Soft 404

Search Console status: Soft 404

A soft 404 is a page that returns 200 but looks like an error to Google: it's empty, says “not found”, or is a redirect to an unrelated page such as the homepage. Google treats it as a 404 and doesn't index it. Fix it by returning a real 404/410, redirecting to an equivalent, or adding content.

What this status means

The server returns 200 ("all good"), but the page content says otherwise. Google detects this automatically and flags the URL as a soft 404 — it doesn't index it, although it keeps visiting.

Common causes

an error page served with 200 instead of 404,
empty categories, internal search with no results, "product unavailable" pages with no content,
mass redirects of removed pages to the homepage,
pages with very little content, such as a lone heading,
content loaded by JavaScript that the crawler didn't see.

How to fix it

The page really doesn't exist — configure the server to return 404 or 410.
There's an equivalent — set a 301 redirect to a similar page, not the homepage.
The page should stay — add valuable content (a category description, products, information).
The crawler can't see the content — check the screenshot in URL Inspection.

Check the status code and redirect targets with the redirect checker.

How to keep an eye on it

Soft 404s often appear after a store update that changes how unavailable product pages behave.

IndexRise watches the status code, title and H1 of monitored pages. A title that suddenly changes to "Not found", a disappearing H1 or a new redirect shows up the next day.

Check it on your siteRedirect checkerThe full chain with status codes, targets and headers — up to 10 URLs at once.

Frequently asked questions

How is a soft 404 different from a regular 404?

A regular 404 is the correct “page not found” status. A soft 404 is a page with a 200 status that Google has to recognise as an error on its own — a misleading signal that wastes crawl effort.

Is an empty category in my store a soft 404?

Often, yes. A category with no products and no description looks like an empty page to Google. Add a description, show products from the parent category, or temporarily use noindex.

Is redirecting removed products to the homepage OK?

No. Google usually treats that as a soft 404. Redirect to the category or a similar product, and if there's no equivalent, return 404 or 410.

Updated: 2026-10-20