404 error

A 404 is normal on the web and does not, by itself, harm a site's rankings. Google expects pages to disappear and simply drops them from the index over time. The problem is what the 404 represents: lost visitors, broken journeys and wasted links when a page that people still look for no longer exists.

It differs from a 410 Gone, which says the removal is deliberate and permanent, and from a soft 404, where a page says "not found" to visitors but returns a success code, confusing search engines.

How it works

When a browser asks for a URL the server cannot match, it responds with status 404 and usually a custom error page. Search engines that receive a 404 stop showing that URL after recrawling it a few times. Links pointing at it, internal or external, stop passing value to anything useful.

Search Console's Page indexing report lists URLs returning "Not found (404)", and site-audit crawlers list broken internal links. The fix depends on the cause: restore the page, redirect it to its closest replacement, correct the link, or leave the 404 if the content is truly gone. A 410 tends to make Google drop a URL a little faster than a 404, but either works.

A soft 404 deserves special attention. If a page shows "nothing found" or is nearly empty but returns a 200 success code, Google may flag it as a soft 404 in Search Console and drop it from results anyway, while still spending crawl time on it. Search results pages with no results, empty category pages and expired listings are common culprits. The fix is to return a real 404 or 410, or to put useful content on the page.

Example

After a redesign, a travel agency's old tour URLs return 404s. Search Console lists hundreds, and several were linked from partner hotel sites. The agency redirects each old tour to the matching new tour page, removes three tours that no longer exist with no close equivalent, and adds a helpful 404 page with a search box and links to current tours.

To find which 404s matter, the agency exports the URLs from Search Console's Not found list and checks each against its old Performance data and the Links report. URLs that had clicks or external links get redirected first. A site crawler then confirms no internal links still point to removed pages. Requesting a few of the old URLs in a browser checks that the redirects work and the 404 page appears where it should.

Why it matters for your business

Unfixed 404s on important pages cost enquiries, because both searchers and people following old links hit a dead end. A good custom 404 page catches some of those visitors. You do not need to chase every 404, though: random mistyped URLs and pages that were never real are best left returning 404, which is the correct answer. Prioritise by value: a dead URL with external links or past traffic is worth fixing, a mistyped one is not.

Common mistakes

• Redirecting every 404 to the home page, which Google may treat as a soft 404 and visitors find confusing.
• Leaving the default server error page with no navigation or way back into the site.
• Returning a success code on not-found pages, creating soft 404s.
• Ignoring 404s on pages that still have external links or ranked well before a redesign.

Questions people ask

Do 404 errors hurt my SEO?

Not as a site-wide penalty. Google treats 404s as a normal part of the web. They matter when they affect pages that had traffic or links, because that value is lost, and when internal links send visitors to dead ends. Fix the ones that matter and let the rest stay as 404s.

How do I find 404 errors on my site?

Check the Page indexing report in Google Search Console for URLs marked Not found (404), and run a site crawler to find broken internal links. Analytics can also show visits to your 404 page and which URLs triggered it, which reveals links you need to fix or redirect.

Should I redirect all 404 pages?

No. Redirect a 404 only when there is a genuinely equivalent page to send people to, such as a moved or merged page. Content that is gone with no replacement should return 404 or 410. Redirecting everything to the home page frustrates visitors and Google may treat it as a soft 404 anyway.