Submitted URL Seems to be a Soft 404: Complete Guide to Detection and Resolution
✧What is a "Submitted URL Seems to be a Soft 404" Error?
The message “Submitted URL seems to be a Soft 404” in Google Search Console signals that Google detects mismatched content perceptions in your server reports compared to their web crawlers interpret the page information. A crucial indexing problem emerges when you encounter this message that affects how your website is shown in search results.
A soft 404 is different from standard 404 errors due to your server sending a valid HTTP 200 status code that indicates a page’s presence while Google’s systems recognize the page as empty or containing minimal content or having error components.
✧ Why Google Flags Soft 404 Errors
Google algorithms now have advanced capabilities to identify pages which show an existing status but hold no value for users. When Google encounters pages that:
- The server should return a 200 status code to indicate successful operation.
- These pages show either empty results or errors along with minimal available content.
- The pages automatically redirect users to different unrelated content such as the homepage
The Google algorithm detects these empty pages as “soft 404s” though they function like error pages without correct error flags.
✧ The SEO Impact of Soft 404 Errors
Soft 404 errors can significantly harm your website’s search performance:
- Indexing Issues: Google removes pages that receive soft 404 error identification from its indexing system, so these pages stay hidden from search results.
- Crawl Budget Waste: The crawl budget performance allocated by Google to websites remains limited. Your valuable content faces reduced indexing by Googlebot because it spends time on unimportant soft 404 pages.
- User Experience Signals: User Clicks on Search Listings which Lead to Blank Pages Trigger User Rebounds to Search Pages Causing Negative Quality Signals to Google.
- Overall Site Quality Perception: Google evaluates your site quality based on its overall perception, which deteriorates when soft 404 errors occur more frequently than your site pages.
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✧Common Causes of Soft 404 Errors
Several website configurations and content issues commonly trigger soft 404 errors:
➜ 1. Empty or Thin Content Pages
Pages containing minimal text content while offering limited value tend to qualify as soft 404s. Common examples include:
- Empty category or tag pages in WordPress
- Product pages for out-of-stock items
- Author pages with no published content
- Search result pages with no results (“No results found”)
➜ 2. Server Configuration Issues
Improper server configuration can lead to soft 404 errors when:
- Your customized 404 page shows up as 200 without causing an error
- Pages with error messages still return success status codes
- Your CMS generates URLs for nonexistent resources but serves them with 200 codes
➜3. Redirect Problems
Google may flag a URL as a soft 404 when:
- Users are automatically redirected from a specific URL to an unrelated page
- The destination of a website redirect has no effect on the web page content it takes users to
- Your redirect chain connects to multiple unrelated pages until it ends on the wrong page
➜ 4. JavaScript Rendering Issues
Websites heavily dependent on JavaScript face problems similar to Soft 404 status codes when URLs do not reach the server correctly.
- Content loads via JavaScript but fails to render properly for Googlebot
- Error messages are displayed through JavaScript while the server returns 200
- Client-side routing doesn’t properly handle nonexistent paths
✧ How to Identify Soft 404 Errors
The primary tool for identifying soft 404 errors is Google Search Console:
- Page Indexing Report:Find Page Indexing Report Under Indexing Pages in Google Search Console. Turn to the section listing Soft 404 errors to find the affected web pages.
- Use the URL Inspection Tool to enter specific URLs and determine if Google marks them as soft 404 errors.
- In Search Console’s Dating Coverage you’ll find details about submitted URLs that produce soft 404 problems.
✧ How to Fix Soft 404 Errors
Resolving soft 404 errors requires determining the appropriate action for each affected URL:
➜ 1. For Pages That Shouldn't Exist
The system understands the page does not exist or should not be accessible to anyone.
The system understands the page does not exist or should not be accessible to anyone.
Search engines understand the page does not exist because of this setting. Set your server to show the proper response status together with a helpful 404 page for your visitors.
➜ 2. For Thin Content Pages
If the page should exist but currently has little content:
- Include relevant and important content to match the page goal
- Include images, videos, or interactive elements
- Let users explore the page in a productive manner matching its primary goal
For product pages with out-of-stock items, consider:
- For product pages with items out of stock you should take these actions.
- Adding an estimated restocking date
- Give product details and present similar items that customers can purchase
➜ 3. For Redirect Issues
When dealing with pages that have moved:
- Implement proper 301 (permanent) redirects to the most relevant replacement page
- Direct visitors to webpages that share the same main topics.
- Prevent redirected links that require many steps before reaching a final website.
➜ 4. For Pages You Don't Want Indexed
For valid pages that should exist but not appear in search results:
- Add a noindex meta tag to instruct search engines not to index the page
- Include the page in your robots.txt file to prevent crawling
- Implement canonical tags to point to the preferred version of duplicated content
Here’s how to add a noindex tag to your page:
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➜ 5. For Technical Solutions
The following steps improve technical Soft 404 response prevention:
- Ensure custom 404 pages return the correct HTTP 404 status code
- Configure your server to handle non-existent URLs properly
- Add reliable error control features to your JavaScript programs
✧ Preventing Future Soft 404 Errors
Implement these steps to stop soft 404 errors from happening ahead of time.
- Check all your website pages during systematic audits to find minor content areas that could be responsible for soft 404 error alerts.
- When users see out-of-stock products at e-commerce websites these items need to react correctly in two ways.
- Keep the page content valuable for users
- Setting up proper 404/410 responses
- Implementing 301 redirects to relevant alternatives
- Monitoring New Content: When publishing new sections or features, verify they contain substantial content before making them accessible.
- Testing URL Patterns: Before creating new URL structures, test how your system handles edge cases like empty categories or search results.
- Check Google Search Console data each week to find soft 404 issues early.
✧ Advanced Troubleshooting for Persistent Soft 404 Errors
Follow these advanced steps if your selected fixes did not stop soft 404 errors from appearing.
➜ 1. Check Server Response Headers
Check your server status by using browser developer tools or online testing tools to get its real HTTP response. Things that seem to happen on your browser often differ from the real activities done by your server.
➜ 2. Evaluate JavaScript Rendering
Your site depends fully on JavaScript to display content and you need to take specific actions.
- Use Google’s Fetch as Google tool to view how Googlebot shows your page
- Use JavaScript off mode testing to check content visibility for search engines
- Choose either dynamic rendering or server-side rendering for better search engine results
If you just need to disable JavaScript for debugging:
Open Chrome.
Press F12 or Ctrl + Shift + I to open DevTools.
Go to the Console tab.
Press Ctrl + Shift + P (or Cmd + Shift + P on Mac) to open the command menu.
Type “Disable JavaScript” and select it.
Now, JavaScript will be disabled until you refresh or close DevTools.
Let me know if you need more help!
➜ 3. Review Custom Error Pages
Examine your custom error pages to ensure they:
- Return the correct HTTP status codes
- Make user navigation Options useful for visitors
- The customized error pages work improperly on legitimate webpages
➜ 4. Check for Cloaking Issues
✧ Case Study: Resolving Soft 404 Errors on an E-commerce Site
The product pages of a mid-sized e-commerce site caused hundreds of soft 404 errors to appear in Google Search Console mainly due to out-of-stock merchandise. Their solution included:
- Content Enhancement: Enhancing product information with detailed descriptions and specifications as well as customer reviews should include out-of-stock items.
- Related Products: The customer experience would benefit from a new section which features related products currently available in stock.
- Back-in-Stock Notifications: An option to subscribe to inventory restocks allows customers to receive notifications on the return of their desired products.
- Proper HTTP Status Codes: For permanently discontinued products, implementing 410 (Gone) status codes with helpful messaging.
The result: Google corrected the indexing of 87% of soft 404 pages within four weeks and this boost resulted in 34% more people viewing the product catalog through organic search.
✧ Conclusion: Taking Action on Soft 404 Errors
“The “Submitted URL seems to be a Soft 404” errors acknowledges your essential chance to establish a robust technical SEO base. Understanding error causes together with the correct implementation remedies allows you to solve these problems.:
- Enhance both the crawlability as well as indexability capabilities of your website
- Enhance user experience by ensuring meaningful content on all pages
- Optimize your crawl budget allocation
- Upgrade your site’s basic profile signals for better engine performance
Use Google Search Console tools and plan ahead with your content to prevent soft 404 problems that affect how well users and search engines find your website. Fixing soft 404 errors helps Google recognize when your site delivers useful content to visitors as part of its quality standard.
✧ FAQs
Your server gives a soft 404 Issue if it responds to the browser with an HTTP 200 status code even though the page actually displays a blank or error message. A standard 404 page is a Soft 404 page if it correctly returns an HTTP 404 status code, making the search engines aware that the page is not there.
Google’s soft 404 errors can be quite destructive as they not only waste your crawl budget but also keep your important pages from being indexed, thus creating bad user experiences that increase the bounce rates and even lower the overall quality of your site in the eyes of Google
Employ Google Search Console’s Page Indexing Report to uncover sharply-declined URLs along with the URL Inspection Tool’s check-up, and go over the Coverage report for complete information about the affected pages.
Need help fixing Soft 404 errors? Contact us for expert SEO solutions!
