<b>Soft 404s: the index killer that returns 200 OK</b>

<b>Soft 404s: the index killer that returns 200 OK</b>

The sneakiest indexing problem — pages that look fine, return 200, but Google quietly drops as soft-404s.

How I hunt them:
— GSC Pages report → 'Soft 404' bucket, then export via API for the full list
— Look for empty-state pages: 'no results', sold-out products, thin tag archives
— Inspection API on a sample to confirm Google's verdict

What triggers a soft-404:
— Thin/empty content on a 200 URL
— 'Not found' messaging served with a 200 status
— Faceted/filter pages that resolve to nothing

Where GSC falls short:
— It tells you which, not always why — you judge the content
— Detection lags; freshly-thin pages take time to get flagged

Pros: a clear list of pages bleeding crawl budget.
Cons: no auto-fix, sampled list.

Best for: e-commerce and large faceted sites — biggest offenders.

Fix path: real 404/410 for empties, or beef up the content. Don't resubmit.