Google Search Console

“Soft 404”: meaning and how to fix it

What it means

The page returns 200 OK but looks like an error or an empty page to Google ("no results", "product unavailable", almost no content).

Is it a problem?

Yes. Google won't index it, and crawl budget goes to pages that say nothing.

Common causes

• Empty category or search result pages
• Out-of-stock products with no useful content
• Error pages that return 200 instead of 404
• Pages that render their content with JavaScript Google couldn't load

How to fix it

1. Return a real 404 or 410 for pages that no longer exist
2. Redirect discontinued products to the closest alternative
3. Add real content to thin pages, or noindex them
4. Check the rendered HTML in URL Inspection if the page relies on JavaScript

How to check the fix

Validate fix in the Page indexing report after changing the response or the content.

All indexing statuses

• Discovered – currently not indexed
• Crawled – currently not indexed
• Duplicate without user-selected canonical
• Duplicate, Google chose different canonical than user
• Alternate page with proper canonical tag
• Page with redirect