404 (2024)

FAQs

How to bypass error 404? ›

If the page is not available or invalid, you should try to configure the website to return the correct status code. Once you have configured your website for the correct code, resubmit the page to Google for indexing. It should help you get rid of the soft 404 error.

The 404 code means that a server could not find a client-requested webpage.

The HTTP 404 Not Found response status code indicates that the server cannot find the requested resource. Links that lead to a 404 page are often called broken or dead links and can be subject to link rot.

The typical trigger for an error 404 message is when website content has been removed or moved to another URL. There are also other reasons why an error message could appear.

404 errors help us humans understand that the browser and server are working just fine but whatever you're trying to access on the server isn't. If you're a website owner, a 404 error is like a leak in the ceiling–you could be frustrating visitors and potential customers that are trying to get to your site but can't.

A 404 error happens when a page is not available and the server sends the correct HTTP status code — a 404 Not Found — to the browser telling the page is nowhere to be found. A soft 404 error happens when the server sends a 200 OK status for the requested page, but Google thinks that the page should return a 404.

With a hard 404 error, the 404 error code is returned to both page visitors and search engines. This tells both that the page doesn't exist. Here's an example of a hard 404 error from the clothing site ModCloth: With a soft 404 error, the 404 error code is displayed to visitors but not search engines.

Error 404 not found is one of the most common issues you may encounter while browsing. This HTTP status code means the requested page can't be found on the website server. It may indicate a flaw with a hosting service or your domain name system (DNS) configuration settings.

Go to the "Coverage" report and look for pages with the "404" error. Then use the "Remove URLs" tool to request that Google remove the page from the index. Add a 410 HTTP status code: A 410 status code tells search engines that the page is gone permanently and should be.

Is a 404 error a broken link? ›

404 errors, also called 404 links, dead links, broken links, or 404s, are links to nonexistent pages. When visitors click a link to a nonexistent page, they often see a 404 error notice. In some cases, they see something like Timeout or Webpage cannot be found. But, 404 is most common.