What Is a Soft 404?

A soft 404 is a page that tells visitors it was "not found" but reports success to Google, returning a 200 OK status instead of a real 404 code. Google's Search Console flags these because the misleading status keeps it crawling and considering an empty page. The fix is to return a true 404 for pages that are genuinely gone, or to add real content when the page should exist.

How does a soft 404 happen?

A soft 404 happens when a page has no real content but its server still answers with a 200 OK. That is the success code, the one that tells a browser the page is fine. Google describes a soft 404 as a page that returns a user-friendly "not found" message but not a 404 HTTP response code (Google Search Console Help).

The visitor sees an error, while Google is told everything worked.

That mismatch is the whole problem. A real 404 error is honest, so Google drops the missing address and moves on. A soft 404 keeps the door open on a page with nothing behind it.

What causes soft 404s?

Soft 404s usually come from empty or broken pages that were never set to return the right status code. Google does not publish a fixed list, but the same handful of causes turns up again and again.

Common cause	What Google sees	The fix
A deleted page still loads a "not found" template	An empty page reporting success	Return a real 404 or 410
Content loads only through JavaScript that fails	A blank page	Serve the content in the HTML
A very thin page with almost nothing on it	A low-value, error-like page	Add real content or remove it
Every missing URL redirects to the homepage	A homepage that is not the page requested	Redirect only true matches, 404 the rest

Source: Google Search Console Help (soft 404 definition) and standard HTTP status codes (MDN, retrieved August 2026).

The last row is a frequent one. Sending every dead link to the homepage feels tidy, but Google can read it as a soft 404, since the page it lands on is not the one requested. Google's documentation does not cover the case. John Mueller has said of a homepage redirect that "Maybe it stays soft-404 & gets crawled (not great, not terrible)" (Search Engine Roundtable, January 2026).

Why do soft 404s matter?

Soft 404s matter because they waste Google's attention and clutter your reports without ever ranking. A page that reports success but holds no content is a dead end Google keeps returning to.

Because the status says all is well, Google keeps crawling the empty page instead of your real ones, spending crawl budget on nothing.

Google's crawl-budget guide says it plainly: "soft 404 pages will continue to be crawled, and waste your budget" (Google Search Central). On a large or slow site, that is attention pulled away from pages you want indexed.

The soft 404 also sits in your Search Console Page Indexing report, listed as a reason a URL was not indexed. There it hides among issues you do want to fix.

In our experience, a site's crawl problems usually trace back to its own structure, not to Google, and the soft 404 is a textbook case. A discontinued product or promotion page that still loads a near-empty template with a 200 status is a structural fault the site created, long after the item is gone.

How do you fix a soft 404?

Fix a soft 404 by making the page honest about what it is. Google's own guidance is to return a proper 404 for pages that are truly gone. For a page that should exist, it says to add real information, so Google can tell it is not a soft 404.

Work case by case. If the content is genuinely removed, return a real 404, or a 410 Gone to signal it will not come back. If the content moved, send the old URL to its replacement with a 301 redirect.

If the page should exist but looks empty, the problem is the content, not the status, so fill it out. Then use Search Console's URL Inspection tool to confirm Google now reads the page the way you intended.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a 404 and a soft 404?

A 404 correctly tells browsers and Google that a page does not exist. A soft 404 shows a "not found" message but still returns a 200 OK success code. The honest 404 lets Google drop the address cleanly. The soft version is the problem, because Google keeps treating an empty page as a real one and wastes crawl attention on it.

Are soft 404s bad for SEO?

Soft 404s are not a penalty, but they do quiet harm. They spend crawl budget on empty pages, so a large site gets its real pages crawled less often, and they clutter your Search Console reports. They also mean a page you might have wanted indexed is being ignored. Clearing them keeps Google focused on the content that should rank.

How do I find soft 404s on my site?

Use Google Search Console's Page Indexing report, which lists "Soft 404" as one reason a URL was not indexed. Open that group to see the affected addresses, then check each one in the browser. The URL Inspection tool confirms the status code Google received. A regular crawl of your site with an SEO tool will also surface pages returning 200 when they should return 404.

Can redirecting to my homepage cause a soft 404?

Yes, it can. Sending every missing URL to the homepage looks helpful, but Google can treat it as a soft 404. The page it reaches is not the page that was requested. Mueller's own word for the outcome was "maybe", so treat it as a risk rather than a certainty.

Redirect a dead URL only when the content genuinely moved to a specific new page. Let pages that are truly gone return an honest 404 instead.

Should I use a 404 or a 410 for a removed page?

Use a 404 for most removed pages, and a 410 Gone when you want to signal the page is deleted for good. Both tell Google the page is not there, so both clear a soft 404. Google's documentation says it treats 404 and 410 the same, so there is no speed advantage to chase. A plain 404 is perfectly fine and is the default for pages that no longer exist.

Make every page honest about its status

Storming Solutions runs SEO, AEO, and GEO for Malaysian businesses from Kuala Lumpur, and clearing soft 404s is part of keeping a site's crawl clean after every change and product update. We would rather set a removed page to return an honest 404 than let Google keep circling an empty template.

Seeing "Soft 404" in your Search Console, or unsure which of your pages report the wrong status? Send us the site on WhatsApp, or read what crawl budget is next. Our SEO, AEO, and GEO service keeps Google spending its time on the pages you want found.