Page indexing report · Search Console
Blocked due to other 4xx issue
Google got a 4xx error that the report has no specific row for, so it lands in this catch-all.1 The report doesn’t say which code it was, and that code is the whole diagnosis. Here’s how to find it and what each one usually means.
Check the URL first
The checker shows the status code an ordinary request gets. If it’s a 4xx other than 401, 403, 404 or 410, that’s likely your answer. If it isn’t, the error depends on something about Google’s request, and URL Inspection’s live test will show it.
In 30 seconds
- The row collects 4xx errors not covered by another row. Google’s advice is to debug with URL Inspection.1
- Google treats all 4xx codes except 429 the same: not indexed, removed if indexed before.2
- Common codes here: 400 from malformed URLs, 405 from form or API routes, 451 from country blocks, and custom codes from firewalls.
- Errors on junk URLs need no fix. Fix the ones you want indexed or link to yourself.
What the status means
Google’s description is one sentence: the server returned a 4xx error not covered by any other issue type, and you should debug it with the URL Inspection tool.1 401, 403 and 404 have their own rows. Other 4xx codes end up here, though Google doesn’t list which.
The specific code doesn’t change what Google does. For all 4xx codes except 429, Google ignores the content, doesn’t index the URL, removes it if it was indexed, and gradually crawls it less often.2
Where it happens
The error stops Google at the crawl stage. Select a stage to see what happens there.
Discover
Google learns that a URL exists, mostly from links on pages it already knows and from XML sitemaps.
What goes wrong: Nothing links to the page and it isn’t in a sitemap, so Google never hears about it.
Report statuses at this stage
- URL is unknown to Google (shown in URL Inspection, not in the report)
Crawl
Googlebot checks robots.txt, then requests the URL. It spaces requests out so it doesn’t overload the server.
What goes wrong: The URL is blocked, returns an error, or the server is slow, so Google backs off and crawls less.
Report statuses at this stage
Render
Google runs the page’s JavaScript in a recent version of Chrome to see the finished page.
What goes wrong: Content only appears after a click or scroll, or the scripts fail, so the rendered page is nearly empty.
Report statuses at this stage
- No status of its own. Problems show up at the next stage as thin pages or soft 404s.
Index
Google decides which version of the page to keep and whether it is worth storing at all.
- Group duplicates. Pages with the same or very similar content go into one group.
- Pick a canonical. One URL represents each group. Canonical tags, redirects and sitemaps are hints, not commands.
- Select for the index. Google decides whether the canonical page is worth keeping. Google says this largely depends on quality.
What goes wrong: The page duplicates another, is marked noindex, or Google decides it adds too little to keep.
Report statuses at this stage
Serve
Indexed pages can appear in search results. Being indexed is not the same as ranking; an indexed page can still get no clicks.
What goes wrong: The page is indexed but doesn’t match what people search for, or other pages answer it better.
Report statuses at this stage
Is it a problem?
Usually fine
- Malformed URLs from other sites’ broken links
- Form handlers and API endpoints nobody should land on
- Content you deliberately block in some countries
- Old parameter URLs that no longer exist
Worth fixing
- Pages you want indexed
- URLs in your XML sitemap
- URLs your own pages link to
- A sudden jump after a firewall, CDN or routing change
Find the cause
Start with the status code. Each cause is explained below.
The URL itself is broken
400 and 414 are about the URL: bad syntax, or too long for the server.4 They usually come from links, not from your pages. URL Inspection’s Referring page field shows a page Google may have used to find the URL; the live test doesn’t check it.3
The server refuses the kind of request
405, 406, 411 and 413 describe problems with the request rather than the page.4 A crawler’s plain GET rarely triggers them on a normal page, so they usually point to a route built for something else, or a server, proxy or firewall rule that’s stricter than it should be.
Legal or country blocks
451 is the code for content blocked for legal reasons.4 Googlebot’s default IP addresses appear to be in the US, so a block there affects Google’s crawling.8
A firewall or CDN custom response
Gary Illyes has pointed out that most 4xx codes, even “I’m a teapot” (418), say nothing about the server being overloaded, and that 429 is the exception.5 Firewalls that answer with an odd 4xx to slow bots get the URL removed instead of slowing Google down.
Codes that land here
Pick a code to see what it means and what usually causes it. The last tab covers 410 and 429.
400 Bad Request
The server can’t or won’t process the request because of something it sees as a client error, such as malformed syntax.4
Typical causes: broken percent-encoding in links, URLs copied with stray characters, query strings a router can’t parse. These URLs often come from other sites linking to you badly.
405 Method Not Allowed
The server knows the method but the resource doesn’t support it.4
Typical causes: an endpoint built for POST, such as a form handler or API route, that Google found as a link and requested with GET.
406 Not Acceptable
The server found no version of the content that matches what the request said it accepts.4
Typical causes: rules that require certain request headers. Google says Googlebot sends requests without an Accept-Language header.8 A rule that insists on one can turn Googlebot away.
411 Length Required
The server wants a Content-Length header and the request didn’t send one.4
Typical causes: rare on page requests, which have no body. Usually a proxy or firewall misconfiguration. Google lists 411 among the 4xx codes it handles like any other.2
413 Content Too Large
The request body is larger than the server allows.4
Typical causes: unusual for a crawler’s GET request, which has no body. Look for a proxy or firewall limit set too low.
414 URI Too Long
The URL is longer than the server is willing to interpret.4
Typical causes: faceted navigation that stacks filters into ever-longer parameter chains, redirect loops that append parameters, or tracking codes added repeatedly.
422 Unprocessable Content
The request was well-formed but the server couldn’t act on it because of semantic errors.4
Typical causes: app or API routes that validate parameters, reached by a crawler through a link with missing or invalid values.
451 Unavailable For Legal Reasons
The resource can’t legally be provided to the requester.4
Typical causes: country blocks. Googlebot’s default IP addresses appear to be in the US, and Google says to treat it like any visitor from the country it appears to come from.8
Custom codes from a firewall or CDN
Firewalls can send almost any 4xx code. Cloudflare’s rate limiting rules accept any code from 400 to 499 and default to 429.10 On Pro plans and above, custom rules can set their own code too.9 Codes like 418 or 499 in this row usually come from such a rule.
Check: CDN security events for verified Google IPs.11
410 and 429: where they land
Google doesn’t document which report row either code appears in. What it does document is how it treats them:
- 410 Gone is treated the same as 404.6 Most likely it’s reported with 404s, but that isn’t confirmed. Either way, a 410 for a removed page needs no fix.
- 429 Too Many Requests is treated as a server error, not a client error.2 It’s more likely to show under Server error (5xx) than here, but that isn’t confirmed either.
How to fix it
- Open the row and switch the filter to “All submitted pages” to see the URLs from your sitemaps first.1
- Inspect an example and run the live test to see the code Google gets now.3
- Reproduce it with
curl -sI. If you can’t, check your logs for verified Google requests.11 - Junk URL: leave it, and remove any link to it from your own pages and sitemap.
- Wanted URL: fix the route, server rule or firewall rule that returns the code.
- Run the live test again, request indexing for key URLs, then click Validate fix.3
What other guides get wrong
| Often said | What’s actually true |
|---|---|
| 410 Gone causes this status | Google treats 410 like 404 and doesn’t document which row it lands in.6 Some guides list it here and also say it doesn’t belong.12 |
| 429 Too Many Requests causes this status | Google treats 429 as a server error, not a client error.2 Which row it lands in isn’t documented. |
How long it takes
- A day or sofor a URL you request, by Google’s estimate, though it can take much longer.3
- Up to about 2 weeksfor Search Console to validate a fix, sometimes much longer.1
- A long timethat Google may keep recrawling removed URLs. Mueller says a 410 won’t change that and it doesn’t cause problems.7
Other 4xx vs not found (404)
| Blocked due to other 4xx issue | Not found (404) | |
|---|---|---|
| Code | Any 4xx without its own row; the report doesn’t say which | 404 |
| Usual meaning | The server or a rule refused the request | The page doesn’t exist |
| Effect on indexing | The same: not indexed, removed if indexed before2 | |
| First step | Find the exact code | Decide whether the page should exist |
Questions
What does “Blocked due to other 4xx issue” mean?
Google got a 4xx client error that isn’t covered by the report’s other rows, such as 400, 405 or 451. Google doesn’t index URLs that return a 4xx code and removes ones that were indexed.
How do I find which 4xx code Google got?
The report doesn’t show it. Run URL Inspection’s live test, request the URL with curl, or look up Google’s requests for the URL in your server or CDN logs.
Does a 410 show as “Blocked due to other 4xx issue”?
Google doesn’t say. It treats 410 the same as 404, so it’s most likely grouped with 404s, but that isn’t confirmed. Either way, a 410 on a removed page needs no fix.
Should I fix every URL in this row?
No. Fix URLs you want indexed and URLs you link to or list in a sitemap. Errors on junk URLs, such as broken links from other sites, are the right response.
Do 4xx errors hurt crawl budget or rankings?
Google says 4xx codes other than 429 have no effect on crawl rate, and that 404s don’t harm a site’s indexing or ranking. The URL that returns the error simply isn’t indexed.
Sources
- Google, “Page indexing report”, Search Console Help
- Google, “How HTTP status codes affect Google’s crawlers”, Google Crawling Infrastructure, updated February 2026
- Google, “URL Inspection tool”, Search Console Help
- MDN Web Docs, “HTTP response status codes”, updated September 2026
- Gary Illyes (Google), “Don’t use 403s or 404s for rate limiting”, Search Central Blog, February 2023
- Google, “404 (Page Not Found) errors”, Search Console Help
- John Mueller (Google), Reddit, reported by Search Engine Journal, March 2026
- Google, “How Google crawls locale-adaptive pages”, Search Central, updated December 2025
- Cloudflare, “Actions reference”, Cloudflare Ruleset Engine docs
- Cloudflare, “Rate limiting parameters”, Cloudflare WAF docs
- Google, “Verify requests from Google crawlers and fetchers”, Google Crawling Infrastructure, updated March 2026
- SEOTesting, “Fix Blocked Due to Other 4xx Issue in GSC”, updated February 2026