Table of Contents
What does submitted URL seems to be a soft 404 mean?
A soft 404 is a URL that returns a page telling the user that the page does not exist and also a 200 (success) status code. A success status code tells search engines that there’s a real page at that URL.
How do I fix soft 404 error on Google console?
What causes soft 404 errors and how to fix them?
- Fix: make sure to return this status code instead of a 200 OK .
- Fix: update the redirect so it points to the most relevant alternative.
- Fix: if these pages shouldn’t exist, 404 them.
- Fix: adjust the page’s content so it’s not mistaken for a 404 page.
Why not found is 404?
404 error or ‘page not found’ error is a Hypertext Transfer Protocol standard response code that indicates the server was unable to find what was requested. This message may also appear when the server is not willing to disclose the requested information or when the content has been deleted.
What are URL errors?
As mentioned, URL errors refer to crawl errors that occur when a search engine bot tries to crawl a specific page of your website. When we discuss URL errors, we tend to discuss crawl errors like (soft) 404 Not Found errors first.
How do I remove 404 errors from Google?
Update the sitemap as necessary. If the content has moved, add a redirect. If you have permanently deleted content without intending to replace it with newer, related content, let the old URL return a 404 or 410. Currently Google treats 410s (Gone) the same as 404s (Not found).
How do I know if my 404 is soft?
The content of the page (the ‘page not found’ message) is entirely unrelated to the HTTP response returned by the server. A soft 404 error occurs when a non-existent page (a page that has been deleted/removed) displays a ‘page not found’ message to anyone trying to access it but doesn’t return an HTTP 404 status code.