Story Based Question
Imagine you’ve spent months building a well-optimized blog for your website. Your content is ranking well in search engines, and traffic is steadily increasing. One day, you notice a page on your site has been removed, but when you check it, there’s no real “404 error” page. Instead, it’s showing a custom message saying, “Oops! This page is no longer available,” but the page still returns a 200 status code (which means it’s “working”). You’re confused. What exactly is going on here? You decide to dig into what a “soft 404” is and how to fix it.
Exact Answer
A “soft 404” occurs when a page on your website returns a 200 status code (indicating a page is found) while showing content that suggests the page is unavailable (like a message saying “this page no longer exists”). This confuses search engines, which might index the page despite it being empty or offering no valuable content. To fix a soft 404, make sure that pages with no content or removed pages return the correct 404 status code or use a redirect to a relevant page.
Explanation
Soft 404 errors happen when a page displays content that suggests the page is gone but still returns a “200 OK” HTTP status. This is problematic for SEO because search engines interpret a 200 status code as a functional page, even if it doesn’t provide any useful information. As a result, search engines may index the page, confusing users and wasting crawl budget on low-value content.
Here’s why it’s important to address soft 404 errors:
- Confuses Search Engines: If a page shows a “page not found” message but still returns a 200 status, search engines will continue to index it as a valid page. This misleads search engines and harms the overall quality of your site’s index.
- Wasted Crawl Budget: Search engines spend a set amount of time crawling your site. If they keep indexing pages that aren’t relevant or don’t exist, you could waste crawl budget on these useless pages instead of crawling important content.
- User Experience: Visitors to your site may also get confused if they land on a page that looks like it should be removed, but they see a message that doesn’t match the URL’s actual status. It leads to a poor user experience.
How to Fix Soft 404s
- Return the Correct HTTP Status Code: If a page is truly gone, you should ensure it returns a proper 404 (or 410 if it’s permanently gone) instead of a 200 status code.
- Redirect to a Relevant Page: If the page is removed but you have a similar or more useful page, consider setting up a 301 redirect to the new page. This preserves any link equity and ensures a better user experience.
- Check and Fix in Google Search Console: Google Search Console will show soft 404s under the “Crawl Errors” report. You can use this tool to identify which pages are flagged as soft 404s and fix them accordingly.
Example
Let’s say you run a website that sells gadgets. You decide to remove a product page for a phone that’s no longer in stock. Instead of configuring the page to return a 404 status code or redirecting it to a similar product page, you leave the page up with a custom message saying, “Sorry, this product is no longer available.” When Googlebot visits the page, it sees a 200 status code but also notices the content is essentially saying the product is gone. This results in a soft 404 error.
To fix this, you would:
- Ensure the page returns a proper 404 status if it no longer exists.
- Alternatively, you can redirect the page to a similar product’s page (e.g., a newer version of the phone), ensuring the 301 redirect is in place.
This way, search engines will stop indexing the page and won’t waste resources on a page with no value. Users will also have a better experience by being redirected to a page that still serves their needs.
Soft 404s occur when pages that should be removed or don’t exist still return a 200 status code, confusing search engines and wasting crawl budget. To fix them, either return the proper 404 status or set up a redirect to a relevant page. This ensures better SEO performance and a smoother user experience.