Detects pages that show error content but return HTTP 200 instead of a proper 404 status code.
A soft 404 is a page that displays 'Page not found', 'No results', or similar error-like content while returning an HTTP 200 (OK) status code instead of the correct 404 (Not Found) status. Search engines may attempt to index these empty or error pages.
Search engines use HTTP status codes to understand page state. When an error page returns 200, crawlers treat it as a valid page and attempt to index it. This wastes crawl budget on useless pages and can pollute your search index with low-quality results.
Soft 404s waste crawl budget, dilute your site's overall quality signals, and can cause Google to flag indexing issues in Search Console. Users may also see these empty pages in search results, leading to a poor experience.
# Ensure your server returns proper status codes:
# For pages that don't exist:
HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
# For permanently removed content:
HTTP/1.1 410 Gone
# Never return 200 OK for error/empty pagesRun a free audit to see how your site performs on Soft 404 Detection and 159 other checks.
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