Google has confirmed that "soft 404" pages still count against a site's crawl budget even though they return an HTTP 200 status code. Search Analyst Gary Illyes explained the nuance at Search Central Live Asia Pacific on 13 May 2025 and repeated the point in a LinkedIn post two days later.
Soft 404 crawl budget impact
A soft 404 occurs when a page’s content signals "not found" but the server responds with 200. Google flags these URLs as low value and excludes them from indexing, yet each request still uses a crawl slot.
- Soft 404s are not indexed.
- Each soft 404 request consumes one crawl slot.
- Detection relies on content-pattern analysis.
On large sites, a high volume of soft 404s can delay discovery of new or updated pages because the crawler spends resources on URLs that ultimately provide no value.
Search Console detection and fixes
Google Search Console lists soft 404s in the Index Coverage report under the "Not indexed" tab. Site owners can export this list and address each URL as follows:
- Return a 404 or 410 status for content that has been removed.
- Issue a 301 redirect when a permanent replacement exists.
- For temporary stock shortages, keep the page live and mark the status with structured data instead of showing a blank page.
Maintaining a helpful custom 404 page also improves the user experience when genuine errors occur.
Background and sources
Google introduced soft 404 detection in 2008 and added reporting to Webmaster Tools (now Search Console) in 2011. The core guidance has stayed the same: align HTTP status codes with the page’s actual state. Illyes’s latest comments refine earlier statements that standard 404s do not affect crawl budget by highlighting the exception posed by soft variants.
- Gary Illyes, Q&A session, Search Central Live Asia Pacific, 13 May 2025.
- Crawl budget documentation
- Soft 404 report guidance
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