Google Soft 404 Errors: How to Diagnose and Fix Them

Google soft 404s may sound harmless, but they’re not so “soft” when it comes to SEO. Google excludes these pages from search, meaning content you expected to be indexed may simply not appear.

They can also waste crawl budget, especially on larger websites. Crawl budget is essentially the crawling resources Google can and wants to dedicate to your site. If Googlebot keeps revisiting empty or low-value soft 404 pages, it spends resources there instead of crawling more important URLs, which can slow down the discovery or re-crawling of useful content.

Those pages may look perfectly normal to visitors, but Google can treat them as if they don’t exist. In this guide, we’ll clear up why soft 404 errors happen, how they differ from regular 404 errors, what impact they can have on crawling and indexing, and how to fix them.

TL;DR A soft 404 happens when Google sees a page as missing, empty, or low-value even though the server may still return a successful response. These URLs can be excluded from Search and may also waste crawl resources, especially on larger sites. The key is to make sure the page content, HTTP status, and indexing instructions all match what should actually happen to the URL.

Key Takeaways

✅ Keep useful pages useful: If a page should stay in Google, make sure it returns 200 OK and contains meaningful content.

✅ Use redirects carefully: A 301 should point to a relevant replacement, not automatically to the homepage.

✅ Let removed pages return the right status: If a page is gone and has no replacement, 404 or 410 is usually the correct response.

✅ Check your fixes: Use Google Search Console to verify that Google sees the updated page correctly.

What is a Soft 404 Error?

A soft 404 happens when an empty, broken or error-like page returns a positive signal to Google, typically a 200 (success) status code. In other words, the content suggests something is wrong or missing, while the server tells Google that the page exists and works normally.

A soft 404 creates a mismatch between what the page shows and the HTTP status code returned by the server. That’s why it’s important to use the right status code for the actual state of the page, so search engines receive clear crawling and indexing signals. The same principle applies to server-side issues such as the 500 error, where the HTTP response should accurately reflect that the server has encountered a problem.

💡 In simple terms: the page tells visitors, “There’s nothing here,” while the server tells Google, “Everything’s fine.”

⚡ Are you seeing any soft 404 errors on your site? Time to take action!

 The right fix depends on what should happen on the page:

• The page should exist? Improve its content and keep the 200 status.
• The page has moved? Use a 301 redirect to the most relevant URL.
• The page no longer exists? Return a 404 or 410.
• The page exists but shouldn’t appear in Search? Consider noindex.

What’s the Difference Between a Soft 404 and a Standard 404?

While they’re both called “404,” the main difference is simple: a standard 404 correctly tells Google the page is missing, while a soft 404 sends mixed signals by saying everything is OK (200) when the page is actually missing or empty.

A standard 404 (or hard 404) returns an official 404 Not Found HTTP status code. This clearly tells search engines and browsers that the requested page doesn’t exist. You can even customize what visitors see — including one of those friendly 404 pages — but behind the scenes, the server sends the correct 404 signal.

A soft 404 is not an official HTTP status code. Instead, it describes a situation where a page looks missing, empty or broken to the user, but the server still returns a 200 OK status code, which normally means success. Google detects this mismatch based on the page content and may classify the URL as a soft 404.

💡 Hint: A standard 404 says “Page not found” to both the user and Google. A soft 404 shows “Page not found” to the user while the server tells Google “200 OK, everything’s fine.”

How to Fix Google Soft 404 Errors

If you’re getting Google soft 404s on critical pages, such as product, category, or lead generation pages, it’s important to fix them so Google can properly understand and index the URLs that matter. A large number of soft 404s can also waste crawl resources, especially on bigger websites with hundreds or thousands of URLs.

How you fix a soft 404 depends on what should actually happen to the page. In most cases, the goal is to make sure the URL returns the right response or indexing directive for its content.

Use this soft 404 fix action table to quickly identify the right solution, send clearer signals to Google and support your broader WordPress SEO optimization strategy.

What’s happening with the page?	What should you do?	What Google should receive	Best tools / methods
The page should exist and appear in Google	Fix the page, restore missing content, or improve thin content	200 OK — it tells Google the page exists and works normally	WordPress editor / WooCommerce to improve the page; Rank Math or Yoast SEO to check indexing settings; Google Search Console > URL Inspection to test the fixed URL
The page has permanently moved	Redirect the old URL to the new or closest relevant replacement	301 Moved Permanently — it tells Google the URL has permanently moved	Rank Math Redirections, Yoast SEO Premium Redirect Manager, or the Redirection plugin
The page no longer exists and has no relevant replacement	Return a real not-found or gone response instead of redirecting it somewhere unrelated	404 Not Found or 410 Gone — it tells Google the content is no longer available	WordPress/server configuration for a proper 404; Rank Math 404 Monitor / Redirections; Yoast SEO Premium for a 410 when appropriate
The page should remain accessible but shouldn’t appear in Google Search	Keep the page live and add a noindex directive	200 OK + noindex — the page works for users but Google is asked not to index it	Rank Math or Yoast SEO to add noindex; developers can also add a robots meta tag manually

Let’s look at each fix in more detail.

1. If the Page Should Exist: Fix or Improve It

If a page is available and should appear in Google Search, it should normally return a 200 OK status.

However, Google may classify a page as a soft 404 if the URL technically works but the page looks empty, broken or provides very little useful content.

This can happen with WordPress pages such as:

• Empty or very thin category and tag archives
• Product pages with little or no product information
• Out-of-stock product pages where the main content has disappeared
• Archive pages with almost no useful content
• Pages where important content fails to load
• Pages displaying a “not found” or “no results” message while still returning 200 OK

In this case, you don’t necessarily need to remove or redirect the page. Instead, fix the issue and make sure the page provides the content users and Google expect to find there.

👉 For example:

• Thin category page: If Google identifies a category page as a soft 404 because it contains almost no useful content, add relevant category copy and make sure related posts or products are displayed.
• Incomplete product page: If an important product page returns 200 OK but the product information isn’t loading correctly, fixing the missing content may be enough to resolve the soft 404.

💡 The principle is simple: if the server tells Google that a page exists, the page should contain meaningful content that matches what the URL promises.

🛠️ Best tools and methods to fix it:

• WordPress editor or WooCommerce product editor to restore, expand, or correct the missing content.
• Rank Math or Yoast SEO to check that the page is set to be indexed and review its SEO settings.
• Google Search Console > URL Inspection to test the live URL after the fix and request indexing if needed.

2. If the Page Has Moved: Set Up a 301 Redirect

If you’ve changed the URL of a page, for example by updating the slug of a blog post, the old URL should usually redirect to the new one with a 301 permanent redirect.

You can also use a 301 when you’ve consolidated or replaced older content.

👉 For example:

• /old-guide/ has moved to /new-guide/
• An old product URL has been replaced by a newer version of the same product
• Two similar articles have been merged into one stronger page
• You changed your WordPress permalink structure and URLs have moved

A 301 tells users and search engines that the original URL has permanently moved to another location. The important part is to redirect the URL to a relevant destination.

⚠️ Important: Don’t redirect every deleted or unavailable URL to your homepage. If the homepage isn’t a relevant replacement for the original content, the redirect may not solve the problem and Google may still treat the URL as a soft 404.

🛠️ Best tools and methods to fix it:

• Rank Math > Redirections to create and manage 301 redirects directly from WordPress.
• Yoast SEO Premium > Redirect Manager to create 301 redirects when URLs are moved or replaced.

On a final note, if you’re setting up or troubleshooting redirects, make sure they don’t create a redirect loop. If your browser shows Err_too_many_redirects, check our guide on how to diagnose and fix the error in WordPress., check our guide on how to diagnose and fix the error in WordPress.

3. If the Page Is No Longer Available: Return a 404 or 410

If a page has been permanently removed and there is no relevant page to redirect users to, the correct solution is usually to return a 404 Not Found or 410 Gone status.

Both tell browsers and search engines that the content is no longer available.

👉 For example, this may apply to:

• A deleted blog post with no equivalent replacement
• A discontinued product that won’t return and has no relevant alternative
• An old landing page that is no longer needed
• URLs generated by an old plugin or site structure that no longer serve a purpose

One of the classic causes of soft 404 errors is a deleted page that looks like a 404 to users but still returns 200 OK to Google.

👉 For example, a page might display: “Sorry, this product no longer exists.” 

But if the server still returns 200 OK, Google receives conflicting information: the HTTP response says the page exists, while the content says it doesn’t.

Returning a real 404 or 410 fixes that mismatch.

You can still make the page useful for visitors by displaying a custom 404 page with helpful navigation.

For example, your 404 page could include:

• A search bar
• Links to popular posts or products
• Important site categories
• A link back to the homepage

🛠️ Best tools and methods to fix it:

• Rank Math > Redirections can return a 410 Content Deleted response, while its 404 Monitor helps you identify URLs that are generating real 404 errors.
• Yoast SEO Premium > Redirect Manager supports 410 Content Deleted when a URL has been permanently removed.
• WordPress or server configuration can be used to make sure deleted URLs return a genuine 404, or to configure a 410 directly when needed.

4. If the Page Should Exist but Not Appear in Google: Use Noindex

Some pages are useful for visitors or for the way your WordPress site works, but don’t necessarily deserve their own place in Google Search.

👉 For example, common cases include:

• Internal WordPress search result pages.
• Low-value tag archives.
• Thin category archives.
• Utility pages.
• Certain dynamically generated pages.

In this case, you can keep the URL live while adding a noindex directive.

The page can still return a normal 200 OK response and remain accessible to users, but noindex tells Google that you don’t want the page included in its search index.

This is different from returning a 404.

• 404 or 410 = the page no longer exists.
• noindex = the page still exists, but you don’t want it appearing in Google Search.
• 200 OK = the page exists and loads normally.

🛠️ Best tools or methods to fix it:

• Rank Math: set an individual page to No Index from its Advanced SEO settings, or apply noindex to entire post types, categories, or tags under Titles & Meta.
• Yoast SEO: noindex individual pages from the Yoast SEO controls, or exclude categories, tags, and other content types from search results under Yoast SEO → Settings.
• Manual robots meta tag: developers can add <meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”> directly when an SEO plugin isn’t being used.

⚠️ Don’t use robots.txt as a substitute for noindex. Robots.txt controls crawling, while noindex controls whether a page should appear in Google Search. If Google is blocked from crawling the URL, it may not be able to see the noindex directive.

Soft 404 Errors in WordPress: 8 Common Examples

Soft 404 errors can show up in several places on a WordPress site, especially on pages created automatically by WordPress, WooCommerce, or your theme. In these cases, the page content and the signal sent to Google don’t fully match.

Here are eight common WordPress situations that can trigger a soft 404 error.

1. Empty Categories or Tags

WordPress automatically creates archive pages for categories and tags. If one of these pages has no posts, or almost no useful content, Google may see it as an empty page even though it still returns a 200 OK status.

👉 WordPress example: You run a recipe blog with a “Toddler Food” category. Over time, you remove or move all the recipes from that category, but the category URL still exists and loads an almost empty page.

2. Internal Search Result Pages

When someone uses the search function on your WordPress site, WordPress generates a search results page. If there are no matching results, the page may still return 200 OK even though it essentially tells the visitor that nothing was found.

👉 WordPress example: Someone searches your site for “blue sofa”, but you don’t have any related products or articles. WordPress displays a “No results found” message while the URL still responds successfully.

3. Out-of-Stock or Discontinued Products

WooCommerce product pages can also cause soft 404 issues when a product is no longer available and very little useful content remains on the page.

👉 WordPress example: You run a WooCommerce store selling sofas. One model has been permanently discontinued, but its product page is still live and contains little more than an “Out of stock” message.

Depending on what you want to do with that product, you may need to improve the page, redirect it to a relevant replacement, or return a 404 or 410.

4. Weak Archive Pages

WordPress can automatically generate archive pages for authors, dates, categories, tags, and other content types. Some of these archives may contain very little content, making them look low-value or almost empty to Google.

👉 WordPress example: An author archive contains only one short blog post and no additional useful information about the author or related content. The page exists, but there may not be enough there to justify indexing it on its own.

5. Deleted Posts That Still Return 200 OK

Sometimes a post or page has been deleted, but a theme, plugin, or configuration issue causes the old URL to keep returning a 200 OK response instead of a proper 404. This is a classic soft 404 situation because the page tells visitors that the content is gone, but the HTTP status tells Google that everything is working normally.

👉 WordPress example: You delete an old blog post, but when you visit its URL, your site displays “Page not found” while the server still returns 200 OK.

6. Filtered or Faceted WooCommerce Pages

WooCommerce filters can generate many URLs for combinations such as color, size, price, or product category. If a filtered page has no matching products but still returns 200 OK, it may look like an empty page to Google.

👉 WordPress example: Your sofa store generates a filtered URL for green velvet sofas under €500, but there are no matching products. The URL still loads successfully and displays an empty product grid.

7. Broken Dynamic Pages

Sometimes a WordPress theme, plugin, or template loads the page structure correctly, but the main content fails to appear. The URL still returns 200 OK, even though there is very little for Google to see.

👉 WordPress example: A product archive loads the header, navigation, and footer, but a plugin conflict prevents the actual products from appearing. The page technically loads, but its main content is missing.

8. Empty Pagination Pages

WordPress archives, blogs, and WooCommerce shops can create paginated URLs such as /page/2/, /page/3/, and so on. Problems can occur when an old pagination URL remains accessible even though there is no longer any content on that page.

👉 WordPress example: Your blog used to have enough posts to create /page/8/, but after deleting or reorganizing content, page 8 becomes empty. If the URL still returns 200 OK instead of an appropriate response, Google may interpret it as a soft 404.

💡 Hint: Do you need help with other WordPress issues? Redirect problems are just one of the errors you may encounter. Check our guide to common WordPress issues and how to fix them for troubleshooting tips on redirects, database errors, plugin conflicts, performance issues, and more.

How to Find Soft 404 Errors in Google Search Console

Google Search Console is the easiest place to check whether Google has detected soft 404 errors on your site.

To find them, follow this path:

Google Search Console > Indexing > Pages > Why pages aren’t indexed > Soft 404.

Click on the Soft 404 to open the report and see examples of affected URLs:

From there, you can select a URL and use URL Inspection to check how Google sees that specific page and whether it has been indexed:

Common Soft 404 Mistakes and Post-Fix Checks

Once you’ve applied the right fix, there’s one last step: make sure Google can see and understand the change. Here are three common mistakes to avoid after fixing a soft 404.

1. Forgetting to Test the URL Again

Fixing the page, adding a redirect, or changing its status code doesn’t mean Google has seen the change yet.

After applying the fix, use URL Inspection in Google Search Console to test the individual URL again and check how Google currently sees the page.

👉 If the Search Console reports the same soft 404 issue across several URLs, return to Indexing → Pages, open the Soft 404 report, and click Validate Fix to ask Google to recheck the affected pages.

2. Redirecting Every Missing Page to the Homepage

A 301 redirect only makes sense when there is a relevant replacement for the original page.

For example, if an old sofa product has been replaced by a newer model, redirecting users to that new product can make sense. Redirecting the old product URL to the homepage usually doesn’t.

Google may treat irrelevant redirects as soft 404s because the destination doesn’t provide what users expected from the original URL.

👉 Instead: redirect the URL to the closest relevant replacement. If there isn’t one, let the page return a proper 404 or 410.

3. Showing a “Page Not Found” Message While Returning 200 OK

Another common mistake is making a page look deleted without changing the HTTP response.

For example, you remove an old product and display “This product is no longer available”, but the URL still returns 200 OK.

That sends mixed signals: the content says the page is gone, while the server tells Google that everything is working normally.

👉 Instead: if the page has genuinely disappeared and there’s no relevant replacement, return a real 404 Not Found or 410 Gone response.

Frequently Asked Questions About Soft 404 Errors

What Is a Soft 404 Error?

A soft 404 error happens when Google thinks a page is missing, empty, or not useful enough, but the server still returns a successful 200 OK status instead of a proper 404 or 410 response.

What Is the Difference Between a Soft 404 and a 404?

The difference between a soft 404 and a standard 404 is the HTTP status returned by the server. A standard 404 correctly tells Google that the page does not exist, while a soft 404 sends mixed signals because the page appears missing or empty but still returns 200 OK.

How Do I Fix Soft 404 Errors in Google Search Console?

To fix soft 404 errors in Google Search Console, first check the affected URLs under Google Search Console > Indexing > Pages > Soft 404. Then choose the right fix for each page: improve the content and keep 200 OK, set up a 301 redirect, return a 404 or 410, or use noindex. After applying the fix, use URL Inspection to check an individual URL again. If the issue affects several URLs, use Validate Fix from the Pages report.

Should I Redirect Soft 404 Pages to the Homepage?

No, you shouldn’t automatically redirect soft 404 pages to the homepage. A 301 redirect should point to a relevant replacement page. If there is no suitable replacement, returning a proper 404 or 410 is usually more appropriate.

Can Thin WordPress Category Pages Cause Soft 404 Errors?

Yes, thin WordPress category pages can cause soft 404 errors. Empty or very thin category and tag pages may be interpreted as soft 404s if they return 200 OK but provide little or no useful content. If the page is important, improve it and keep it indexable. If it should remain accessible but does not need to appear in Google Search, noindex may be more appropriate.

Wrapping Up

Soft 404 errors usually come down to one thing: making sure the page content and the signal sent to Google match.

But fixing soft 404s is only one part of a complete WordPress SEO optimization strategy. Site speed and Core Web Vitals also matter for search visibility and user experience. Redirects, indexing, broken links, crawlability, and site speed all work together, which is why it’s worth running a complete WordPress SEO audit regularly instead of checking each issue in isolation.

If you want an easier way to improve WordPress performance, WP Rocket can automate many speed optimizations for you, from caching to CSS and JavaScript optimization.

🚀 Try WP Rocket to help improve performance, Core Web Vitals, and user experience, all important components of a strong SEO strategy!