TL;DR
A soft 404 is when a page returns a 200 OK status code but contains content that says the page doesn’t exist or has no meaningful content. Google wastes crawl budget processing these pages, can’t determine whether they’re real content or errors, and may devalue your site’s overall quality signal. Real 404s clearly tell Google “stop crawling this URL,” while soft 404s create ongoing ambiguity that degrades your site’s crawl efficiency.
The Conversation
Melissa, owner of a travel blog, 600 articles, $5K/month affiliate revenue, WordPress, basic SEO knowledge, Search Console showing thousands of soft 404s she doesn’t understand: My Search Console has this “Soft 404” section with 4,000 URLs listed. When I click on them, they go to real pages. My site doesn’t have 4,000 broken pages. What is this?
SDC SEO Brain: Soft 404s are pages that return a 200 OK status code, meaning the server says the page exists, but Google detected that the actual content looks like an error page or empty page. Click on a few of those URLs. What do you see?
Melissa: One is my old review of a hotel that closed down. The page exists but says “This hotel is no longer available.” Another is a destination guide where I removed the content but left the page up with just a message saying check back later.
SDC SEO Brain: Those are classic soft 404 scenarios. The pages technically load, but the content tells users there’s nothing useful there. Google sees this mismatch: your server claims the page is fine, but the content says otherwise. Google interprets this as a soft 404.
Melissa: Why is that bad? The pages still work.
SDC SEO Brain: They don’t work in any meaningful sense. A page saying “this hotel is no longer available” doesn’t satisfy any search query. If someone searches for that hotel and lands on your page, they get nothing useful. Google is trying to identify these pages so it can stop wasting crawl resources on them and stop showing them in search results.
Melissa: So Google is helping me by flagging them?
SDC SEO Brain: Yes, but the flagging means Google is confused about your site. Every soft 404 is a page Google had to crawl, render, analyze, and then determine was useless. That’s crawl budget spent on pages that shouldn’t exist. At 4,000 soft 404s, you’re wasting significant crawl resources.
Melissa: But I only have 600 real articles.
SDC SEO Brain: Where are the other 3,400 URLs coming from? Check the URL patterns in that soft 404 list. Are they variations you recognize?
Melissa: A lot of them have weird stuff at the end. Like /hotel-review/?amp=1 or /destination-guide/page/2/ when page 2 doesn’t exist anymore.
SDC SEO Brain: Those are parameter variations and pagination pages. Your site is generating URLs that lead to pages with no content. The AMP version might return an empty AMP page. The pagination page 2 might exist but have no items on it. Google is finding all of these and flagging them.
Melissa: Why would pagination page 2 be soft 404?
SDC SEO Brain: If you had a category with 15 posts and deleted 10, you might now only have 5 posts, which all fit on page 1. Page 2 exists as a URL but has no posts on it. It’s a real page structurally, but it has no content. That’s a soft 404.
Melissa: How do I fix this?
SDC SEO Brain: Different solutions for different causes. For the hotel and destination pages with “no longer available” messages, decide: should these pages exist at all? If not, return a proper 404 status code or redirect them to relevant alternatives.
Melissa: How do I return a proper 404?
SDC SEO Brain: Delete the page entirely in WordPress, which makes the URL return a 404 automatically. Or if you need more control, use a plugin or .htaccess rule to return 404 for specific URLs. The key is the HTTP status code changes from 200 to 404.
Melissa: What about the pagination pages?
SDC SEO Brain: Your theme needs to handle empty pagination properly. When page 2 has no content, it should either return 404 or redirect to page 1. Many themes don’t handle this edge case. Check with your theme developer or use a plugin that manages pagination correctly.
Melissa: And the AMP pages?
SDC SEO Brain: If you’re not actively using AMP, remove it entirely. AMP creates duplicate URLs for every page, and if the AMP versions are broken or thin, they create soft 404s. If you want AMP, ensure every AMP version has proper content, not empty templates.
Melissa: Why is a real 404 better than a soft 404?
SDC SEO Brain: A real 404 clearly communicates: this URL doesn’t exist, stop trying. Google notes it, stops crawling it after confirming a few times, and moves on. A soft 404 is ambiguous. The server says 200 OK, so Google thinks maybe it’s real content. It keeps checking, keeps analyzing, keeps wasting resources.
Melissa: Does Google penalize soft 404s?
SDC SEO Brain: Not a formal penalty, but cumulative quality signals. A site with thousands of soft 404s looks poorly maintained. The crawl waste means less budget for your actual content. The user experience signals from people landing on useless pages are negative. It all adds up.
Melissa: Some of these soft 404 pages are showing up in my rankings. Is that bad?
SDC SEO Brain: Very bad. If a soft 404 ranks, users click it, find no useful content, and bounce back to Google. That’s a strong negative signal about your site’s quality. Those pages are actively hurting your reputation with users and with Google.
Melissa: So even though Google flagged them as soft 404s, they’re still ranking?
SDC SEO Brain: The soft 404 detection isn’t instant deindexing. Google flags them as likely errors but might still show them in results until it’s confident enough to remove them. Meanwhile, they’re damaging your brand every time someone clicks.
Melissa: What should I prioritize?
SDC SEO Brain: First, fix any soft 404s that are currently getting traffic or rankings. Check Search Console’s Performance report filtered to those URLs. If any have impressions or clicks, fix those immediately. Second, address the systemic issues: AMP problems, pagination problems, parameter variations. These generate soft 404s at scale. Third, clean up individual content pages like your closed hotel reviews.
Melissa: For the closed hotel, should I redirect to another hotel or just 404 it?
SDC SEO Brain: If you have a similar hotel in the same destination that makes sense as an alternative, redirect. If not, 404 is cleaner than redirecting to something unrelated. Redirecting to your homepage is a soft 404 in Google’s eyes because homepage content doesn’t match the query intent for a specific hotel.
Melissa: I didn’t know homepage redirects could be soft 404s.
SDC SEO Brain: They often are. When you redirect /specific-hotel-review/ to your homepage, the homepage doesn’t have content about that hotel. Google detects the intent mismatch and may flag it as a soft 404 even though technically a redirect happened. Redirects should go to genuinely equivalent or related content.
FAQ
Q: What’s the difference between a 404 and a soft 404?
A: A 404 is an HTTP status code telling browsers and search engines that the page doesn’t exist. A soft 404 returns a 200 OK status code (page exists) but the content indicates the page is effectively empty or an error. Google prefers proper 404s because they clearly signal the page should be deindexed.
Q: Do soft 404s waste crawl budget?
A: Yes. Google must crawl, render, and analyze soft 404 pages to detect that they’re effectively errors. This process wastes resources that could be spent on valuable content. At scale, thousands of soft 404s can significantly reduce how often Google crawls your important pages.
Q: How do I fix soft 404s from empty pagination?
A: Configure your theme or pagination plugin to return 404 status codes or redirect to page 1 when a pagination page has no content. Most default theme configurations don’t handle this edge case, so you may need custom code or a plugin that specifically manages pagination behavior.
Q: Will redirecting broken pages to the homepage fix soft 404s?
A: Usually not. Homepage redirects often become soft 404s because the homepage content doesn’t match the original page’s topic. Google detects this intent mismatch. Redirect to genuinely relevant content or return a proper 404.
Summary
Soft 404s occur when pages return 200 OK status but contain error messages or empty content. Google must crawl and analyze these pages before determining they’re useless, wasting crawl budget that could be spent on valuable content.
Common causes include deleted content replaced with placeholder messages, empty pagination pages, and broken AMP versions. Each creates URLs that technically exist but serve no search purpose.
Real 404 status codes clearly tell Google to stop crawling. Soft 404s create ongoing ambiguity because the server claims the page is valid while the content contradicts that claim.
The fix depends on the cause: delete or return proper 404 for individual pages, fix theme pagination handling, remove or repair AMP, and address parameter URL generation. Redirects should only point to genuinely equivalent content, not catch-all destinations like homepages.
Soft 404s that rank in search results actively damage user experience when visitors click through expecting content and find error messages. Prioritize fixing any soft 404s with current traffic.
Sources
- Google Search Central: Soft 404 errors
- Google Search Central: Crawl budget management