4xx Client Errors

What This Means

One or more pages on the site returned an HTTP 4xx status code — meaning the server could not fulfill the request due to a client-side issue. The most common 4xx codes encountered in SEO audits are 404 (Not Found), 403 (Forbidden), 401 (Unauthorized), and 410 (Gone).

Why It Matters for SEO

A 4xx error on a page that previously had links pointing to it means all of the link equity from those links is now going to a dead end. Internal links to 4xx pages waste crawl budget and deliver users and crawlers to a failure state. External links to 4xx pages lose any authority they would have passed.

404 pages that accumulate without being fixed or redirected degrade crawl efficiency — Googlebot revisits them periodically to check if they are restored, consuming crawl allocation without discovering new content.

What the Platform Checks

The platform makes an HTTP request to each discovered URL and records the status code. This check flags any URL that returns a 4xx response code. The platform distinguishes between 404 (Not Found), 403 (Forbidden), 410 (Gone), and other 4xx codes to help prioritize fixes.

How to Fix It

• 404 errors that should exist: Restore the page at its original URL, or set up a 301 redirect from the old URL to the closest relevant current page.
• 404 errors that should not exist: Return a clean 404, remove all internal links pointing to the URL, and if the URL was previously indexed, use a canonical redirect or disavow.
• 403 errors: Check server/CDN access control rules — the page may be accidentally blocked for crawlers.
• 410 errors: A 410 (Gone) is the correct response for permanently deleted content. Googlebot de-indexes 410 pages faster than 404s. Use it intentionally for permanently removed pages.
• Bulk fix: Identify the pattern causing 4xx errors (deleted product category, migrated URL structure) and address the template or routing rule that is generating the broken URLs.