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All lessons in Technical SEO Auditing Lesson 3.7 of 84

Module 1: Introduction to Technical SEO Auditing

  1. 1.1What Is a Technical SEO Audit?
  2. 1.2Technical SEO Audit vs. General SEO Audit
  3. 1.3When Should You Audit a Website?
  4. 1.4Types of Technical SEO Issues
  5. 1.5Defining Audit Scope and Objectives

Module 2: Website Crawling and URL Discovery

  1. 2.1How SEO Crawlers Discover URLs
  2. 2.2Configuring a Website Crawl
  3. 2.3Crawl Scope, Limits, and Exclusions
  4. 2.4Internal Links and Crawl Depth
  5. 2.5Orphan Pages and URL Discovery
  6. 2.6Crawl Data vs. Search Engine Data
  7. 2.7Identifying Crawl Coverage Gaps

Module 3: HTTP Status Codes and Redirect Auditing

  1. 3.1Understanding HTTP Status Codes
  2. 3.2Finding 4xx Errors and Broken Links
  3. 3.3Identifying 5xx Server Errors
  4. 3.4Redirect Chains and Redirect Loops
  5. 3.5Internal Links to Redirected URLs
  6. 3.6301 vs. 302 Redirects
  7. 3.7Auditing 404 Pages and Soft 404s

Module 4: Crawlability and Indexability Auditing

  1. 4.1Crawling vs. Indexing
  2. 4.2Robots.txt Audit
  3. 4.3Meta Robots and X-Robots-Tag
  4. 4.4Noindex and Canonical Conflicts
  5. 4.5XML Sitemap Validation
  6. 4.6Canonical URL Auditing
  7. 4.7Identifying Indexability Conflicts
  8. 4.8Comparing Crawl Data with Google Search Console

Module 5: URL Structure and Duplicate Content Issues

  1. 5.1URL Structure and Normalization
  2. 5.2Duplicate URLs and Duplicate Pages
  3. 5.3HTTP vs. HTTPS and Hostname Variations
  4. 5.4Trailing Slashes and URL Parameters
  5. 5.5Pagination and Faceted Navigation
  6. 5.6Canonicalization Strategies
  7. 5.7Internal Linking to Preferred URLs

Module 6: Technical On-Page Auditing

  1. 6.1Missing and Duplicate Title Tags
  2. 6.2Missing and Duplicate Meta Descriptions
  3. 6.3Missing, Duplicate, and Multiple H1 Headings
  4. 6.4Heading Hierarchy and HTML Structure
  5. 6.5Missing Image Alt Attributes
  6. 6.6Internal Link and Anchor Text Issues
  7. 6.7Empty, Thin, and Near-Duplicate Pages
  8. 6.8Auditing HTML Metadata at Scale

Module 7: Website Performance and Core Web Vitals

  1. 7.1Core Web Vitals: LCP, INP, and CLS
  2. 7.2Lab Data vs. Field Data
  3. 7.3Identifying Slow Pages
  4. 7.4Image and Resource Optimization Opportunities
  5. 7.5JavaScript and CSS Performance
  6. 7.6Mobile Usability and Responsive Rendering
  7. 7.7Prioritizing Performance Fixes

Module 8: JavaScript SEO and Rendering

  1. 8.1How Search Engines Process JavaScript
  2. 8.2HTML Source vs. Rendered HTML
  3. 8.3Client-Side vs. Server-Side Rendering
  4. 8.4JavaScript-Generated Content and Links
  5. 8.5Rendering Failures and Missing Content
  6. 8.6Lazy Loading and Crawl Accessibility
  7. 8.7Diagnosing JavaScript SEO Problems

Module 9: Structured Data and Schema Auditing

  1. 9.1Structured Data and Schema.org Basics
  2. 9.2JSON-LD and Structured Data Formats
  3. 9.3Finding Structured Data Across a Website
  4. 9.4Detecting Invalid or Incomplete Markup
  5. 9.5Schema Validation and Rich Result Eligibility
  6. 9.6Conflicting or Duplicate Structured Data
  7. 9.7Prioritizing Schema Fixes

Module 10: Analyzing Audit Data and Prioritizing Issues

  1. 10.1Reading Crawl Reports and Exports
  2. 10.2Grouping URLs by Issue Type
  3. 10.3Identifying Root Causes vs. Symptoms
  4. 10.4Evaluating Severity, Impact, and Effort
  5. 10.5Separating Sitewide and Isolated Issues
  6. 10.6Identifying False Positives
  7. 10.7Building an Actionable Issue Register

Module 11: Technical SEO Audit Reporting

  1. 11.1Structuring a Technical SEO Audit Report
  2. 11.2Documenting Evidence and Affected URLs
  3. 11.3Writing Developer-Ready Recommendations
  4. 11.4Mapping Issues to Business and Search Impact
  5. 11.5Creating a Prioritized Remediation Roadmap
  6. 11.6Presenting Findings to Stakeholders
  7. 11.7Tracking Fixes and Ownership

Module 12: Fix Verification and Technical QA

  1. 12.1Re-Crawling After Fixes
  2. 12.2Comparing Before-and-After Crawl Results
  3. 12.3Verifying Redirects, Canonicals, and Indexability
  4. 12.4Detecting Regressions and Newly Introduced Issues
  5. 12.5Testing Website Changes Before Deployment
  6. 12.6Confirming Fixes with Search Console and Other Evidence
  7. 12.7Closing Audit Findings and Recording Results

Auditing 404 Pages and Soft 404s

Your roadmap for this lesson

  • What a good 404 page does for users and crawlers
  • What a soft 404 is and why Google reports it
  • How to find soft 404s in your crawl and Search Console
  • How to fix each kind of soft 404

Short answer

A real 404 page shows a helpful message and returns a 404 status code. A soft 404 is a page that looks empty or missing but returns 200, or an irrelevant redirect Google treats as missing. Find them in Search Console and in your crawl's thin pages, then return a proper 404, redirect relevantly, or add content.

A Baguio pasalubong shop’s “Page not found” message looked fine to visitors. But the server sent 200 OK with it. Every mistyped or old URL became a “real” page in the crawler’s eyes, and Google’s Pages report filled with soft 404 warnings.

Check your 404 page first

Visit a fake URL like /zz-test-404/. A good result:

  • Returns 404 (or 410), not 200 and not a redirect.
  • Explains the page is missing in plain words.
  • Helps with a search box, main categories, and a link home.
  • Keeps the site layout so visitors do not feel lost.

What a soft 404 is

Google flags a soft 404 when a URL says “fine” but acts “missing.” Common causes:

  • Error messages served with a 200 code
  • Empty category or search pages (“0 products found”)
  • Very thin pages with almost no content
  • Redirects from removed pages to the homepage or an unrelated page

How to find them

  1. Search Console Pages report: “Soft 404” lists the URLs Google flagged.
  2. Your crawl: sort 200 URLs by low word count. Look for repeated text like “not found” or “no results” using custom search.
  3. Redirect report: look for many old URLs redirecting to the homepage.

How to fix them

  • Error message with 200: fix the server so it returns 404.
  • Empty category: add products, merge it, noindex it, or return 404 if it should not exist.
  • Thin page that should rank: add real content (Module 6).
  • Irrelevant redirect: redirect to a close match, or let the URL return 404.

Practice: soft 404 or not?

Sort each item into the right group.

  • 'Product not found' page returning 200

  • Deleted page returning 410

  • Category page showing '0 items' returning 200

  • Old blog post redirecting to the homepage

  • Retired product redirecting to its newer model

  • Custom 404 page with search box returning 404

Common mistakes

  • Pretty 404 pages with a 200 code. Design is fine, the code must be 404.
  • Redirecting all 404s to the homepage. Creates soft 404s and confuses users.
  • Empty filter and search pages left indexable. They multiply fast on shops.
1. Which status should your custom 404 page return?
2. Which is a likely soft 404?
3. Hundreds of old URLs redirect to the homepage. What will Google likely do?

Your action

You have finished Module 3. In Module 4, you will audit crawlability and indexability: robots.txt, meta robots, canonicals, and sitemaps.

Key terms

Custom 404 page
A designed error page that helps visitors find their way, while still returning a 404 status code.
Soft 404
A URL that returns 200 or redirects, but that Google judges to be an error or empty page.
Thin page
A page with very little main content, often flagged by low word count in a crawl.
Empty search or category page
A results page with zero items, a common source of soft 404s.

Questions beginners ask

Does a soft 404 hurt SEO?

Google drops soft 404 URLs from the index, so if the page should rank, it will not. Large numbers also waste crawling on pages with no value.

Why are redirects to the homepage reported as soft 404s?

Because the homepage is not a relevant replacement. Google treats the old URL as gone, so the redirect gives no benefit.

Should out-of-stock products return 404?

Not if they will return. Keep them live with a clear stock message and alternatives. Products discontinued forever can 404, 410, or redirect to a close replacement.

How do I test my 404 page?

Visit a made-up URL such as /this-page-does-not-exist-123/ and check the status code with a browser extension or crawler. It must say 404 or 410, not 200.

Related lessons

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