HTTPTools

HTTP 404 Not Found

The most famous status code on the web: there is nothing at this address.

What HTTP 404 means

HTTP 404 Not Found means the server is reachable and working, but no resource exists at the requested URL. It does not say whether the page ever existed or might exist again — just that there is nothing here right now (a deliberate permanent removal is better served by 410 Gone).

Every site accumulates 404s over time: pages get renamed, links rot, users mistype URLs. What matters is handling them well — a helpful 404 page for people, correct status codes for machines, and redirects for URLs that genuinely moved.

Common causes of 404 errors

  • The page was deleted or its URL changed without a redirect.
  • A typo in the link or address bar (broken internal links are the most fixable case).
  • Case sensitivity: /About vs /about are different URLs on most servers.
  • The resource exists but the server's rewrite rules or routing fail to match it.
  • An expired or unpublished CMS entry that once had a live URL.

How to fix it as a user

  • Check the URL for typos, stray characters or truncation from copy-pasting.
  • Go to the site's homepage or search to find where the content moved.
  • Use a web archive (e.g. the Wayback Machine) if the content is gone entirely.

How to fix it as a site owner

  • 301-redirect moved content from the old URL to its new equivalent.
  • Fix broken internal links — crawl your own site and check Search Console's “Not found” report.
  • Serve a helpful custom 404 page with search and popular links, but keep the 404 status code.
  • Use 410 for content you removed on purpose and never intend to bring back.

Example response

HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
Content-Type: text/html

<!doctype html>
<title>Page not found</title>

SEO impact

404s do not directly hurt your rankings — every site has them. The damage comes from broken internal links (lost crawl paths and link equity) and from valuable moved pages missing their 301. Never mass-redirect all 404s to the homepage: Google treats those as soft 404s.

FAQ

Do 404 errors hurt SEO?

Not by themselves. Broken internal links and moved pages without redirects do. Fix the links, redirect what moved, and let genuinely dead URLs return 404.

What is the difference between 404 and 410?

404 says “nothing here” without explanation; 410 says “deliberately removed, stop asking”. Search engines drop 410 URLs slightly faster.

What is a soft 404?

A page that looks like an error to the user but returns 200, or a redirect of dead URLs to irrelevant pages like the homepage. Search Console flags both.