Broken links and old pages on a café website: what Google does with 404s, redirects and soft 404s

Google's status code page says it "doesn't index URLs that return a 4xx status code, and URLs that are already indexed and return a 4xx status code are removed from the index". That covers a page that returns 404 or 410. If a page has moved, Google's troubleshooting page says to return a 301, which Google's status code page calls a strong signal that the new address should be processed. A page that says it cannot be found but still returns a 200 is a soft 404, and the troubleshooting page says "Such pages are excluded from Search".

What does Google do when a page on my café's site is gone?

Google's status code page says it does not index a page that returns a 4xx status code, and removes it from the index if it was already there. The exact words are: "Google doesn't index URLs that return a 4xx status code, and URLs that are already indexed and return a 4xx status code are removed from the index." It adds that "Any content Google receives from URLs that return a 4xx status code is ignored."

The page treats 404 (not found) and 410 (gone) alike. It says: "All 4xx errors, except 429, are treated the same: Google crawlers inform the next processing system that the content doesn't exist." It also says "Newly encountered 404 pages aren't processed. The crawling frequency gradually decreases." And for a URL that used to work: "If a URL was previously used but is now returning 4xx status code, Google systems will stop using the URL over time."

Our made-up case: a café takes down its old Christmas menu page. Nothing replaces it. Google's troubleshooting page says that if you removed a page and there is no replacement with similar content, "return a 404 (not found) or 410 (gone) response (status) code for the page". It also suggests a helpful custom 404 page, with the same look and feel as the rest of the site and a link to the home page, and says to make sure the server returns a 404 HTTP status code "to prevent having the pages indexed".

What if I moved the page, say the menu, to a new address?

Google's troubleshooting page says to return a 301 (permanent redirect): "If your page has moved or has a clear replacement on your site, return a 301 (permanent redirect) to redirect the user." It says this is "a great way to tell search engines about the new location of the page."

The status code page explains the difference between the two common redirects. For a 301: "Google follows the redirect, and Google systems use the redirect as a strong signal that the redirect target should be processed." For a 302: "By default, Google's crawlers follow the redirect, and Google systems use the redirect as a weak signal that the redirect target should be processed." The page also says "Any content Google receives from the redirecting URL is ignored, and the final target URL's content is processed instead."

Our made-up case: a café moves its menu from one address to a new one. Going by Google's wording, a 301 from the old address to the new is the signal it describes as strong, and a 302 is the weak one. The troubleshooting page also says: "Watch out for long redirect chains, which have a negative effect on crawling." And it says to "Use the URL Inspection tool to verify whether your URL is actually returning the correct code."

What is a soft 404, and why would my café's site have one?

The troubleshooting page defines it: "A soft 404 error is when a URL that returns a page telling the user that the page does not exist and also a 200 (success) status code. In some cases, it might be a page with no main content or empty page." In our words: the visitor sees an error, but the page returned a 200 (success) code.

Google gives four example causes: "A missing server-side include file." "A broken connection to the database." "An empty internal search result page." "An unloaded or otherwise missing JavaScript file." It says: "It's a bad user experience to return a 200 (success) status code, but then display or suggest an error message or some kind of error on the page." And: "Such pages are excluded from Search." When Google's algorithms detect that a page is actually an error page, "Search Console will show a soft 404 error in the site's Page Indexing report."

Our made-up case: a café site shows a "page not found" message on a page that returns 200. By Google's definition that is a soft 404. Google gives three fixes, depending on the page. If the page is gone, return a 404 or 410. If it has moved, return a 301. If an otherwise good page was flagged with a soft 404 error, Google says it's likely it "didn't load properly for Googlebot, it was missing critical resources, or it displayed a prominent error message during rendering", and to use the URL Inspection tool "to examine the rendered content and the returned HTTP code".

What about when the whole site is down for a while?

Google's status code page says 5xx server errors prompt its crawlers to temporarily slow down, and that already indexed URLs are preserved in the index, but eventually dropped. It says: "5xx and 429 server errors prompt Google's crawlers to temporarily slow down with crawling. For Google Search, already indexed URLs are preserved in the index, but eventually dropped." And: "Once the server starts responding with a 2xx status code, Google gradually increases the crawl rate for the site."

The same page says that for Google Search, "Google's indexing pipeline removes from the index URLs that persistently return a server error."

How do I check what my café's pages return?

Our suggestion, not Google's: start with the URL Inspection tool and the Page Indexing report. Google says Search Console shows soft 404 errors in the Page Indexing report, and its troubleshooting page says to use the URL Inspection tool to verify "whether your URL is actually returning the correct code". The status code page also says Search Console generates error messages for status codes in the 4xx and 5xx range, and for failed redirections (3xx).

Our free check can help with one part of this. Its list of what it checks describes "Secure, with no dead links." as: "Your site is served over https, and the links on your home page that we try do not lead to pages that do not exist." That is ours, not Google's, and it tries the links on the home page only, not every page on the site. A dead link three pages deep is not something it looks at. For speed and the rest of what Google counts as page experience, see our article on café website speed and Google.

Sources

• Google, How HTTP status codes affect Google's crawlers, last updated 2026-02-04 UTC, read 3 November 2026. The old Search Central address redirects to this one.
• Google Search Central, Troubleshoot Google Search crawling errors (its soft 404, crawl efficiency and custom 404 passages), last updated 2025-12-18 UTC, read 3 November 2026.
• Cupán Studio, Is my café website AI ready? (cupanstudio.com/check), the things it checks, read 3 November 2026.

This is a summary of Google's crawling documentation read on 3 November 2026. The café cases are ours and made up. Cupán Studio builds websites for cafés in Ireland.