Search Console flags some of your store's pages as Soft 404. The page loads, but Google thinks it looks like an error or an empty page. This guide covers what the status means, what causes it on Shopify, how to find the pages, how to fix each kind and how to prevent it.
What Soft 404 means
Google says a soft 404 is a page that returns a user-friendly "not found" message without a 404 status code. Google's documentation also says Search Console shows a soft 404 when a page that loads successfully looks like an error, an empty page or an error message. These pages aren't indexed.
- Status code: Says the page is fine
- Content: Looks empty or like an error
- Result: Not indexed
Common causes on Shopify
Soft 404s usually come from pages with almost nothing on them, or pages that tell visitors the item is gone.
- Empty collections: No products, or all products hidden
- Thin product pages: A title, a photo and one line of text
- Gone messages: Pages that say the item is no longer available
- Placeholders: Pages created and never filled in
Find the affected pages
Open the Page indexing report in Search Console and click the Soft 404 row. Open each URL in your browser and look at it the way a shopper would. Use URL Inspection to run a live test and see what Google fetches.
- Report: Page indexing
- Row: Soft 404
- Test: URL Inspection live test
Fix it step by step
Decide whether each page should exist. Google recommends returning a real 404 for pages that are truly not found, and adding content to pages that aren't, so Google doesn't treat them as soft 404s.
- Page should exist: Add a real description, specs and images
- Empty collection: Add products, or remove the collection
- Item gone for good: Remove it so the URL returns a 404
- Has a replacement: After removal, create a URL redirect to the replacement; Shopify says redirects only work on URLs that no longer load a page
- Then: Click Validate Fix in the report
For thin pages, our guide to writing product descriptions that sell is a good starting point.
Prevent it
Don't publish pages until they have real content, and clean up empty collections when you remove products. Recheck the report after big catalog changes.
- ✅ Finish product pages before publishing
- ✅ Review collections after removing products
- ✅ Redirect removed products to close replacements
- ❌ Leaving placeholder pages live
Doing this at scale
ConvertLens improves product page content and does not change indexing, redirects or site speed settings. It scores every product page 0 to 100 against a conversion rulebook, including specs and images, and drafts before/after rewrites of weak sections from the page's own copy for you to approve. It helps thin product pages, but it won't change status codes or make Google index a page. See ConvertLens.