{"id":15732,"date":"2022-10-18T11:53:50","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T11:53:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.searchenginejournal.com\/technical-seo\/what-are-404-vs-soft-404-errors\/"},"modified":"2022-10-18T11:53:50","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T11:53:50","slug":"404-vs-soft-404-errors-whats-the-difference-how-to-fix-both-via-sejournal-benjarriola","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marketingnewsbox.com\/?p=15732","title":{"rendered":"404 vs. Soft 404 Errors: What\u2019s The Difference & How To Fix Both via @sejournal, @benjarriola"},"content":{"rendered":"

Google search console warns publishers about 404 errors: 404 and soft 404<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While they\u2019re both called 404, they are very different.<\/p>\n

Consequently, it\u2019s essential to understand the difference between the errors to fix them.<\/p>\n

HTTP Status Codes<\/h2>\n

A webpage accessed by a browser responds with a status code that communicates whether the request was successful and, if not, why it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

These responses are communicated with what is referred to as HTTP response codes, but officially they are called HTTP status codes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A server provides five categories of response codes; this article is specifically about one response, the 404 page not found status code<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Meaning Of A 404 Response Code<\/h2>\n

All codes within the 4xx series of responses mean the request could not be fulfilled because the page was not found.<\/p>\n

The official definition<\/a> is:<\/p>\n

\n

4xx (Client Error): The request contains bad syntax or cannot be fulfilled<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The 404 response is ambiguous as to whether the webpage might return.<\/p>\n

Examples Of Why 404 Page Not Found Happens<\/h3>\n