Not found (404): which 404 errors are worth fixing

Last updated: 2026-10-30

In short

Not found (404) means Google requested the URL and your server answered 404. Google says a 404 is not necessarily a problem when a page was removed without a replacement. Fix the 404s you link to yourself or list in a sitemap, and 301 redirect pages that moved.

Exact label in Search Console: Not found (404)

What it means

Google's Page indexing help says the page returned a 404 error when requested, and that Google discovered the URL without an explicit request or sitemap, for example as a link from another page, or because the page existed before and was deleted. Googlebot will probably keep trying the URL for some time. There is no way to make Google permanently forget a URL, but it crawls it less and less often.

Google does not index URLs that return 4xx codes, and already indexed URLs that start returning 404 are removed from the index over time. To keep the list from growing forever, the report shows only URLs that returned 404 in the past month.

Is it a problem?

Usually not. Google's 404 help says most 404s are not worth fixing because they do not harm your site's indexing or ranking, and recommends fixing mainly the 404s you link to yourself or list in a sitemap. Act when the URL is a page that should exist, when it still gets links or traffic, or when a common misspelling of a real URL is being linked.

Common causes

Deleted pages with no replacement

Returning 404 is the right result here, and nothing needs fixing.

Moved pages without a redirect

A URL or slug changed and the old address was not redirected to the new one.

Broken internal links or sitemap entries

Your own navigation, content or sitemap points at URLs that no longer exist.

External links with typos

Other sites link to a mistyped or truncated version of one of your URLs.

URLs Google extracted from code

Google's 404 help notes that Googlebot may try URL-like strings found in JavaScript or other embedded content that never existed as pages.

Accidental 404s

A deploy, routing bug or CDN rule returns 404 for pages that should be live.

How to fix it

  1. Filter to submitted pages first. Set the sitemap filter in the Page indexing report to All submitted pages to see 404s coming from your own sitemaps. Google says submitted URLs that return 404 are worth fixing.
  2. Redirect moved content. If the content moved or has a clear equivalent, add a 301 redirect to it. Map commonly misspelled versions of real URLs with redirects too.
  3. Leave true removals as 404 or 410. For content you removed on purpose with no replacement, keep the 404 or 410. Google says the report should stop showing it after about a month.
  4. Fix internal links and sitemaps. Update links in templates and content and remove dead URLs from your sitemaps. The Discovery section in URL Inspection shows referring pages and sitemaps for a URL.
  5. Do not mask 404s. Google says not to create fake content, redirect to your homepage or block 404 URLs in robots.txt. These make your site structure harder for Google to understand.
  6. Catch accidental 404s. If live pages show up here, test them with Test live URL, fix the route or server rule, then request indexing.

Check it with GSC Magic

Ask your assistant to run report_index_health on your sitemap, or gsc_inspect_urls_batch on a list exported from your CMS, to find what Google reports as Not found (404), then use gsc_query_analytics to see which of those still had clicks or impressions in the period you have data for, so you know which deserve a redirect. On Pro and Agency with write mode on, indexnow_submit can tell Bing and other IndexNow engines that URLs were removed or moved; it does not notify Google. Setup steps: How to set up IndexNow with an AI agent.

gsc_inspect_urls_batchreport_index_healthgsc_query_analyticsindexnow_submit

Prompts to copy

Run an index health check on my sitemap and list every URL that Google reports as Not found (404).

For these 404 URLs, show clicks and impressions over the longest period available and sort them, so I can redirect the ones that used to bring traffic first.

These are the URLs I redirected after a migration. Inspect them and confirm that none is still reported as Not found (404).

Guides on the blog

Soft 404

A soft 404 is a URL that returns a 200 (success) status code but looks to Google like a not-found, empty or error page. Google excludes these pages from Search. Return a real 404 or 410 for missing pages, 301 redirect moved ones to a real replacement, and fix rendering for real pages that Google misread.

 Page with redirect

Page with redirect means the URL is a non-canonical URL that redirects to another page, so Google does not index it. That is expected for old URLs, HTTP or www variants and moved pages. Check that the redirect target is correct and indexable, and stop linking to redirecting URLs from your pages and sitemap.

 Blocked due to other 4xx issue

This status means Googlebot received a 4xx client error that is not one of the codes with their own row, such as 401, 403 or 404. Google gives no further detail, so the first step is to find the exact code your server returned. Then fix how your server handles the request for pages that should be public.

 Redirect error

Redirect error means Google tried to follow a redirect from the URL and failed. Google lists four causes: a chain that was too long, a redirect loop, a URL that grew past the maximum length, and a bad or empty URL in the chain. Trace the redirect hop by hop and point the URL straight at a working final page.

Frequently asked questions

Do 404 errors hurt my rankings?

Google's 404 help says 404s do not harm your site's indexing or ranking, and that you can safely ignore them if you are certain the URLs should not exist. They matter only for URLs you actually want indexed.

How do I make Google forget a 404 URL?

You cannot. Google says there is no way to tell Googlebot to permanently forget a URL, but it crawls it less and less often. The report only lists URLs that returned 404 in the past month.

Should I use 410 instead of 404?

Google's 404 help says it currently treats 410 the same as 404. Use whichever matches your intent.

Can the Removals tool clear 404s from the report?

No. Google's 404 help says a URL removal request will not remove the error from this report.

Sources