Pages That Say Not Found but Tell Google Otherwise

Two answers from the same page

Every time a browser or Google asks for a page, the server sends two things: the page itself, and a short status code saying what kind of answer it is.

200 means here is the page. 404 means there is nothing here. 301 means it has moved for good, and here is the new address.

Visitors never see the code, only the page. Google reads both, and when they disagree it has to guess which one you meant.

The usual disagreement is a page that says sorry, this item is no longer available, sent with a code that says everything is fine.

Where soft 404s come from

• Product pages that show an error once the item is gone.
• Empty categories reading no products found.
• Search results pages with nothing in them.
• Custom error pages sent with a success code.
• Missing pages redirected to the home page in bulk.
• Placeholder pages that say only coming soon.

The fourth is the one many sites have without knowing. A friendly not found page built into the theme looks right, but if it goes out with a 200, every broken address looks like a real page to Google.

What Google makes of them

Google calls these soft 404s: pages that behave like errors without saying so.

It spots most of them, so they rarely rank for long. The cost is elsewhere.

Google keeps crawling addresses that should have been dropped, spending visits its crawler could give to real pages. On a shop with thousands of product addresses, that can slow how quickly new pages are found.

Some also linger in search results for a while. A searcher clicks an old product listing, lands on a page saying it no longer exists, and goes straight back.

Search Console lists them. The Crawl Errors report has a soft 404 tab showing every address Google has flagged.

Why sites send the wrong code

Usually it is the software, not a decision anyone made.

Shop and booking platforms often show a missing item's message inside the normal template, which goes out with the normal code. To the software, an empty category is still a working page.

Custom error pages are often built as ordinary pages and set as the destination for anything missing. They look right and say the wrong thing.

And sending every missing address to the home page feels tidy, but Google can treat a home page arriving in place of a specific product as a soft 404 too.

Checking the code a page sends

The browser's developer tools show it. Open them, choose the network tab, reload the page and read the status of the first item in the list.

In Search Console, Fetch as Google shows the server's response at the top of its result, starting with the status code.

Test three addresses: a removed product, an empty category, and one you have just made up, which should come back as a 404.

A worked example

A baby gear rental business delivers cribs, strollers, car seats and high chairs to visiting families and grandparents, and lists every item in an online catalogue.

Gear wears out and is retired. Each retired item's page showed a one-line message saying it was no longer available, sent with a 200.

Seasonal categories did the same. In summer the sleds and ski carriers category read no items found, and in winter the beach gear category did too.

Search Console listed dozens of soft 404s, and a search for the business's best-known stroller led to a retired model's empty page.

The developer changed the catalogue so retired items with a direct replacement redirect to it, and the rest send a 404 with a page linking the main categories and the phone number.

The seasonal categories became real pages, each saying when the gear is available and inviting early bookings. That content deserves its 200.

Which response to send

Whether to keep, redirect or remove a page is a business decision. The status code is how Google learns which one you made.

A redirect to a genuine replacement, such as the newer model of the same stroller, should be a 301. The visitor lands somewhere useful, and search engines pass most of what the old page had earned to the new one.

A page gone for good with no close equivalent should send a 404, or a 410, which says gone on purpose.

A page kept, or an error disguised

Keeping a discontinued product's page is sometimes right, when it explains what changed and points to the closest alternatives.

The difference is substance. A page with a description, an explanation and genuine alternatives is useful and deserves its success code. A template with the product removed and one line saying unavailable is an error page in disguise.

A fair test: if you would not want a searcher to land on it, it should not be telling Google everything is fine.

Make the real 404 page helpful

A proper not found response need not be a dead end. The page sent with the 404 can be as helpful as you like.

Say plainly that the page is not there, offer a search box and links to the main sections, and give the phone number. A shop can add its most popular categories.

Keep it in the site's design, so visitors know they are still in the right place. Then confirm it really sends a 404, which is the whole point.

The counter-case

A site of a dozen pages with no catalogue may have no soft 404s beyond its error page, and checking that takes a minute.

Google also copes reasonably well alone, spotting most soft 404s and dropping them. Fixing them is housekeeping rather than an emergency, unless they reach search results.

And not every page Search Console flags is wrong. A thin page mistaken for an error may simply need more content.

For any site with products, listings or seasonal categories, send the response that matches what the page says, and make the real not found page useful.

The check

1. Open Crawl Errors in Search Console.
2. Test a made-up address on your site.
3. Check a removed product and an empty category.
4. Redirect items with a genuine replacement.
5. Send a 404 for items gone for good.
6. Give seasonal categories real content all year.
7. Make the not found page genuinely useful.

Step two takes a minute and tells you the most. If an invented address comes back as a success, every broken link on the site is a soft 404, and the fix usually sits in one template.

What to put on the product pages themselves is covered in discontinued products and the pages that ranked.

Frequently asked questions

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.