Soft 404 Detect and Clean Up
Pages seem like error pages, but do not provide a suitable error status.
Pages seem like error pages, but do not provide a suitable error status The error should never be evaluated in isolation. What matters is which URL group is affected and whether it creates a crawling, indexing, snippet, performance or quality problem.
Compare error content and successful status with each other
A page with the text “Product not found” and status 200 can seem like an error page even though the server reports success. Therefore, check the main statement of the answer and not just the status. Even an almost empty page of detail after a failed retrieval of data can produce a similar symptom.
Example: Recognizing the Result
Illustrative example: A random non-existent product URL shows “product not found” but answers with 200. The application reports success for an error view.
Limit cause and implement correction
If the content is definitively missing, the answer should appropriately express this situation. In case of a technical error, on the other hand, the actual page must be restored. Test a valid and an invalid detail address. A nice error design must not replace the correct response status, and a blanket homepage forwarding does not restore the missing content.
What makes you recognize a suitable correction
Provide a suitable error status for really non-existent resources. At the same time, test an existing short product page as a cross-sample.
Classification and boundaries
When is this indication not a clear error?
Little text alone does not prove a soft 404. Content, page type and status must be assessed together; the final Google classification may differ.
Soft 404 Detect and Clean After CMS and Cause
Many audit messages can be resolved faster if they are grouped by system, page type and technical cause. CMS indentations are linked only where Soft 404 detect and clean a clearly own cause or fixed route in the respective system.
For this error, there is currently no own CMS deepening, because the correction is usually not sufficiently system-specific. Take advantage of the general causes and checks on this page.
Frequent causes of this error
Related SEO Errors
Appropriate Seitenreport checks
This error should not be checked in isolation. The following tools and clusters help to narrow down the cause faster and to cleanly prioritize the affected URL groups.