404 error
What is a 404 error?
A 404 error is the HTTP status code 404 Not Found, which a server returns when the requested URL does not exist. It happens when a page is deleted or moved without a redirect, or when someone follows a mistyped or broken link. Search engines drop URLs that keep returning 404 from their index.
A 404 page is the page the visitor sees. A good one keeps the 404 status code but shows a helpful message, search box and links to popular sections, so the visitor does not leave.
410 Gone is the deliberate version: it says the page was removed on purpose. Google treats 404 and 410 the same way.
Why 404 error matters for SEO
Google says 404s on their own do not hurt a site’s rankings. Every site has them, and returning 404 for a page that really is gone is the correct behaviour.
They matter in three cases. Internal links pointing at 404s waste crawling and frustrate visitors. Removed pages that had backlinks lose that value unless you 301 redirect them to a relevant replacement. And important pages returning 404 by mistake, after a migration or a CMS change, will drop out of search.
How to fix 404 errors
- Find them: crawl your site for broken internal links, and check the "Not found (404)" list in Search Console’s page indexing report.
- Fix internal links so they point at live URLs.
- If a page moved or has a close replacement, add a 301 redirect to it. Prioritise URLs with backlinks or traffic.
- If a page is gone with no replacement, let it return 404 or 410. Don’t redirect everything to the homepage; Google often treats that as a soft 404.
- Make sure your 404 page returns a real 404 status, not 200, and offers useful links onwards.
404 error FAQ
Do 404 errors hurt SEO?
Not on their own. Google expects some 404s. They become a problem when important pages return 404 by mistake, internal links point at them, or removed pages had backlinks you could redirect.
Should I redirect all 404s to the homepage?
No. Google often treats mass redirects to the homepage as soft 404s, and visitors find them confusing. Redirect to a relevant page or leave a genuine 404.
Related SEO terms
HTTP status codes are three-digit numbers a server returns with each response to say whether a request worked, moved or failed.
A soft 404 is a page that returns a 200 success code but looks like an error or empty page, so Google treats it as not found.
A 301 redirect permanently sends visitors and search engines from one URL to another and tells Google the new URL should be indexed.
Internal links are links from one page on your site to another. They help visitors navigate, help crawlers find pages and spread link authority.
Link reclamationWhite hat
Link reclamation is recovering backlinks you have lost or that point to broken URLs, by fixing pages, adding redirects or asking sites to update links.
Lost backlinks are links that used to point to your site but no longer do, because the link, page or target URL changed or was removed.