Helpful summary
Overview: We recommend best practices to fix and prevent soft 404 errors, making websites work better and show up in Google searches.
Why you can trust us: Our success with clients like MentorCruise and Flick, where we resolved soft 404 issues, demonstrates our expertise.
Why this is important: Solving soft 404 errors allows your website to be more visible in Google searches, gain more visitors, index faster, and encourage more conversions.
Action points: Look for soft 404s in Google Search Console, check your site’s responses, improve thin content, use redirects smartly, and remove unnecessary pages.
Further research: Explore more of our insights on Google Search Console management and SEO best practices to complement your understanding and enhance your website's performance.
Need help resolving 'Soft 404' errors on Google Search Console?
Have you ever come across a ‘soft 404’ error while navigating your Google Search Console? It can be quite perplexing and unexpected. However, it is sometimes unavoidable. That's why there are techniques to address this issue.
In this Embarque guide, we will delve into what a soft 404 error is, and provide you with appropriate solutions for resolving it.
Keep reading to enhance your understanding!
Why listen to us?
Fixing 'soft 404' errors in Google Search Console is essential, especially for small businesses seeking SEO success. We at Embarque have firsthand experience in this area, proven by our case studies. For instance, we helped Cleanvoice, a SaaS podcasting tool, achieve over 1 million impressions and a 7.9% CTR in just six months.
Similarly, for 4 Day Week, a job platform offering 32-hour work weeks, we refined their SEO strategy, leading to 21,000 monthly search clicks and establishing them as a topical authority in tech interviews within three months. These case studies demonstrate our expertise in leveraging SEO to drive significant traffic and revenue growth for small businesses.
What are 'Soft 404' errors?
Soft 404 errors occur when a webpage appears functional to search engines with a 200 OK HTTP status, but displays a 404 error to visitors. In simpler terms, it's like a hidden glitch that misleads search engines while frustrating visitors with a broken page. These errors can negatively impact user experience and search engine rankings.
Hard 404 errors occur when both the user and search engines receive a 404 error code, indicating a page does not exist.
This discrepancy can lead to issues with indexing and search engine rankings. Fixing soft 404 errors involves ensuring that non-existent pages correctly communicate their status to both users and search engines, improving site functionality and SEO performance.
In Google Search Console, soft 404 errors happen when a web page is not found by Google but doesn't return the HTTP 404 status code. Instead, the server displays a "Page Not Found" message to searchers while returning a 200 OK status, which confuses both Google and users.
Google's Search Console flags soft 404 errors because they may harm the site's search ranking, as Google's crawlers can't properly index the page. Therefore, it's crucial to fix these errors to enhance the website's SEO performance.
Why fix 'Soft 404' errors?
Fixing soft 404 errors is really important for a few reasons, especially when it comes to improving your website's SEO and user experience. Here are some key reasons why you should address these errors:
Better user experience
Soft 404 errors can make for a frustrating user experience. Visitors might land on a page with little or no content, which can make them want to leave your site. By fixing these errors, you make sure your users have a better overall experience.
Improved SEO performance
Soft 404 errors can hurt how your website performs in search results. When Google encounters a soft 404, it might still index the page even though it doesn't actually exist. This can waste your crawl budget on non-existent pages and decrease the visibility of your real content. By fixing these errors, you make sure Google focuses on crawling and indexing your valuable content, which could help increase your site's visibility in search results.
Avoid reduced crawl rate
If you have a lot of soft 404 errors compared to the total number of pages on your site, it can result in a reduced crawl rate by search engines. This means that your important and updated content might not be indexed as efficiently, which could have a negative impact on your site's search rankings.
Correct indexing and page classification
When you resolve soft 404 errors, search engines like Google can more accurately classify and index your pages. This ensures that your pages are correctly displayed in search results, which can lead to more traffic and a better user experience.
Optimal crawl budget usage
Search engines assign a crawl budget to each website, which is the number of pages a search engine will crawl on your site within a given time. If a big part of this budget is spent on crawling non-existent soft 404 pages, it can reduce the efficiency with which new or updated content is indexed.
Addressing soft 404 errors helps improve the accuracy of search engine indexing, enhances user experience, and can contribute to better SEO outcomes.
It's a crucial part of maintaining the health and visibility of your website in search engines.
How to find 'Soft 404' errors on Google Search Console
- Log into Google Search Console.
- In the left navigation panel, under Indexing, click on Pages.
- Scroll down under Why pages aren’t indexed.
- Click on Soft 404.
How we fix 'Soft 404' errors on Google Search Console
Step 1: Check for soft 404 errors
Use Google Search Console to identify soft 404 errors. Go to your account, navigate to the “Pages” section, and look for any soft 404 errors listed.
Review each flagged URL to confirm if it's a genuine soft 404 or a false alarm.
Step 2: Verify page validity
If a page is marked as a soft 404, ensure it's not a valid page mistakenly flagged. If it's valid, use the “Validate Fix” button in the console to notify Google and prompt a recrawl.
Step 3: Configure server response codes
For pages that no longer exist, configure your server to return the correct HTTP response code (404 or 410). This indicates to search engines that the page is no longer available.
It's recommended to have a custom 404 page with links to your homepage or popular pages, aiding users in navigating your site.
Step 4: Improve page content
If a page is available but flagged as a soft 404 due to "thin" content, enhance its content by adding more detailed information, images, or user engagement elements.
Step 5: Implement 301 redirection
For relocated pages, use a 301 redirect to guide users and search engines to the new location. Ensure the old and new pages have similar content for effective redirection.
Step 6: De-indexing unwanted pages
To exclude specific pages from search results while keeping them accessible on your site, use the ‘noindex’ directive in the page's header.
Step 7: Additional steps for specific cases
For ecommerce stores and blogs, address common sources of soft 404 errors such as empty search result pages or product/blog categories. Ensure these dynamically generated pages offer useful content or return a proper 404/410 status when empty.
Regularly update your site's robots.txt file to disallow crawling of pages that consistently trigger soft 404 errors but are not crucial for SEO purposes.
Best practices to prevent 'Soft 404' errors on Google Search Console
- Effective redirection strategy: Implement proper redirection using 301 redirects for moved or deleted pages to prevent encountering missing pages.
- Monitor and optimize dynamic pages: For dynamically generated content, display alternative relevant content or return a proper 404 status instead of empty pages.
- Regular audits using Google Search Console: Frequently monitor your site's status to catch and address potential issues before they become soft 404 errors.
- Responsive design and technical health: Ensure your website is responsive and functions well across all devices to avoid being misinterpreted as a soft 404.
- Structured data and metadata: Utilize structured data and accurate metadata to help search engines understand the content and purpose of each page, reducing the risk of misclassification as a soft 404.
Learn Google Search Console with Embarque
Our insightful guide delves into the intricacies of identifying, fixing, and preventing Soft 404 errors in Google Search Console, a critical issue that can significantly impact a website's SEO and user experience. It highlights the necessity of accurately diagnosing soft 404 errors, which occur when a non-existent page (a page that should return a '404 - Not Found' status) appears to be a functioning page to search engines.
Our guide emphasizes the importance of rectifying these errors to maintain the integrity of a site's indexing and avoid misleading search engines and users.
Embarque, with our expertise in SEO and content marketing, offer specialized services to effectively address and prevent Soft 404 errors.
Fixing these issues is paramount as they can lead to poor user experience, reduced traffic, and lower search engine rankings. By implementing our tailored strategies, you can ensure your websites are accurately indexed and user-friendly, thereby enhancing your online visibility and credibility.
For those seeking to optimize their website's performance in Google Search Console, Embarque's approach to resolving and preventing soft 404 issues is indispensable. Contact us to explore how our solutions can safeguard your website against these common but impactful errors, ultimately leading to a stronger, more reliable online presence.
