Think Your Page is Fine? Google Might Disagree: Catch Soft 404s and Fake ‘200 OKs’ Fast

You fixed the page. Your devs said it’s working. The URL loads. Status? 200 OK. So… what’s the problem? That 200 OK might be lying.

If the content is thin, missing, expired, or just plain unhelpful, Google might treat it as a soft 404 — even if your server swears it’s good.

And when that happens?

You lose SEO trust.
Crawl budget gets wasted.
Valuable pages drop from the index.
And yes… you lose money.

Every fake 200 OK costs you more than a technical error—it dilutes your domain authority and buries legit pages that should rank.

But the fix? It’s dead simple. Use this free tool to catch soft 404s

Paste your URLs. See what’s really going on.

What Are Soft 404s and False ‘200 OKs’?

Soft 404s happen when a page doesn’t really exist—but returns a 200 OK anyway.

It looks live. But it’s empty, thin, or just says something like “Page not found” in fancy clothes.

Meanwhile, false 200 OKs trick you, Google, and everyone else into thinking the page is healthy. Spoiler: it’s not.

Google hates this kind of behavior. And it punishes your site with lower visibility.

Real-World Scenarios: Your Problem and the Perfect Fix

You’ll be shocked how often these happen. Here are some real examples that might sound painfully familiar:

Scenario 1: Out-of-Stock Product Page

The Mistake: Page says “Out of stock,” but still returns 200 OK.
What Happens: Google keeps crawling it, thinking it’s useful.
The Fix: Use a 301 redirect to a related product or category page. You keep the link equity and stop wasting crawl budget.

Scenario 2: Deleted Blog Post Still Live

The Mistake: You deleted a blog post, but the CMS serves a generic 404 page — with a 200 OK.
What Happens: Google assumes it’s real content. Rankings suffer.
The Fix: Return a 410 Gone to signal the page is permanently removed. Or better? Redirect to a related post.

Scenario 3: Empty Faceted Search Page

The Mistake: A filter like /shoes?size=100 loads a page with “No products found” but returns a 200 OK.
What Happens: Google indexes useless pages, bloating your crawl.
The Fix: Use noindex, follow for pages with no results. That way, bots skip it without hurting internal links.

The Real Villain? Internal Links

Here’s what many SEOs miss: Your internal links might be sending users to ghost-town pages.

What Causes It?

Old blog links pointing to deleted content.
Product pages linking to expired inventory.
Faceted navigation spitting out dead-end URLs.

How to Fix It?

Run a site-wide internal link audit.
Replace or remove all links pointing to broken, empty, or low-value pages.
Redirect where possible, or 410 if it’s dead for good.

Bonus? You reclaim link equity and guide bots to stronger content.

How to Detect Soft 404s (In Seconds)

Use this Bulk HTTP Status Code Checker to test dozens of pages fast.

You’ll see:

True 404s – (Deadlinkchecker)
Fake 200 OKs where content is missing
Redirect chains
5xx server errors you didn’t know about

And all it takes is one paste + one click.

Measuring Success: Did It Work?

Here’s how to verify your fixes are helping:

✅ Google Search Console (GSC)

Go to Pages → Why pages aren’t indexed
Look for Soft 404
After your fixes, watch that number drop.

✅ URL Inspection Tool

Paste a URL
Click Request Indexing
Google re-crawls the page and updates its verdict faster.

The Business Angle: Why You Can’t Ignore This

Let’s talk revenue.

If Google skips valid pages due to crawl bloat? You lose impressions.
If junk pages suck up link equity? Your real money pages don’t rank.
If bots waste time crawling faceted junk? Your site looks messy and untrustworthy.

Clean URLs = higher rankings. Higher rankings = more traffic and sales.

Adopt a Proactive SEO Mindset

Don’t just fix soft 404s once and call it done.

Review internal links regularly.
Monitor GSC for new indexing errors.
Clean up old pages before launching new ones.

“This isn’t a one-time fix but a proactive habit. By mastering the art of catching these hidden errors, you’re not just a webmaster — you’re a Technical SEO Guardian.”

Final Checklist: Spot and Kill Every Soft 404

Problem	Symptom	Fix
Out-of-stock page still live	`200 OK`, but no product	Redirect to related product/category
Deleted page with generic content	Generic message + `200 OK`	Use `410 Gone` or redirect
Empty search/filter result	“No products found” + `200`	Add `noindex, follow` tag
Broken internal link	Links to deleted content	Fix or redirect those links
CMS fallback templates	Same design for errors	Customize error pages with correct status

Don’t Let Fake Status Codes Sink Your SEO

Your site might look clean. But until you check the status codes behind your pages, you’re flying blind.

Don’t trust what the browser shows.
Don’t assume the dev team got it right.
Check the headers. Check the truth.

✅ Use the free Bulk HTTP Status Code Checker now — and stop letting Google misunderstand your site.