Google Says Missing Pages Don't Hurt Rankings, but Recommends Custom 404 Pages
TLDR
Google says 404 errors are not a ranking threat, but it recommends custom 404 pages because the experience visitors get after a missing page can affect a business.
Optimixed Overview
Optimixed's original report on this story.
Google says missing pages are not a ranking threat, but what visitors see after hitting a 404 can matter to a business. As first reported by Search Engine Journal, Google recommends using custom 404 error pages for that reason.
How we got here
- Oct 28Google Releases Video Saying 404 Errors Are Not Inherently Harmful
Google released a video in its Non-Canonical Cabinet series explaining why 404 error pages are not something to fear.
- Sep 18Google Explains How Publishers Can Prevent Indexing Problems From Cross-Domain Canonicals
John Mueller addressed how cross-domain canonicals can cause de-indexing and how publishers should monitor for such issues.
- Sep 8Google says old low-value pages may continue to affect site recovery from ranking losses
Google's John Mueller indicates that old low-value programmatic pages can continue to harm a site's ability to recover rankings, even after removal or improvement.
- Aug 5Google Now Recommends 304 Status Codes to Optimize Crawl Budget Efficiency
Google's updated crawl budget guidance now recommends using 304 status codes for unchanged pages to help Googlebot allocate resources more efficiently.