Why does Search Console report soft 404 errors for working pages?

Search Console reports a soft 404 when a page returns status 200 but its content looks to Google like an error page, an empty page or a “not found” message. What matters is not what you see in your browser but what Googlebot receives after rendering. Often resources are missing, the main content does not load, or the page has very little content of its own.

To put it in context: a soft 404 is not a server error. The server answers correctly, but Google classifies the page as an error page based on its content and keeps it out of the index.

Why does Google treat a working page as an error page?

• Resources do not load. If scripts, stylesheets or data requests are blocked by robots.txt, too slow or return errors, Googlebot sees an almost empty page after rendering. According to Google, this is one of the most common causes for otherwise good pages.
• Content only arrives via JavaScript. If the main content depends on an API call that fails for Googlebot, only the page shell with header, navigation and footer remains.
• Empty result pages. Internal search pages, filter pages or categories without products show “no results” and still return 200.
• Error messages on valid pages. A plugin or theme prominently displays notices such as “not available” or “not found”, for example for sold-out products or expired offers.
• Very little unique content. Pages consisting almost entirely of repeated template blocks can also be classified as soft 404.

How do I find the cause?

1. Open the Page indexing report in Search Console and the reason “Soft 404”. Check whether individual pages or whole page types are affected, such as all filter or product pages.
2. Enter an affected URL in the URL Inspection tool and run a live test. Look at the screenshot and the rendered HTML. If the main content is missing there, the problem lies in rendering.
3. Check the page resources in the live test. If files are reported as blocked or not loaded, review robots.txt and the server responses for those files.
4. Read the visible text as Google receives it. A message such as “no matches” or “not available” at the top can trigger the soft 404 on its own.
5. Check the status code of pages that really do not exist. If your error page returns 200 instead of 404, the website itself is producing soft 404s.

How do I fix soft 404 errors?

Google distinguishes three cases. Decide for each URL which one applies:

• The page no longer exists. Have the server return 404 or 410. A custom error page for visitors is useful, but it must be delivered with the 404 status code.
• The content has moved. Redirect with a 301 to the new page with equivalent content, not to the home page across the board.
• The page is valid. Make sure all important resources are reachable for Googlebot, the main content is present in the rendered HTML and no error message dominates the page. Empty search or filter pages are better excluded with noindex or served as 404.

Then test the URL again with the live test. If the result looks right, you can request indexing or validate the fix in the report.

Always check a soft 404 first with the live test in the URL Inspection tool. What Googlebot does not see there does not exist for indexing, no matter how the page looks in a browser.

Sources

• Google Search Central: Troubleshoot crawling errors (soft 404)
• Search Console Help: Page indexing report
• Search Console Help: URL Inspection tool

Want to know why Google classifies your pages as soft 404? We check rendering, status codes and content and show you which pages belong in the index. Book a free intro call or read more about our search engine optimisation.