Page indexing report · Search Console
Not found (404)
Google tried to crawl the URL and your server said the page doesn’t exist. Google says this is “not necessarily a problem” when a page was removed with no replacement.1 Here’s how to tell which 404s matter, and what to do with the ones that do.
Check the URL first
The checker shows what the URL returns now: a 404, a redirect, or a working page. It can’t tell you where Google found the link. Search Console and your own sitemap can.
In 30 seconds
- 404s don’t hurt the rest of your site. Google calls them a normal part of the web.3
- Google drops 404 URLs from the index and crawls them less and less often, but never forgets them.1
- Fix the ones that should load, that moved, or that have links or traffic. Ignore the rest.5
- For Google’s index, 404 and 410 work the same way.2
What it means
Google’s definition: the page “returned a 404 error when requested”. Google may have found the URL through a link from another page, or the page existed before and was deleted.1 Despite its name, this row also collects 410 responses: in one experiment, Search Console labelled removed 410 URLs as “Not found (404)” too.11
The status is set at the crawl stage, before Google looks at any content.
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
Google ignores content from 4xx pages. If the URL was indexed, it’s removed, and Google crawls it less over time.2 Google also says there is “no way to tell Googlebot to permanently forget a URL”.1 That’s why old URLs can sit in this row for months.
Is it a problem?
Usually fine
- Pages you removed on purpose with nothing to replace them
- URLs that never existed: typos, scrapers, odd links
- Old URLs with no traffic and no relevant links
- Discontinued products with no close equivalent
Worth fixing
- Pages that should load but return 404
- Content that moved without a redirect
- URLs with backlinks or real visits
- URLs still listed in your sitemap or linked from your pages
- A sudden jump after a deploy, migration or CDN change
John Mueller’s test from 2018: if a 404 URL gets no traffic and has no relevant links, it’s fine.5 Gary Illyes has likewise said not every 404 needs fixing, only the ones that affect users.6
Find the cause
Answer a few questions to decide what, if anything, to do. Each cause is explained below.
The page was removed
The most common cause, and usually correct. Google prefers that removed pages return a proper 404 or 410 rather than a soft 404.3
The page moved without a redirect
A changed slug, a new URL structure or a platform migration leaves the old addresses returning 404. Google’s report suggests a 301 redirect when a page has moved.1
A page that should work is broken
An unpublished post, a routing bug or a failed deploy can turn a live page into a 404. Gary Illyes has named pages that should return content as the 404s to fix.6 A sudden rise in the report is the usual sign.
Links to URLs that never existed
Google follows links it finds anywhere: typos on other sites, URLs mangled by scrapers, links generated by a CMS or found in JavaScript. It may also request a made-up URL to see how your server handles it.3 These need no action.
Your sitemap or pages still link to it
If the removed URL is still in your XML sitemap or internal links, you keep pointing Google at it. The 404 is right; the links are what need updating.
A CDN or rate limiter returned 404
In 2023 Google noticed sites and some CDNs returning 404s and other 4xx codes to slow Googlebot down. Illyes’s advice: “please don’t do that”.7 A 4xx tells Google the content doesn’t exist, so indexed pages can drop out. To slow crawling, Google says to return 500, 503 or 429 for a short time instead.
404, 410, 301 or soft 404?
Pick the situation to see which response to send and how Google treats it.
Removed, no replacement
Return 404 or 410. Google treats all 4xx codes except 429 the same way: indexed URLs are removed and newly found ones aren’t processed.2 Google calls a 404 “a strong signal not to crawl that URL again”.8
410 or 404? Google says it doesn’t matter for indexing.2 One small experiment found a difference in crawling: across 119 URLs on two test sites over three months, 404 URLs were recrawled 49.6% more often than 410 URLs.11 The authors couldn’t measure how fast either was dropped from the index, and two sites is a small sample. John Mueller said in 2026 that a 410 won’t stop the recrawling.4
Moved or replaced
Redirect with a server-side 301 or 308. Google uses a permanent redirect as a signal that the target should be canonical.9 Use the closest equivalent page, not the homepage.
# nginx
location = /old-page { return 301 /new-page; }
# Apache .htaccess
Redirect 301 /old-page /new-pageKeep the redirect for as long as you can, and at least a year.10
Never existed
Return 404 and do nothing else. Google crawls links it finds anywhere, including typos and broken links on other sites, and sometimes tests how your server handles unknown URLs. Google says 404s for URLs that never existed can be safely ignored.3
Typo in someone’s link
If another site links to /awsome when it meant /awesome, Google suggests a 301 from the misspelled URL to the right one, so the visitors from that link land somewhere useful.3 Only bother when the link sends traffic.
What not to do
A “not found” page that returns 200 is a soft 404. So is redirecting every missing URL to the homepage. Google says both can hurt its understanding and indexing of your site.3 Soft 404s also keep getting crawled.8
You can show a helpful, branded page and still return a 404 status. In Next.js, call notFound():
import { notFound } from 'next/navigation';
if (!post) notFound(); // renders not-found.js with a 404 statusHow to fix it
- Export the URLs from the report row. The list shows at most 1,000 examples.1
- Check what each URL returns now. Some will already load or redirect.
- Restore any page that should exist, and fix whatever broke it.
- 301-redirect moved content to its new URL, and typo URLs with traffic to the right page.
- Remove dead URLs from your sitemap and internal links.
- Leave everything else as 404 or 410. That’s the correct answer for a page that’s gone.
- Click Validate fix only for the URLs you restored or redirected.
You don’t need the Removals tool for 404s. Google says a URL that returns 404 drops out of results on its own.3 The tool only hides URLs for about six months anyway.12
Myths
Some top-ranking guides say these. Google says otherwise.
| Often said | What’s actually true |
|---|---|
| Frequent 404s hurt your rankings | 404s on some URLs don’t affect how your other pages perform in search.3 |
| Lots of 404s make your site look neglected to Google | Google calls 404s “a perfectly normal part of the web” and has 404s on its own sites.3 |
How long it takes
- Up to about 2 weeksfor Search Console to validate a fix, sometimes much longer.1
- No fixed timefor Google to stop crawling a 404. Crawling “gradually decreases”.2
- At least 1 yearto keep a redirect in place, by Google’s site-move advice.10
Not found (404) vs Soft 404
| Not found (404) | Soft 404 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status code Google got | 404 (or 410) | Not a 404, usually 200, with a “not found”-style page1 |
| Is the code right? | Yes, if the page is gone | No. A missing page should return 404 or 410 |
| Crawling | Decreases over time2 | Keeps going and wastes crawl budget8 |
| Usual fix | Often none. Redirect or restore if it matters | Return a real 404, or add real content |
Questions
Do 404 errors hurt SEO?
Not for the rest of your site. Google has said for years that 404s on some URLs don’t affect how your other pages perform. They matter only when the missing page is one you want in search, or when a URL with links or traffic now leads nowhere.
Should I use 410 instead of 404?
For Google’s index, it makes no practical difference: both remove the URL. One small experiment found Google recrawled 404s more often than 410s, but Google’s John Mueller has said a 410 won’t stop the recrawling. Use whichever your server makes easy.
Should I redirect all 404s to the homepage?
No. Redirecting missing pages to the homepage is a soft 404 to Google, and it confuses visitors. Redirect only to a page that covers the same thing, and let the rest return 404.
Why does Google keep crawling pages that return 404?
Google doesn’t forget URLs it knows about. It keeps checking them in case they come back, less and less often. Google’s John Mueller has said this is harmless and can even mean Google is open to crawling more of your site.
How do I fix Not found (404) in WordPress or Shopify?
First decide whether the URL should exist. If the page moved, both platforms let you add a 301 redirect, in WordPress with a redirect plugin and in Shopify under URL redirects. If it was removed on purpose, leave it as a 404 and take it out of your sitemap.
Why did Validate fix fail for my 404s?
Validation fails if Google still gets a 404 from the URLs. If the pages were removed on purpose, that is the correct result and there is nothing to validate. Only start validation after restoring or redirecting the URLs.
Sources
- Google, “Page indexing report”, Search Console Help
- Google, “How HTTP status codes affect Google’s crawlers”, Search Central, updated February 2026
- Susan Moskwa (Google), “Do 404 errors hurt my site?”, Search Central Blog, May 2011
- John Mueller (Google), Reddit r/SEO, March 2026, reported by Search Engine Journal
- John Mueller (Google), SEO Snippets video, March 2018, reported by Search Engine Journal
- Gary Illyes (Google), LinkedIn, June 2024, reported by PPC Land
- Gary Illyes (Google), “Don’t use 403s or 404s for rate limiting”, Search Central Blog, February 2023
- Google, “Crawl budget management for large sites”, Search Central, updated July 2026
- Google, “Redirects and Google Search”, Search Central, updated April 2026
- Google, “Site moves with URL changes”, Search Central, updated August 2026
- Reboot Online, “404 vs 410 – the technical SEO experiment”, June 2022 (2 sites, 119 URLs, over 3 months)
- Google, “Removals and SafeSearch reports tool”, Search Console Help