A soft 404 error might look harmless on the surface, but it’s one of the most damaging invisible issues your website can face. It silently wastes your crawl budget, confuses Google, and sends users into dead ends — all without raising red flags until your rankings drop.
This complete guide explains what soft 404 errors are, how they affect your SEO, and how to fix and prevent them like a pro.
What Is a Soft 404 Error?
A Soft 404 is not a code that your website server displays. This error is only detected by Google and reported in Google Console and labeled as a Soft 404 error.
When does a soft 404 error occur?
Common definition:
A web page doesn’t actually exist, but instead of returning the proper 404 (Not Found) status code, it returns a 200 OK status code, which misleads search engines into thinking the page is valid.
Exception in this definition:
A soft 404 error can sometimes occur when there really isn’t an error on your site, and Google is showing a fake error.
We don’t mean Google wants to bother you, Google is tricked as well.
How about we explain why it’s not mentioned on any site?
The Difference Between Hard 404 and Soft 404
| Type | HTTP Status | Visible to Users | Visible to Google |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hard 404 | 404 | Yes | Yes |
| Soft 404 | 200 | Yes | No (assumed valid) |
To check your post/page URL status, you can check here: https://httpstatus.io. It’s free and simple
How Search Engines Interpret Soft 404s
Google sees a soft 404 as a low-quality or empty page, and flags it in Google Search Console. If left unfixed, it may keep crawling these useless pages, harming the visibility of your good content.
Why Soft 404 Errors Matter for SEO
Negative Impact on Crawl Budget and Indexing
Every time Googlebot checks a soft 404 error, it wastes your crawl budget. With crawl budget, Google doesn’t check all the pages on your website every time, but only a few of them, and if the page is worthless or low-value, it won’t benefit you to index it.
Bad User Experience and Bounce Rates
Soft 404 errors provide a poor user experience. Users land on pages with no content or misleading messages, which increases bounce rates and damages the trust of the site.
Case Study: How Soft 404s Killed a Blog’s Traffic
A retail website found that 18% of its URLs were showing soft 404 errors. After fixing them, which included improving low-volume pages and properly removing dead pages, organic traffic increased by 28% within 4 months.
Causes of Soft 404 Errors
1. Use the Phrase 404 on the page
Sometimes, even pages that have similar phrases to 404 page messages are categorized as Soft 404s.
For example, if Google reaches a page where you use the following phrases, it will assume it has reached a 404 page:
- Out of stock.
- Currently unavailable.
- Product not available.
- Error 404.
For example, this post had a soft 404 label because it was talking about a 4xx error :
Error 404/403/402 of External Links
2. Little or No Content
The most common cause of a Soft 404 error in Search Console is that the page has no content or very little content; for this reason, Google robots expect a 404 code to return.
For example, empty results pages on the site, empty product categories or detail pages, empty blog category pages, and similar items may be identified as soft 404 pages because they have little content.
Pages that have very little or no content may encounter a Soft 404 error. Since these pages do not have high content value, internal linking is usually not done for them. As a result, these pages are considered orphan pages as well.
For example, if one of your website’s categories is “Uncategorized” and you did not allocate it to any post, this page has no content, and it would be considered a soft 404.
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3. Temporary problem from Google bots
Sometimes Submitted URL seems to be a Soft 404 error, which can be incorrect.
Sometimes, Google crawler may have reached your URL, but due to a technical reason, such as a problem with your server, they were unable to check the page resources (such as CSS and JS files). As a result, Google will label the page as a Soft 404 at that particular time when the crawl was on your website.
4. Improper Redirects (301/302 to Irrelevant URLs)
Redirecting broken links to unrelated pages can trigger soft 404s.
For example, redirecting a deleted product page to your homepage.
5. Blocked Resources (JS, CSS, HTML Not Rendered)
If important rendering files (like CSS or JavaScript) are blocked by robots.txt or are not loading, Google may see the page as broken or empty.
For example, blocking a JavaScript that stops whole product features on the page
Disallow: /shopping-page/scripts/
6. Duplicate or Outdated Pages
Duplicate pages that don’t offer unique value often get flagged as soft 404s, especially if canonical tags are missing or misused.
How to Detect Soft 404 Errors
Using Google Search Console
On the right sidebar, click on Indexing, then click on Pages
Under this title: Why pages aren’t indexed
- Can you find: Soft 404
- By clicking on that, you can view affected URLs.
- You export the list of Urls in an Excel file (by clicking on EXPORT in the upper-right corner)
Screaming Frog
- Use Screaming Frog SEO Spider to crawl your site
- On the top right, next to the overview, click on the Issues tab
- Check to find the issue : Content: Soft 404 Pages
- (It is a “Warning” type of issue with “Issue Priority High” grade)
- On the right side, you can see the list of pages with this error
Chrome DevTools and Status Headers
- Visit the page
- Right-click a web page
- Find the Inspect in the menu
- Click on the Network tab
- Click on ALL in front of More Filters
- Look at the HTTP status code — if it says 200 but the page is blank, it’s a soft 404
How to Fix Soft 404 Errors (Step-by-Step)
Fix 1: Proper 404 or 410 for Non-Existing Pages
If the page doesn’t exist:
- Return a 404 Not Found or 410 Gone status
- Customize your 404 page with helpful links and search
Fix 2: Improve Content Quality on Existing Pages
If the page is valid but thin:
- Add meaningful, original content
- Include internal links, media, and a clear purpose
Fix 3: Use Correct Redirects (301/302 Best Practices)
If the page was moved:
- Use a 301 redirect to a relevant replacement page
- Never redirect unrelated content to the homepage
Fix 4: Noindex Pages You Don’t Want Indexed
For functional but unnecessary pages:
- Use the meta noindex tag
- Keep them accessible to users, but out of Google’s index
Fix 5: Add Note With the Phrase 404
If your content talks about the phrase 404 in any business, make sure to leave a note at the end and explain why you use this number in the content, and it doesn’t mean this page is a 404 Error Page.
Our Technical SEO services ensure issues like soft 404s, crawl errors, and indexing bugs are eliminated at the source
Advanced Tips to Prevent Future Soft 404 Errors
Build a Smart 404 Page with Helpful Links
Include:
- Search bar
- Top categories
- Popular posts
- Contact option
Run Regular Technical SEO Audits
- Schedule monthly crawls with Screaming Frog or Ahrefs
- Monitor your Google Search Console for new errors
Set Up Monitoring Tools and Alerts
Use tools like:
- Sitebulb
- ContentKing
- Ahrefs Site Audit
Use Robots.txt and Sitemap Properly
- Block crawl of thin/utility pages (e.g., tag archives)
- Only submit quality URLs in your sitemap.xml
Conclusion: Stop Soft 404s Before They Stop Your SEO
Soft 404s are sneaky, silent killers of your SEO. They waste your crawl budget, dilute link equity, and create poor user experiences. By regularly auditing your site, properly tagging error pages, and improving thin content, you can eliminate soft 404s and help your real content rise in Google rankings.
Ready to Eliminate Soft 404s and Boost Your Google Rankings?
Soft 404 errors are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to technical SEO issues holding your site back. At AI SEO Services, we use advanced AI-driven audits and automation tools to identify, fix, and prevent SEO issues before they cost you traffic.
- Fix technical errors automatically
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FAQs About Soft 404s
Will soft 404 errors hurt my rankings?
Yes. They consume crawl budget, confuse bots, and lead to the indexing of useless pages — all harmful to rankings.
Is it better to delete or redirect thin pages?
If no valuable replacement exists, delete and return 404. If there is a related page, a 301 redirect is better.
Do soft 404s affect Core Web Vitals?
Not directly, but increased crawl load and user frustration from bad pages can degrade overall site performance metrics.
Why does my 900+ word page have a soft 404?
If you have enough text on the page and are still getting 404 errors, it's a good idea to evaluate your Java/CSS or check your website server. You need to make sure that the search engine crawler can access your content.
