Source: Search Engine Roundtable by barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz). Read the original article
TL;DR Summary of Why 404 Errors Don’t Affect SEO According to Google
404 errors are a normal part of the web and are not considered a negative SEO signal by Google. These errors indicate that a URL is invalid and therefore won’t be indexed, which is expected behavior. Google confirms that 404s do not waste crawl budget and sites should only fix 404s when pages are mistakenly returning them. Overall, having 404s listed in Search Console is completely normal for every website.
Optimixed’s Overview: Understanding Google’s Perspective on 404 Errors and SEO Impact
Why 404 Errors Are Not a Threat to Your Site’s SEO
Google’s John Mueller clarifies common misconceptions about 404 error pages and their influence on search rankings. Here’s a deeper insight into the role of 404s in SEO:
- 404 and 410 Status Codes: Both signify that a URL is invalid and these pages are simply not indexed by Google, which is the intended and correct behavior.
- No Negative Quality Signal: Receiving a 404 does not imply your site is low quality or penalized. It’s a natural part of website management.
- Crawl Budget: Google confirms that 404 errors do not consume your crawl budget, so they don’t affect how often or deeply Googlebot crawls your site.
- Soft 404s and Redirects: Pages that return a 200 status code but show 404 content are considered soft 404s and can confuse users. Similarly, homepage or category redirects resulting in soft 404s may cause short-term crawl inefficiencies.
- When to Fix 404s: It’s important to fix 404 errors only when pages are mistakenly returning them but should be live, otherwise, having 404s is normal and expected.
In summary, 404 errors are a standard part of the web ecosystem and do not harm your SEO efforts. Understanding this can help webmasters focus on more impactful SEO improvements rather than worrying about inevitable 404 pages.
