Soft 404s look like real pages but contain no useful content. Google treats them as errors, wasting crawl budget and hurting SEO.
What is a Soft 404?
A soft 404 occurs when a page returns a 200 OK status code but displays content that indicates the page doesn't really exist—like "Product not found" or empty search results.
Soft 404 vs Regular 404
| Regular 404 | Soft 404 |
|---|---|
| Returns 404 status code | Returns 200 status code |
| Clear signal to Google | Confuses Google |
| Proper handling | Wastes crawl budget |
Common Causes of Soft 404s
Empty Search Results
Internal search pages with no results that return 200 status.
Out-of-Stock Products
Product pages showing "unavailable" but returning 200.
Deleted Content
Pages where content was removed but template still loads.
Pagination Issues
Empty paginated pages (page 99 of results that don't exist).
How to Identify Soft 404s
Google Search Console
Check the Coverage report for "Soft 404" errors.
Site Crawl
Use Screaming Frog to find pages with thin content returning 200.
Fixing Soft 404s
Option 1: Return Proper 404
Configure your server/CMS to return a true 404 status when content doesn't exist.
Option 2: 301 Redirect
Redirect to a relevant page with similar content.
Option 3: Add Content
If the page should exist, add meaningful content to it.
Option 4: Noindex
If the page must exist but shouldn't be indexed, add noindex tag.
Preventing Soft 404s
- Configure proper 404 handling in your CMS
- Noindex empty search results
- Handle out-of-stock products properly
- Remove empty paginated URLs from sitemap
- Monitor Search Console regularly
Related: Fix 404 Errors
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