Audit rules

Soft 404

A random, non-existent URL on the same host answers 200 instead of 404 or 410 (soft 404). In a QuikSEO audit, a failure of this rule has warning severity and counts against the score. Below are the exact condition, its exceptions and the sources behind it, followed by the other rules of the same group.

01 — Definition

How This Rule Is Checked

The rule is a pure function of the fetched page: no extra requests, no account settings. The same input always gives the same result.

Rule Severity and Score

Rule id: indexing.soft_404
Group: Indexing
Severity of a failure: Warning
Counts in the score: Yes, whenever it applies to the page
Required for a score: No
Replaces the check: not_found

Condition and Exceptions

Condition: Probe not_found: a random URL on the host answers 200 → review (soft 404)
Exceptions: No probe → not_checked; 404/410 → pass; any other status of 400 or more → not_checked with the status

Sources and Project Decision

Sources: Page indexing report - Search Console Help (Google Search Console Help, Q61)
How HTTP Status Codes Affect Google's Crawlers (Google Search Central, Q01)
Project decision: Only 404 and 410 pass; another 4xx or 5xx answer to the random URL is not_checked with the status.

02 — Indexing

Other Rules in This Group

The other checks of the same group, each with its own condition and sources.

Contradictory Robots Directivesindexing.contradictory_directives
llms.txt Fileindexing.llms_txt
Links Not Followedindexing.nofollow_page
Images Blocked From Indexingindexing.noimageindex
Page Blocked From Indexingindexing.noindex
Blocked by robots.txtindexing.robots_txt_blocked
robots.txt Missingindexing.robots_txt_missing
Not Indexed in Search Consoleindexing.search_console
Sitemap Not Declared in robots.txtindexing.sitemap_not_declared