SEO Glossary > Soft 404 Error

Soft 404 Error


A soft 404 error occurs when a URL cannot be found on the webserver, but the server returns a 200-level (success) code to the browser instead of a 404 error (not found) or a 301 redirect to another URL. Soft 404s are particularly an issue for search engines because the success code may cause non-existent pages to be listed in search results.
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