees an error, but the bot sees success.

What is a Soft 404?

A Soft 404 is a page that tells users the content does not exist (displaying "Page Not Found," "Product Unavailable," or similar messages) while simultaneously telling search engines that everything is fine (returning a 200 OK HTTP status code).

This creates a fundamental mismatch: users see an error page, but search engine crawlers see a successful response. The name comes from the fact that it behaves like a 404 error to humans but not to machines.

Soft 404s are technically lies — the server claims success when there is actually a failure. This confusion causes significant SEO problems.

Why Soft 404s Harm SEO

1. Index Pollution

Because the server returns a 200 OK status, Google may index these essentially empty or error pages. If you have 1,000 expired products that return soft 404s, you could have 1,000 low-quality pages polluting your search index.

These pages:

  • Dilute your overall site quality signal
  • Appear in search results with misleading information
  • Compete with your actual content for ranking attention
  • Make your site appear less trustworthy

2. Wasted Crawl Budget

Google allocates limited resources to crawling each website. When Googlebot spends time crawling soft 404 pages, it has less budget remaining for your actual valuable content.

For large sites with thousands of soft 404s, this can significantly delay the indexing of new or updated content.

3. Poor User Experience

Users who land on soft 404 pages from search results encounter dead ends. They expected real content but found error messages, leading to:

  • High bounce rates
  • Negative brand perception
  • Lost conversion opportunities
  • Decreased trust in your site

4. Link Equity Loss

If other websites link to pages that now return soft 404s, that link equity is essentially wasted. The pages are too thin to pass value, but they are not redirecting users to better alternatives.

Common Causes of Soft 404s

Empty Category or Search Results Pages

A category page with zero products often triggers soft 404 detection in Google Search Console. Similarly, search results pages that return "No results found" may be flagged.

The page technically loads (200 OK), but the main content area is empty or contains only an error message.

Redirecting Everything to Homepage

A common but problematic fix for broken links is redirecting all 404s to the homepage. Google often treats this as a soft 404 because the homepage content is unrelated to what the original URL promised.

If someone requests /old-blog-post and lands on your homepage with no explanation, Google recognizes this mismatch.

Expired or Out-of-Stock Products

E-commerce sites frequently have products that go out of stock or are discontinued. If these pages display "Product Unavailable" but return 200 OK, they become soft 404s.

Dynamic Pages with No Content

Pages that rely on parameters or database queries may return successfully but contain no meaningful content when the referenced data does not exist.

JavaScript-Rendered Error States

Single-page applications that handle 404 states client-side often return 200 OK because the server successfully delivered the JavaScript app, even though the app itself displays an error.

How to Fix Soft 404s

Return Proper HTTP Status Codes

The most important fix is ensuring your server returns the correct HTTP status code:

  • 404 Not Found — When the content genuinely does not exist
  • 410 Gone — When the content existed but was intentionally removed
  • 301 Redirect — When the content has permanently moved to a new URL

Your custom 404 error page can still be designed and branded, but it must return a 404 status code in the HTTP headers.

Add Meaningful Content

If a category is empty, consider:

  • Removing the category from navigation until products exist
  • Adding related products or content to fill the page
  • Implementing a 404 or noindex until content is available

Use Proper Redirects

When content moves, redirect to the most relevant alternative:

  • Discontinued product → Similar product or category page
  • Deleted blog post → Related article on the same topic
  • Removed page → Parent category or relevant hub page

Avoid redirecting unrelated URLs to the homepage.

Handle Out-of-Stock Products Correctly

For e-commerce sites:

  • Keep product pages live with "Notify When Available" options
  • If permanently discontinued, return 410 Gone or redirect to alternatives
  • Do not simply hide the page while returning 200 OK

Fix JavaScript-Rendered 404s

For single-page applications, configure your server to return proper status codes for non-existent routes. This may require server-side rendering or pre-rendering for error states.

Detecting Soft 404s

Google Search Console

The Coverage report in Google Search Console identifies soft 404s. Check the "Excluded" section for "Soft 404" entries and review the affected URLs.

Crawling Tools

Use tools like Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, or SEMrush to crawl your site and identify pages that:

  • Return 200 OK
  • Contain error messaging in the content
  • Have unusually low word counts
  • Match patterns of known error templates

Manual HTTP Header Checks

Use browser developer tools or command-line tools like curl to verify the HTTP status code returned:

bash
curl -I https://example.com/nonexistent-page

The response should show HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found for pages that do not exist.

Soft 404 vs Hard 404

| Aspect | Soft 404 | Hard 404 |

|--------|----------|----------|

| HTTP Status | 200 OK | 404 Not Found |

| User Experience | Sees error message | Sees error page |

| Google's View | Confusion/indexing | Clear signal to exclude |

| SEO Impact | Negative | Neutral |

| Crawl Budget | Wasted | Preserved |

A proper 404 (hard 404) is not harmful to SEO. It simply tells search engines the page does not exist and should not be indexed. The problem is the deception of soft 404s.