404s vs Soft 404s: The Difference That Matters

Not every missing page returns a clean error. Here is why soft 404s are the sneaky ones.

September 3, 2026 · 3 min read

A real 404 is honest

A proper 404 tells browsers and search engines clearly that a page does not exist. That honesty lets them handle it correctly, dropping the dead page from consideration.

A soft 404 lies

A soft 404 is a page that is effectively empty or missing, but returns a success response instead of an error. It tells search engines the page is fine when it is not, which wastes crawling and confuses your reporting.

Why they are worse

Because a soft 404 looks healthy on the surface, it hides. Basic checks pass, yet the page delivers nothing useful. Finding them takes a crawl that looks at content, not just status codes.

Fix the response

The fix is to make missing pages return a true 404, or to replace the empty page with real content or a proper redirect. Honest responses keep your site legible to search engines.

Key takeaways

A real 404 clearly signals a missing page
A soft 404 returns success for an empty page
Soft 404s hide because they look healthy
Fix them with a true error or real content

Written by

Julien Jimenez

Julien Jimenez is an independent software builder based in Paris. He designs, ships, and operates focused SaaS products for small businesses and independent professionals. Read the full author page.