Soft 404s

Pages that return a 200 status but contain no real content, confusing crawlers.

High priority · Indexing

What it is

A soft 404 is a page that returns a "success" (200) code but shows an empty, "no results", or error-style page. Google detects this and may treat it like a real 404 — or worse, index thin junk.

Why it matters

Soft 404s waste crawl budget, signal low quality, and can pull down the perceived value of surrounding pages. They often hide in search filters and empty category pages.

How to fix it

Return a real 404 status for empty result pages, or populate them with useful default content. Monitor Search Console's Coverage report for "soft 404" alerts.

What our AI checks

Our engine flags pages with very low impressions and clicks that may be soft 404s and recommends fixing their status or content.

Ready to see if this issue is hurting your site? Upload your Search Console export and our AI will prioritise every problem it finds — this one included — with developer-ready fixes.

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