What Makes a 404 Soft?
A standard 404 error occurs when a server returns an HTTP status code 404. A soft 404 occurs when a page returns a success status code (200 OK) but search engine crawlers determine that the content is actually a placeholder, blank template, or a "Product Not Found" page.
Because the server returned 200 OK, search engines waste crawl budget parsing and attempting to index dead space.
Detection Signals
Search engines flag soft 404s by scanning for thin content, common failure keywords ("Out of stock", "Error", "Not found"), or pages that redirect all dead queries back to the homepage without changing the status code.
Choosing the Right Response
Ensure that genuinely missing pages return a true 404 (Not Found) or 410 (Gone) status code, allowing crawlers to remove the URL from search indexes immediately.