An email from Search Console says Google found pages on your site that return "Not found (404)." Or a customer told you the link on your quote page goes nowhere. Either way, you now have a list of URLs, a worry about what it means for your rankings, and no clear idea which items deserve your evening. To fix 404 errors on your website, you do not need to clear every row. You need to sort each URL into one of three piles: a link you should correct, a page that moved and needs a redirect, or a page that is gone for good and should stay gone. Google says plainly that a 404 is not automatically a problem, so the job is narrower than the email makes it sound. Most of the work is a ten-minute look at one report, followed by a few small edits. What follows is the order to do it in, and how to tell when it is time to hand it off.
Key Takeaways
For each Not found (404) URL, ask whether it was a real page, whether your site still links to it or lists it in a sitemap, and whether a close replacement exists.
Correct the internal link, use a permanent 301 redirect to a relevant replacement, or leave a real 404 or 410 when nothing matches. Do not send every dead URL to the homepage.
A custom 404 page must return an actual 404 status. If it returns 200 OK, Google treats it as a soft 404.
How do I find out which 404 errors are worth my time?
The report lives in Search Console, and it takes about ten minutes to read well. Open the property for your site, go to Indexing, then Pages (Google used to call it the Page indexing report). Under "Why pages aren't indexed," open "Not found (404)." You will see example URLs that Google found and requested.
That list is not a list of broken links on your site. Google says a URL can show up because of an old page, a link from another site, JavaScript, an outdated sitemap, or a URL that never existed at all. So, a long list does not mean a long to-do list. Work through the examples and ask three questions about each one:
- Was it a real page? If it was something you published, a customer may still be looking for it.
- Does your own site still point to it? A link in a menu, footer, blog post or sitemap is yours to fix, and Google recommends fixing 404s that your site links to or lists in a sitemap.
- Is there a close match today? If the content moved or was replaced by something that does the same job, that is a redirect candidate.
Open a few of the important URLs in your browser, then check them with URL Inspection to see what Google sees. The Page indexing report is the place to start, and Google's 404 help page explains each case in its own words.
What do I do with each kind of 404 so visitors stop hitting dead ends?
Once a URL is sorted, the fix follows from the pile it landed in. The three cases below cover nearly everything a small site runs into. Each one has a different action, and mixing them up is where owners lose time.
| What you find | What it means | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Your own menu, footer or blog post links to a wrong or old URL | A broken internal link | Edit the link to point at the correct current URL |
| The page moved, or a close replacement exists | Visitors and other sites may still use the old address | Update internal links, then add a permanent server-side 301 redirect from the old URL |
| The page was deleted and nothing matches it | There is nowhere useful to send people | Leave a real 404 or 410, remove internal links to it, and remove it from the sitemap |
| The URL never existed, or only an outside site mistyped it | Nothing on your site is broken | Leave it alone |
A broken internal link
If the destination still exists at another URL, change every internal link to the correct address. That is the whole fix, and it is usually small: find the page that carries the link, replace the URL, and click it to test. If visitors or other sites may still use the old address, add a redirect as well.
A page that moved
Google's guidance on redirects is to use a permanent server-side redirect when a page has a clear replacement. Say you renamed /services/old-name/ to /services/new-name/. Update your links to the new one, then redirect the old address to it with a 301. Send it straight to the final page, and test both addresses afterward so you do not leave a chain of redirects or a loop.
A page that is gone for good
If nothing matches, let the URL return a real 404 or 410, take links to it out of your site, and remove it from your XML sitemap. Google treats 404 and 410 similarly for Search. The standards body that defines them, in RFC 9110, describes 404 as no current page at that address and 410 as a page known to be permanently unavailable. Either one is fine for a page you retired on purpose. In its own words, Google says "404 responses are not necessarily a problem, if the page has been removed without any replacement."
Should I redirect every dead URL to my homepage?
No. A redirect is a promise that the new page answers what the old one did. Sending a deleted page to the homepage breaks that promise, and Google identifies irrelevant redirects to generic destinations as confusing and soft-404-like. The visitor who clicked an old pricing link lands on a general page and has to start over.
Do not hide ordinary 404s with a robots.txt rule either. Google says blocking them can make your site's structure harder to process. And clicking "Validate Fix" in Search Console does not repair anything. It asks Google to recrawl and recheck, so make the site change first and validate afterward.
Redirect only where a relevant replacement exists. For the rest, a clean 404 and a helpful page around it do the job.
How do I build a 404 page that keeps customers on my site?
Some visitors will still land on a missing URL, from an old bookmark, a typo or an outside link. A good error page gives them a way to keep going. Google recommends that a custom 404 page:
- Says clearly that the requested page cannot be found.
- Uses friendly language.
- Keeps your normal branding and menu.
- Links to the homepage.
- Offers links to popular pages or posts.
- Gives a way to report a broken link.
The part that is easy to miss is the status code. The server must still return an actual 404. A good-looking error page that returns 200 OK is a soft 404, which Google defines as a page that says "not found" while returning a success code, and such pages are generally excluded from Search. On a site you can edit, this is often a small setting. On one built with scripts or custom routing, it can take a developer.
Test it yourself. Type a made-up address after your domain name, such as yourdomain.com/this-page-does-not-exist, and confirm that the page loads and that it reports a 404 in URL Inspection or your browser's developer tools. The 404 page is there to help people continue, not to rank.
What can I safely ignore, and what comes first?
Google says many 404s are harmless, especially URLs that never existed, old URLs with no replacement, and URLs discovered through outside sources. A large count in the report is not proof of a ranking problem. Treat the order below as a practical priority for a small business site, based on how much damage each one does to a customer:
- A link in your menu, footer, campaign or downloadable document that leads to a missing page.
- A moved or renamed page with no redirect from its old address.
- A deleted page that is still listed in your sitemap.
- A custom error page that returns 200 OK.
- A redirect that points at an unrelated page, runs in a chain, or loops.
- A typo or capitalization difference in one of your own links.
Everything else can wait, or stay as it is. The outcomes you will notice are fewer dead ends for customers, cleaner campaign links, and a Search Console report that matches what is really on your site. They are usability gains. Do not expect a jump in rankings from clearing the list.
When does paying for help make sense?
Many 404 entries need no paid repair. If a URL never existed, has no internal link, is not in your sitemap and has no replacement, leaving a real 404 can be the right answer. Try the ten-minute pass above first. It costs nothing, and it tells you how big the job is.
Paid help starts to make sense in a few situations:
- You cannot find where the broken links come from.
- A redesign changed hundreds of addresses and you need a map from old to new.
- Customers or campaign links are landing on missing pages.
- Redirects have piled up into chains, or the site returns soft 404s from the CMS or server.
- You want the checks to happen on a schedule instead of only after a warning email.
Recurring link checks, redirect review and status-code monitoring are ordinary website maintenance work. If you are in the middle of a site move, our post on moving your website without losing Google rankings covers the redirect planning, and why a page is not indexed in Search Console covers a related report.
Can you sort your 404 errors?
Pick an answer to begin.
1. Search Console lists a URL under Not found (404) that never existed on your site and nothing links to it. What should you do?
2. You renamed a service page and the old address still gets visits. What is the right fix?
3. Your custom error page looks great but returns 200 OK. What is that called?
Frequently Asked Questions About fix 404 errors on website
Do 404 errors hurt my rankings?
Google says ordinary 404 responses do not inherently hurt indexing or rankings. A page removed with no replacement can return a 404 without harm. Fix the ones your site links to or lists in a sitemap.
Should I use a 404 or a 410?
Either works for a page with no replacement. Google currently treats them similarly for Search, and the standards body describes 410 as meaning the page is permanently gone.
What is a soft 404?
It is a page that tells visitors "not found" while the server returns 200 OK. Google generally excludes such pages from Search. Make the server return a real 404 or 410 instead.
How do I find broken links on my site?
Start with the Not found (404) reason in Search Console's Indexing, Pages report. Add a site crawl, your analytics or server logs, and a manual click-through of your important paths, such as the menu, footer and quote pages.
Does clicking Validate Fix repair the URL?
No. Validation asks Google to recrawl and recheck. Change the link, redirect or status code first, then validate.
What should I fix first?
Broken internal links, sitemap URLs, important old addresses that have a close replacement, and any page customers are actively trying to reach.
The Bottom Line
A 404 is a missing page, and Google says a missing page with no replacement is not necessarily a problem. The pages that deserve your time are the ones your own site still links to, the ones that moved without a redirect, and any error page that returns 200 OK. Sort each URL, fix the link, redirect only where a real replacement exists, and leave the rest.
Done once and checked now and then, this keeps customers from hitting dead ends and keeps your Search Console report tied to what is actually on your site. A short monthly look is usually all it takes.
If the list is long, a redesign scrambled your addresses, or you would rather not touch redirects yourself, Web Leveling can sort it with you. Our website maintenance work covers recurring link checks, redirect review and status-code monitoring, and if a ten-minute pass shows you do not need us, we will say so. We work with small and medium businesses across the country and overseas. Send us your Search Console list and we will tell you which rows matter.
Terms
404 and redirect words in this post
Tap a term to see what it means.
404 Not Found. A response meaning the server has no page at that address right now.
410 Gone. A response meaning the page is known to be permanently unavailable.
301 redirect. A permanent server-side instruction that sends an old address to a new one.
Soft 404. A page that says "not found" but returns 200 OK instead of a real 404 or 410.
Internal link. A link on your own site that points to another page on your site.
Sitemap. An XML file that lists the pages you want search engines to know about.
