Lees deze gids in het Nederlands →
A soft 404 is a page that returns “200 OK” to browsers but looks missing or empty to Google — so Google treats it as not found and keeps it out of the index.
- The status code says “page exists”, the content says “nothing here” — Google believes the content.
- Six usual causes: fake 404 pages returning 200, empty category/search pages, gutted product pages, irrelevant redirects, placeholders and failed JavaScript rendering.
- Mass-redirecting deleted URLs to the homepage is itself treated as a soft 404 by Google.
- The fix depends on the page: gone → real 404/410; moved → 301 to an equivalent; real page → give it real content.
- For JavaScript sites, test the live URL in Search Console: a blank rendered screenshot means Google sees an empty page.
A soft 404 is a page that tells browsers “everything’s fine” (HTTP 200) but looks to Google like a missing or empty page. Google treats it as not found and won’t index it.
The fix depends on what the page really is: gone? return a real 404 or 410. Moved? 301 to the closest equivalent. Real page? give it enough real content that it no longer looks empty.
What a soft 404 is
Google’s definition: the page returns a user-friendly “not found” message, but not a 404 HTTP response code. In practice Google also flags pages that are technically “found” but have so little content they might as well be missing.
200 OK — page exists
The signal: “Index me, I’m a normal page.”
Empty or “not found”
The verdict: the status code is lying, so Google treats it as a 404.
| What the page really is | Right response | Wrong response |
|---|---|---|
| Gone for good | 404 or 410 + remove from sitemap | Redirect to homepage |
| Replaced by another page | 301 to the closest equivalent | 301 to an unrelated page |
| Temporarily out of stock | Keep live with full info + alternatives | Strip to a “not available” line |
| Real page Google sees as empty | Fix rendering / add real content | Request indexing repeatedly |
The six usual causes
- Custom “not found” pages that return 200. The page says “Oops, nothing here” but the server reports success.
- Empty category, tag or search pages. “No products found” or “No posts yet” with nothing else on the page.
- Out-of-stock or expired items reduced to a title and a “no longer available” line.
- Redirects to an irrelevant page — especially mass-redirecting deleted URLs to the homepage. Google often treats those as soft 404s.
- Thin placeholder pages — “coming soon,” near-empty templates, auto-generated location pages.
- Rendering failures. JavaScript that fails for Googlebot, or resources blocked by robots.txt, so Google renders a blank page.
Fix it by page type
- Gone for good? Return 404 or 410.
- Replaced? 301 to the closest relevant page — not the homepage.
- Remove it from your sitemap and internal links.
- Does it render fully in URL Inspection’s live test?
- Does it have real, unique content above the fold?
- Empty archive? Add content or noindex it until it fills.
- Shops: keep temporarily out-of-stock products live with full details, alternatives and a restock note. For permanently discontinued items, 301 to the successor or category — or return 404/410.
- JavaScript sites: use URL Inspection → Test live URL → View tested page. If the screenshot is blank, fix rendering (server-side rendering, unblocked resources) before anything else.
- WordPress: make sure your theme’s 404 template really returns a 404 status, and noindex empty tag archives with your SEO plugin.
Soft 404s on pages that should be gone are fine — Google reached the right conclusion. The ones to fix are real pages Google mistook for empty. That’s almost always a content or rendering problem, not a status-code trick.
FAQ
Is a soft 404 bad for SEO?
For pages that should be gone, it’s harmless but wasteful — a proper 404 or 410 is cleaner. For real pages, it’s bad: Google won’t index them until they stop looking empty.
Should I redirect all 404s to the homepage?
No. Google usually treats irrelevant redirects to the homepage as soft 404s. Redirect only to a genuinely equivalent page; otherwise let the URL return 404 or 410.
What’s the difference between 404 and 410?
Both say the page isn’t there. 410 means “gone on purpose, permanently,” which some sites use to signal removal more clearly. In practice Google handles both as not found.
How do I get Google to recheck after fixing?
Fix the pages, then click Validate fix on the Soft 404 issue in Search Console. Google recrawls the affected URLs; validation typically takes up to about two weeks.
Why does Google report a soft 404 on a page that exists?
Because the rendered page looks empty or like an error to Google: little content above the fold, a “nothing found” message, or JavaScript that fails for Googlebot.
Do soft 404s waste crawl budget?
They can. Googlebot keeps rechecking URLs that claim to exist. Returning a proper 404 or 410 tells it to stop, which frees attention for pages that matter.
Comments
One response to “Soft 404 Errors: What They Are and How to Fix Them”
[…] Don’t redirect everything to the homepage — Google tends to treat that as a soft 404. […]