Soft 404 Errors Explained: What They Mean and How to Fix Them

A "Soft 404" in Google Search Console means Google visited a page, got a normal 200 OK response, and decided the page looks like an error or has nothing useful on it, so it won't index it. It's one of the most confusing statuses in the Page indexing report because the page loads fine in your browser. This guide explains what soft 404 errors are, the usual causes on small business sites, and how to fix each one so the right pages get indexed and the wrong ones drop out cleanly.

What a soft 404 error actually is

Every web page returns an HTTP status code. A real missing page should return 404 Not Found (or 410 Gone). A soft 404 is a mismatch:

• The server says 200 OK ("here's your page").
• The content says, in effect, "nothing here": an error message, an empty list, or almost no content.

Google's definition is a page that returns a user-friendly "not found" message without a 404 status code, or a page whose content looks like an error, such as an empty page. Google treats it as a missing page and leaves it out of the index, even though your server claims it's fine.

Why it matters:

• Pages you want ranked can be wrongly excluded if they look too thin.
• Pages that are genuinely gone keep being recrawled because the server never says they're gone.
• Lots of near-empty URLs make your site look lower quality and waste crawling on pages nobody needs.

Where to find soft 404s in Search Console

1. Open Google Search Console and go to Indexing > Pages.
2. Under Why pages aren't indexed, click Soft 404.
3. Review the example URLs. Click one and choose Inspect URL.
4. Run Test live URL, then View tested page to see the HTML and screenshot Google rendered.

The rendered screenshot is the most useful clue. If Google saw a blank area, a loading spinner or a cookie banner covering everything, the problem is how the page renders, not the content itself.

Our guide to crawled but not indexed pages covers the neighbouring statuses in the same report.

The common causes of soft 404s (and how to fix each)

The fix always comes down to one question: should this URL exist? If yes, give it real content. If no, make it return a real 404 or 410, or redirect it to a genuinely equivalent page.

1. Custom error pages that return 200

Many CMS themes and hand-built sites show a friendly "Sorry, page not found" page but send a 200 status with it.

How to check: visit a made-up URL such as /this-does-not-exist-123 and look at the status code in your browser's developer tools (Network tab) or with a header checker.

Fix: configure the server to send a 404 status with your custom page.

# Apache / .htaccess
ErrorDocument 404 /404.html

# Nginx
error_page 404 /404.html;

Don't point ErrorDocument at a full URL (https://...), because Apache then issues a redirect instead of serving a 404. WordPress and Shopify return proper 404s for missing pages by default; if yours doesn't, a plugin or custom theme code is usually overriding it.

2. Thin or near-empty pages

Pages with a heading and one sentence, placeholder text, or "coming soon" messages often get flagged. Common examples are location pages with only a town name changed, tag archives with one post, and author pages with no bio.

Fix:

• If the page should rank, add genuinely useful content: what the service is, prices, FAQs, photos, contact details, reviews.
• If it shouldn't rank, add noindex or remove it and let it return 404.
• Merge several weak pages into one strong page and 301-redirect the old URLs to it.

3. Empty category, tag and internal search pages

An ecommerce category with no products, a blog tag with no posts, or an on-site search results page saying "No results found" all look like errors to Google.

Fix:

• Empty categories: hide them from navigation until they have products, or noindex them while empty. If a category is permanently gone, return 404 or redirect it to its parent category.
• Internal search results: these rarely deserve to be in Google. Add <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> to search result templates. If you use noindex, don't also block those URLs in robots.txt, or Google won't be able to see the tag.
• Filter and sort URLs that produce empty combinations: don't link to filter states with zero results.

4. Out-of-stock and discontinued products

This is the biggest source of soft 404s for online shops, and the right answer depends on whether the product is coming back.

Google's own advice to shops that need to pause sales is to keep product pages up and mark items as out of stock, rather than removing them. The out-of-stock page gets flagged when it's stripped down: if your theme hides the description, price and images when stock hits zero, the page can look empty. Keep the useful content visible.

On Shopify, avoid hiding sold-out products from the storefront in a way that leaves a bare page; keep the product active with its full content. On WooCommerce, check the "Hide out of stock items from the catalogue" setting under WooCommerce > Settings > Products > Inventory: hiding items from listings is fine, but the product page itself should still show full details.

5. Redirecting removed pages to the home page

Sending every deleted page to the home page is a common shortcut. Google's site move guidance specifically warns that redirecting many old URLs to one irrelevant destination such as the home page may be treated as a soft 404. Google sees a redirect that doesn't match what the visitor asked for.

Fix: redirect each old URL to its closest equivalent (a renamed page, the parent category, the replacement product). If there's no relevant equivalent, let it return a 404 or 410. Our guide to 301 vs 302 redirects covers which redirect to use.

6. Pages that render empty for Google

JavaScript-heavy pages, especially single-page apps, can show content to visitors but appear blank to Google if scripts fail, time out or are blocked by robots.txt.

Fix:

• Check View tested page in URL Inspection to see what Google rendered.
• Don't block JavaScript or CSS files in robots.txt.
• For client-side apps, Google suggests two ways to handle genuinely missing content: redirect to a URL where the server returns a 404, or add a noindex robots meta tag with JavaScript on error views.
• Consider server-side rendering for important public pages.

7. Login walls, geo-blocks and consent overlays

If a page shows only "Please log in" or "Not available in your region" to Googlebot, it looks like an error. Googlebot mostly crawls from US IP addresses, so a geo-block that keeps out US visitors (a UK-only or EU-only site, for example) can make your whole site look empty.

Fix: don't geo-block Googlebot; show content publicly where you want it indexed; make sure cookie banners don't replace the page content.

A quick decision checklist for each soft 404 URL

• Does this URL deserve to be in Google? If no, return 404/410 or noindex it.
• Is there a direct replacement? If yes, 301-redirect to it, not to the home page.
• Is the page thin? Add real content or merge it into a stronger page.
• Is it an empty category, tag or search page? Hide, noindex or remove it.
• Is it out of stock? Keep full product content visible and update structured data.
• Does Google's rendered screenshot show the content? If not, fix rendering or blocking.

Validating the fix in Search Console

Once you've fixed every URL in the soft 404 list:

1. Open the Soft 404 issue in the Page indexing report and click Validate fix.
2. Don't click it again while validation is running.
3. Google says validation typically takes up to about two weeks.
4. If it fails, click See details, fix the URLs that still fail and start again.

URLs you deliberately changed to 404 or 410 will move to the "Not found (404)" status. That's expected and isn't a problem: Google says 404s for pages that don't exist don't harm the rest of your site.

Finding the links that lead to soft 404s

Soft 404s are often reached through your own internal links: old menu items, links in blog posts, or products linked from category pages after they've gone. Our free broken link checker checks up to 100 unique links on a page and reports which return errors, separating internal links from outbound ones. It reports the HTTP status of each link, so it finds real 404s rather than soft 404s, but cleaning those up stops visitors and crawlers reaching dead ends. You need a free account to run it.

To see whether your old URLs redirect cleanly, use the redirect checker, and read our guide to broken links and redirect chains. For a wider technical review, run a free website audit.

Frequently asked questions

Are soft 404 errors bad for SEO?

They mean Google won't index those pages. That's harmful if the pages should rank, and wasteful if they're genuinely gone but still recrawled. Fixing them sends clearer signals to Google about which pages matter.

What is the difference between a 404 and a soft 404?

A 404 is a status code your server sends to say a page doesn't exist. A soft 404 is Google's label for a page that returns 200 OK but looks empty or like an error, so Google treats it as missing anyway.

Should out-of-stock products return a 404?

Not if they're coming back. Keep the page live with full product details and an out-of-stock message, and update availability in your structured data. Return 404 or 410, or redirect to a replacement, only when a product is permanently discontinued.

Can redirecting to the home page cause soft 404s?

Yes. Google warns that redirecting many old URLs to one irrelevant page such as the home page may be treated as a soft 404. Redirect to the closest relevant page instead, or let the URL return a 404.

How long does it take for soft 404s to clear?

After you fix the pages and click Validate fix, Google says validation typically takes up to about two weeks. Individual URLs can update sooner if Google recrawls them earlier.

Sources

• Google Search Central: How HTTP status codes affect Google's crawlers
• Search Console Help: Page indexing report
• Google Search Central: Site moves with URL changes
• Google Search Central: JavaScript SEO basics
• Google Search Central Blog: How to pause your business online in Google Search
• Google Search Central Blog: Do 404s hurt my site?