HTTP 404 Not Found
Status code 404 · Class 4xx
Not Found
Also searched as: error 404, HTTP 404, 404 not found, page not found
What it means
404 Not Found means the server is reachable but has nothing at that address. The page may have been deleted, moved without a redirect, or the link is mistyped. For site owners, 404s on important URLs leak traffic and should be redirected.
Applies to: All browsers, nginx, Apache, IIS, WordPress
How to fix HTTP 404 Not Found
- Check the URL for typos, extra characters or a wrong letter case
- Go up one level in the path or use the site's search to find the moved page
- Look for the page in a search engine or the Internet Archive
- Clear cache if the page should exist and you saw it recently
- If you own the site: find 404 sources in server logs or Google Search Console's Pages report, and add 301 redirects for moved content
- If you own the site: on WordPress, re-save Permalinks to rebuild rewrite rules; on nginx check 'try_files' for single-page apps
- If you own the site: serve a helpful custom 404 page that returns a real 404 status, not 200
Why it happens
The server found no resource mapped to the requested path. Deleted content, changed URL structures without redirects, broken rewrite rules and typos in links cause it.
FAQ
Do 404 errors hurt SEO?
404s for pages that never existed are normal. Losing important pages without a redirect wastes their links and traffic, so redirect moved content with 301.
What is a soft 404?
A page that says 'not found' but returns status 200. Search engines treat it as low quality, so return a real 404 or 410 status.
Related errors
Source: IANA HTTP Status Code Registry · fixes written and reviewed by the editors (see our editorial policy)
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