How to Fix 404 Errors in Google Search Console (2026)

By Umair Ali Sadaqat · Updated November 6, 2026 · Editorial policy

Fix 'Not found (404)' in Search Console: when to ignore it, when to 301 redirect, and when to restore the page, with a decision table and validation steps.

Short answer: In Search Console, open Indexing > Pages, click Not found (404), and sort each URL into one of three buckets. If the page was removed on purpose and nothing links to it, ignore it. If the page moved or has a close replacement, add a 301 redirect to that replacement. If the page should exist, restore it. Then fix any internal links or sitemap entries that point to the dead URL and click Validate fix.

Most "404 errors" in Search Console don't need fixing at all, so the skill is triage, not repair.

What "Not found (404)" actually means

The Page indexing report lists URLs Google tried to crawl and could not index. "Not found (404)" means the server answered that request with a 404 status. That's all it says. It doesn't say the URL matters.

Google's own troubleshooting advice is specific: fix only 404 errors that you link to yourself or list in a sitemap, and if a page has moved, return a 3XX redirect to the new page. Google also lists "a 404 for a page that you've removed and have no replacement for" among the reasons a page is legitimately not indexed.

If you haven't set up the tool yet, start with our Search Console guide or the walkthrough on verifying your site in Google Search Console.

Step 1: Export the list and find where each 404 comes from

Open Search Console and choose your property.
Go to Indexing > Pages.
Scroll to the "Why pages aren't indexed" table and click Not found (404).
Review the example URLs. The table is limited to 1,000 rows and isn't guaranteed to show every URL, so treat it as a sample if you have a large site.
Export the data if you want to work in a spreadsheet.
Click a URL and use Inspect URL to see how Google discovered it. The referring page and sitemap details tell you whether the link is yours.

The discovery source is the key fact. A 404 that Google found through your own navigation or sitemap is a real defect. A 404 found through an old external link or a typo on someone else's site is usually noise, unless that link sends real visitors.

Step 2: Decide: ignore, redirect, or restore

Use this table for every URL group in the report.

Situation	What it looks like	Action
Page deleted on purpose, no replacement, no internal links	Old product, expired event, test page	Ignore. Leave the 404 (or 410).
Page deleted, but a close replacement exists	Discontinued product, newer version of the guide	301 redirect to the closest equivalent page.
URL changed (slug rename, folder move, domain or HTTPS migration)	Same content at a new address	301 redirect old URL to new URL, one hop.
Page should exist but was deleted or unpublished by mistake	Live service page, key article	Restore it, confirm it returns 200, then validate.
Your own menu, footer, or body links point to it	Internal link to a dead URL	Fix the link (or redirect if the page moved).
Listed in your XML sitemap	Sitemap includes removed URLs	Remove from the sitemap, then decide redirect or ignore.
Junk URLs from spam or odd parameters	Random strings, scraper patterns	Ignore. Check security if they look injected (see below).

When the replacement isn't a close match, don't force one. Google's redirect documentation describes redirects as the way to send users and Google to a page's new location, and a page with no new location has nothing to point at.

Step 3: Add the redirect correctly

For a permanent move, Google recommends a permanent server-side redirect whenever possible. The 301 and 308 status codes both mean a page has permanently moved. Google says to use JavaScript redirects only if you can't do server-side or meta refresh redirects.

Practical rules:

Redirect to the single best matching URL, not through a chain of hops.
Point at a page that serves a normal 200 response, not another redirect or error.
Update your internal links to the new URL as well, so you aren't relying on the redirect forever.
On WordPress, a redirect plugin or your host's redirect rules does this. On other platforms, use the redirect or rewrite settings of your server or CMS.

Example redirect map you can hand to a developer or paste into a redirect tool:

`` /old-pricing -> /pricing /blog/2022/seo-tips -> /blog/seo-tips /services/web-design -> /services/website-design ``

Step 4: Test the fix, then validate

Before telling Google, check the URL yourself.

Open the old URL in a browser, or run a header check, and confirm it returns a 301 and lands on a 200 page.
In Search Console, paste the URL into the top bar and run Inspect URL, then use the live test to see what Google gets.
Confirm the URL is no longer in your sitemap and no internal page links to it.

Then validate:

Open the Not found (404) issue in the Page indexing report.
Click Validate fix.
Watch the status. Don't click Validate fix again until validation has succeeded or failed.
If it fails, click See details, fix the remaining URLs, and restart.

Google says validation typically takes up to about two weeks but can take much longer. It also stops if it finds even one remaining instance, so only validate when you've fixed the whole group. One tip from Google's docs: validating against a subset of affected URLs can complete faster, which you can do by filtering the report with a sitemap that contains only your key pages.

A related note: Google treats 404 URLs gradually. For a URL that returns a 404, it says the indexing pipeline removes the URL from the index if it was previously indexed, newly found 404 pages aren't processed, and crawling frequency gradually decreases. So a URL you leave as a 404 will fade on its own.

Step 5: Check for the "not really a 404" cases

Two lookalikes need different treatment:

Soft 404. The page returns a 200 status but shows an empty page or error message, and Search Console reports a soft 404. Fix it by returning a real 404 status, or by putting real content on the page.
Hacked or injected URLs. A sudden flood of 404s on strange file names or spammy paths can point to a compromised site. If that matches what you see on a CMS, read our fix guides for WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal, then re-check the report.

Copyable triage checklist

[ ] Exported the Not found (404) URLs from Indexing > Pages
[ ] Marked each URL: your link, your sitemap, external link, or unknown
[ ] Ignored deleted pages with no replacement and no internal links
[ ] Added 301 redirects for moved pages, one hop, to a 200 page
[ ] Restored pages that were removed by mistake
[ ] Fixed internal links pointing to dead URLs
[ ] Removed dead URLs from the XML sitemap
[ ] Checked a sample with Inspect URL
[ ] Clicked Validate fix once, and waited for the result

Prevent the next batch

Most recurring 404s come from site rebuilds, renamed slugs, and deleted posts with no redirect plan. Before any migration, list old URLs and map each to its new home. If you are rebuilding a small site anyway, We.Inc's free plan lets you publish up to three sites from ready-made templates; the AI builder that drafts a site from a prompt starts on the Starter plan at $20 a month. You can sign up here. Either way, keep your old-to-new URL map, because it's what keeps this report clean.

For a broader orientation to the tool, see Google Search Console for beginners.

Frequently asked questions

Do 404 errors hurt my Google rankings?

Not by themselves. Google's Page indexing documentation says 404 responses are not necessarily a problem when a page was removed without a replacement, and it lists a 404 for a page you removed as a normal reason for a URL not to be indexed. The ones worth fixing are 404s on URLs you link to yourself or list in your sitemap.

Should I use a 404 or a 410 for deleted pages?

For Google Search it makes no practical difference. Google's HTTP status code documentation treats all 4xx errors except 429 the same way: the content is reported as not existing, a previously indexed URL is removed from the index, and crawling of that URL gradually decreases. Use whichever your platform makes easy.

How long does 'Validate fix' take for 404 errors?

Google says validation typically takes up to about two weeks, but can take much longer. Don't click Validate fix again until the current validation has succeeded or failed. If Google finds a single remaining instance of the issue, validation stops.

Why does a fixed URL still show up in the Not found (404) report?

Google keeps trying to crawl a missing URL for a while, so it can stay listed after you fix it. Also, the example list in the report is capped at 1,000 rows and isn't guaranteed to show every URL. Fix the cause (broken links, sitemap entries), then run validation and wait.

Should I redirect every 404 to my homepage?

No. Google's guidance is to return a 3XX redirect when a page has moved to a new page. A page with no real replacement is better left as a 404. Sending unrelated URLs to the homepage gives visitors something they didn't ask for and hides the real problem from you.

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