Stop Panicking About 404 Errors: Google Says Which Ones to Fix (and Which to Ignore)
Technical SEO
Step-by-step
404 errors
Trigger Marketing
The Trigger team
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You open Search Console. There's a big red number next to "Not found (404)." You assume Google is mad at you. You start redirecting everything to the homepage at 11 PM.
Put the coffee down.
Google's own Search Central team (Gary Illyes and Cherry Prommawin, Oct 28, 2026) just did a whole video on this. Short version: most 404s are fine. A few cost you money. Here's how to tell them apart.
Quick words (one line each):
404: the "not found" code a server sends when a page doesn't exist.
410: "gone for good." Like a 404, but on purpose.
Redirect (301): an automatic forward from an old address to a new one.
Crawl budget: how many pages Google is willing to check on your site in a given time.
5xx error: the server itself broke (500, 503 and friends).
429: the server saying "too many requests, slow down."
The truth about 404s, straight from Google
From the video:
A 404 is normal. No penalty. It does not hurt your other healthy pages. Google drops the dead address over time (0:01:20-0:01:40).
Fixing a 404 is a business choice, not an SEO must (0:02:40-0:03:00).
404s don't waste crawl budget (0:06:20-0:07:00).
Server errors are the real problem. 5xx errors slow Google's crawling, and Google treats a 429 like a 500 (0:07:00-0:07:40).
So the scary number isn't the scary thing. Moving on.
Step 1: Export your 404 list
In Google Search Console, open Indexing > Pages, click Not found (404), and export the list.
Step 2: Sort it into 3 piles
Go down the list and ask one question per address: does anyone still want this page?
Still gets visits or links (an old popular product, a page other sites link to). Fix it.
Typos, junk and old test pages. Ignore them.
Pages you deleted on purpose with nothing to replace them. Let them go.
Google's own example of pile 1: a popular product page got deleted, so you lose sales (0:02:40-0:03:00). That's worth fixing.
Step 3: Redirect only to a true replacement
For pile 1, find the page that truly replaces it. Google's example: send the old product to its newer model (0:03:20).
One old address, one matching new address. That's it (0:04:00-0:04:20).
Step 4: Never dump everything on the homepage
This is the big one. Google says sending every dead page to the homepage confuses people and muddies your data (0:03:20-0:03:40).
Someone clicked for "blue running shoes size 9." Landing on your homepage helps nobody.
Step 5: No replacement? Let it 404 (or 410)
For pile 3, Google's step 2: return a 404 or 410 and let it go (0:04:40-0:05:00).
You don't have to "fix" a page that's supposed to be gone.
Step 6: Build a custom 404 page people can use
Google's step 3: a helpful custom 404 page with a friendly message, a search bar and links to your top categories (0:05:20).
A dead end becomes a detour. Nice.
Step 7: Watch the errors that actually matter
Open Settings > Crawl stats in Search Console. Look for 5xx server errors and 429s. Those are the ones that slow Google down (0:07:00-0:07:40).
If you see them climbing, talk to your host. That's a real fire.
Step 8: Don't delete old blog posts to "clean up"
Yoast's Oct 2026 update (Oct 28, 2026) said keep old blog posts and update them if needed. Don't purge them (0:44:20, 0:57:00-0:57:40). Deleting them just makes new 404s.
Do this today
Export your "Not found (404)" list from Search Console.
Mark the 404s that still get visits or links.
Redirect each of those to its one true replacement. Nothing goes to the homepage.
Check your 404 page: friendly line, search bar, top links.
Open Crawl stats and look for 5xx and 429 errors.
Related reading
Sources
Don't worry if this seems like it's a pain in the ass for someone who doesn't build websites. That's because it is. The good news: just click the link below, pull the trigger, and we'll take care of the rest.
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