Soft 404

A soft 404A soft 404 is a page that looks like an error page or redirects irrelevantly but technically sends status code 200. Search engines may wrongly treat it as a valid page.Open glossary entry → occurs when a non-existent or empty page looks like an error page but technically returns status code 200 OKHTTP status 200 (OK) means a page was found and served successfully. Only 200 URLs should appear in the sitemap and serve as canonical targets.Open glossary entry → instead of sending a real 404.

Example: the URL /alte-seite shows the text "This page was not found" but responds with status 200. Search engines may interpret such a page as a valid page.

Common causes are:

• redirecting all errors to the homepage,
• error pages that send status 200,
• empty product pages or internal search pages with no results,
• very thin pagesThin content is content with too little independent value. A page is thin when it fails to satisfy a search intent adequately or adds nothing substantial to existing pages.Open glossary entry → with hardly any content.

The fix: genuine error pages should send status code 404HTTP status 404 (Not Found) means the server is reachable but the requested URL does not exist. Individual 404 errors are normal; internal dead links are the real problem.Open glossary entry → (or 410 for permanent removal). A 404 page may be designed and helpful, but must technically remain a real 404. Irrelevant redirectsA redirect forwards users and search engines from one URL to another. It can be permanent (301) or temporary (302) and transfers signals to the target URL.Open glossary entry → to the homepage should be avoided.