Soft 404Usually a problem

“Soft 404” in Google Search Console: what it means and how to fix it

A soft 404 is a page that looks like an error or an empty page to Google but returns a 200 (success) status code. Google treats it as 'not found' and leaves it out of search. The fix depends on the page: if it's really gone, return a real 404 or redirect it to a close match. If it's a real page, give it real content.

What Google says

The page request returns what Google thinks is a soft 404 response: a user-friendly 'not found' message without a 404 status code. Google recommends returning a 404 for pages that don't exist, and improving content on pages that do.

Paraphrased from Google's Page indexing report help

Causes

Why it happens

01'Not found' or 'no results' pages that return 200.
02Empty tag, category or search pages.
03Very thin pages with almost no text.
04Content loaded by JavaScript that failed to render for Google.
05Lots of old URLs redirected to the homepage instead of to related pages.

Triage

Is it a problem?

Ignore it if

The page really is gone and you're about to make it return 404.

Fix it if

A real page is flagged. Google sees it as empty, so it won't rank.

Removed pages still return 200.

Fix

How to fix “Soft 404”

Check any single URL with URL Inspection. After fixing, open the issue in the Page indexing report and click Validate fix; Google says it typically takes up to about two weeks.

  1. 1
    See what Google seesRun URL Inspection → Test live URL → View tested page. Check the screenshot and the rendered HTML. If your content is missing, it's a rendering problem.
  2. 2
    Gone pages: return 404 or 410Make your server send a real 404 (or 410 if it's gone for good). Or 301 redirect to a closely related page, not the homepage.
  3. 3
    Real pages: add substanceGive the page enough unique content to stand on its own. For empty category or tag pages, either fill them or noindex them.
  4. 4
    Render content on the serverIf the main content only appears after JavaScript runs, render it on the server so it's in the HTML Google first receives.
  5. 5
    Validate the fixClick Validate fix in the Page indexing report once the pages are fixed.

On Blogizi

Blogizi renders posts on the server, so the content is in the HTML Google receives, and a post that doesn't exist returns a real 404.

Index checks for every post are part of Pro, $19/month with a 7-day trial for $0. Your AI agent can read the same statuses over MCP.

See plansFree Search Console report

FAQ

Questions about “Soft 404”

A 404 returns the 404 status code, so Google knows the page is gone. A soft 404 returns 200 but looks empty or like an error, so Google has to guess.

The page itself won't be indexed. For pages that are really gone, a proper 404 is cleaner. For real pages, it means Google doesn't see enough content, which is worth fixing.

Yes. Redirecting many removed pages to your homepage or another unrelated page can be treated as a soft 404. Redirect to a close match, or return 404.

Related statuses

Crawled - currently not indexedGoogle read the page and decided not to index it, for now.Read →Page with redirectThe URL redirects somewhere else, so Google indexes the destination.Read →Excluded by ‘noindex’ tagThe page tells Google not to index it, and Google listened.Read →

Post not on Google at all? Start with why isn't my blog post on Google, or browse all 9 statuses.

Crawled, not indexedDiscovered, not indexedDuplicate, no canonicalGoogle chose different canonicalAlternate pageBlocked by robots.txtExcluded by noindexPage with redirect

Last reviewed October 19, 2026