Soft 404 Errors: What They Mean and How to Fix Them

Have you ever come across the “Submitted URL seems to be a soft 404” warning in Google Search Console? If so, you are not alone. This confusing error trips up website owners all over the world every single day, and most people have no idea what it actually means or why it matters. A soft 404 error is a page that is between a good one and a bad one. If you don’t fix it, it might subtly affect the overall impression that Google has of your site.

In this guide, you will learn what a soft 404 error is, why it happens, and the practical steps you can take to fix it before it costs you rankings and traffic.

What Is A Soft 404 Error?

A soft 404 error when your server indicates that a page has loaded properly to Google, but the site has little or no actual content. Google reads this mismatch and quietly treats the page as missing, even though your site never sent an actual error code.

Picture a page on your site that says something like "no results found" or displays nothing useful at all. Your server still sends a normal 200 OK status, the same code used for every working page on your site. Google crawls that page, notices there is nothing of value on it, and applies its own soft 404 label behind the scenes.

This label never appears as a code that your browser can recognise. It lives only within Google's systems, and it tells Google not to show this page in search results. While you won't see it when browsing, it will appear in your Search Console reports.

Why Do Soft 404 Errors Hurt Your SEO?

Soft 404 errors can stop pages from staying indexed, which means real visitors searching for your products or services may never find them. Left unchecked across many pages, these errors also waste crawl budget and signal poor site quality to search engines.

Here is what tends to happen once soft 404 errors build up on a site:

• Google stops showing the affected pages in search results entirely, even if the page technically still works.
• Search engines spend part of their limited crawl budget revisiting broken or empty pages instead of your genuinely valuable content.
• If you have a high number of soft 404s throughout your site, it can indicate to Google that the quality of your site's content is lacking.
• visitors arrive at these pages via old links or bookmarks, they end up somewhere that isn't very clear, causing a higher bounce rate.

None of this happens overnight, but a small issue can escalate. A few blank product pages or out-of-date blog tags can sneakily become dozens of missed opportunities over a couple of months.

What Causes Soft 404 Errors?

Soft 404 errors typically are from pages that are technically there but give no real value to users. This is the most common problem on e-commerce sites and content-rich blogs, as they are two types of sites that automatically create pages with little human involvement.

Some of them are common reasons:

• Product pages where products are already sold out or discontinued without posting any additional information.
• Don't show "nothing found" on search pages; instead, redirect or offer alternatives.
• Blog tags or categories that have been set up but not used for any published blog post.
• Pages that redirect people to a completely different website, like sending all broken links to your homepage.
• Thin or duplicate pages that technically load but don’t give Google enough reason to consider them useful.

If your site runs on a platform like WordPress or Shopify, some of these pages get created automatically in the background, which is exactly why so many site owners never notice them until Search Console flags the problem.

How To Find Soft 404 Errors On Your Site

Google Search Console is still the most accurate method for detecting soft 404s, as it explicitly identifies the errors and shows them in your Google Search Console account. Checking once in a while will prevent small problems from piling up and creating major clean-up work in the future.

Here’s how to check for soft 404s on your website:

• Access Google Search Console and select the Pages report in the Indexing section.
• Locate the line labeled “Not indexed” and go down the reasons below that one.
• Look for the line that says "Soft 404" and click on it to view all the impacted URLs.
• If you run a larger site, export the list and have your staff work through the fixes in batches.

If you need a second opinion, or if your site is not in Search Console for some reason, a crawler tool such as Screaming Frog can also identify pages that return a 200 status code with thin or missing content as well, which provides a helpful cross-check.

How To Fix Soft 404 Errors

Fixing a soft 404 error depends entirely on what should actually happen to that page. Some pages deserve a proper error status, others need better content, and some simply need to point somewhere more useful.

If the page actually does not exist

Set up a real 404 or 410 status code to deliver an accurate signal to browsers and search engines. Don’t leave people hanging; put in a good custom error page with links to popular categories or recent content.

If the page has moved or been replaced

Redirect the visitors and search engines directly to the new or most relevant page using a 301 redirect. Great for renaming blog posts, altering product pages, or reorganising category pages.

If the page should stay live

Add genuine, useful content that matches what a visitor expects when they click through from search results. A thin page asking for more detail usually just needs real substance, not a redirect or removal.

If the page should never appear in search

Add a noindex tag for pages that users can access but should not appear in search. Use robots.txt carefully, because blocking a page can stop Google from seeing the noindex tag in the first place, which can end up doing the opposite of what you intended.

How To Prioritise Soft 404 Fixes

Not every soft 404 error deserves the same urgency, and trying to correct hundreds of URLs at once usually leads to exhaustion, not progress. By working down the list in the right sequence, you bring your most valuable pages back in front of visitors first, while the lower-priority pages may wait.

Work through your list using this rough order:

• Pages which used to get real traffic in the past before the error occurred, as these pages prove there is demand for something you are now missing out on.
• Pages with existing backlinks are valuable because those links carry authority that goes to waste if the page cannot be indexed.
• Pages that are in your XML sitemap are the pages Google expects to get indexed.
• Service sites that tell the story of what the business truly performs, as these pages are directly tied to leads and sales.
• Product pages or category pages, if you have an e-commerce website, as these sites change often.
• Pages that are linked in your main navigation menu, as both visitors and search engines would consider them to be very important.

Once the high-priority pages are sorted, move on to older blog posts, seasonal pages, and anything sitting deep in your site structure. A simple spreadsheet tracking URL, cause, fix applied, and date checked keeps larger cleanups manageable over several weeks.

Bringing It All Together

Even though they are often overlooked, soft 404 errors come at a price that may be higher than expected if not taken care of in time. Regular monitoring of Search Console, cleaning thin and non-existent pages, and making sure to have proper redirects or errors set up will help keep your website healthy and easily accessible by Google.

Fixing these issues properly takes time, technical knowledge, and ongoing attention, which is exactly why many businesses choose to bring in specialists rather than handle it alone. Many businesses search for SEO agencies in UK when they need technical SEO support, but the right partner should be able to explain crawl issues clearly, not just run reports.

At digitalagencies.uk, we connect UK businesses with trusted digital agencies in UK that specialise in technical SEO, site audits, and long-term organic growth. If soft 404 errors or other technical issues are holding your site back, our directory makes it simple to find the right team to sort it out.