Soft 404 Errors: Everything you need to know about SEO Errors 404
A 404 is simply computer jargon for “Not found”. That is when you click the link or type the URL into your browser’s address bar, your browser connects to the server, and it’s saying, “Hey man, can I access this website?” and the server responds, “Sorry dude, I cannot find the page”.
Error pages are an all-time web-based issue and their impact on SEO is dependent on the specific situation and the reason for them to occur in the first in the first place. Below, I’ve provided a list of the scenarios from the most important to the least
Broken internal links
They can occur due to the fact that the site is no longer operational or the site was not properly linked to. Broken links not only create a negative user experience, but they also affect the integrity of a website and hinder google’s capability to crawl or navigate the website.
You can periodically crawl your site with a web crawler like Screaming Frog. You can export the list of pages that have 404 using the “Response Codes tab or”All Inlinks” export “All inlinks” export to determine the 404 pages as well as their origins. Take a look at the Screaming Frog Guide to learn more about identifying the broken links within internal pages.
Soft Pages 404
A soft 404 is when a website that is not there gives a status code 200. It’s like when you ordered something from the menu of an eatery and they showed you a vacant table instead of simply notifying you that they’d run out of the item. Soft 404s can be problematic since search engines keep crawling and indexing pages which aren’t there while the time would be better spent on crawling pages that exist.
How to Locate Soft Pages with 404
There is a list of URLs Google believes to be soft 404 pages within Google Search Console under Coverage > Errors. You can also conduct an online crawl using Screaming Frog, filter by websites that show 200 status codes, and sort them by word count using ascending order.
404s with no Custom Error Page
Error pages provide an unsatisfactory user experience, however you can reduce a user’s displeasure and assist in regaining lost visitors through the creation of a custom page for 404. A custom 404 page that is effective can encourage users to explore your site and will help users find what they’re seeking. In the minimum the error page should have the links to resources that are common with consistent branding, clearly stated error messages along with an acknowledgement of your error.
A properly optimized error page will contain:
An easier version of navigation that can assist users in finding their way around the website.
A search box on the site to help users continue their journey on the site or discover new content that they might not have originally been seeking.
Based on the website or the situation, it might be beneficial to provide contact details like a telephone number, email address, chatbots, social media or even chatbots.
If you’re looking for some customer error page for inspiration? Take a look at Seer’s customized 404 page:
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Pages that are outdated or not up to date
Sometimes, pages become outdated or outdated, and they are removed from the website. It’s normal, and should be expected. The handling of the 404 error is a delicate act. On the one side, having excessive 404 errors can be a sign of quality issues for your website. However it’s not practical and time-consuming trying to sort through each 404 page error.
If the page that is 404 has been awarded quality backlinks, or receives a substantial amount of traffic, then the page must be redirecting to the page that is most relevant , or most suitable for the user’s intention. If the page isn’t receiving links or traffic however, you can make it be 404. But, regardless of whether you choose to change it to 301 or to 404, ensure that the old and outdated URLs are deleted out of Your XML sitemap.
How to find old and out of date links
The first step is to look over your analytics on your website to determine the pages that are receiving referral traffic. In Google Analytics you can accomplish this by using a filter on Pages with Titles that include “page that could not be found” (or whatever text is found in the title tag of your error page).
Utilize a tool for backlinks such as Ahrefs as well as Majestic to locate pages that have backlinks. Finding and redirecting broken links will aid your website in regaining the lost value of links. This is known in the field of backlink reclamation.
In the final instance you can export an entire list of 404 pages Google has encountered through Coverage > Errors within Google Search Console.
Links that are mistyped or malformed
Exuberant fingers and cat running across your keyboards are the most likely reason for the 404 error page. There’s nothing you can do to fix these and the best thing to do is not bother with the error pages and let them go to 404.
404 Answer Not found?
If you’re still uncertain about how to handle 404 errors, Seer can help! Leave your comments in the comments below, or email us to find out more.
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