The SEO issue of using a 404 versus a 410 error status code for pages not found is one that has been around for the past two decades. And now Google’s John Mueller responded to another question about it by saying that the difference between the two is so minimal that it doesn’t matter.
He said in a Reddit thread, “It doesn’t matter. The difference in processing 404 vs 410 is so minimal that I can’t think of any time I’d prefer one over the other for SEO purposes.”
Here is his full response:
Do not care. The difference in processing 404 vs 410 is so minimal that I can’t think of any time I’d prefer one over the other for SEO purposes (to be semantically / pedantically superior: sure. for better tracking in logs: sure.for SEO: no).
It’s one of those things that is theoretically correct, but has ended up wasting so much time on the internet in general that it would have been better to live with the imperfect. The alternative tag for HTTP codes.
(And I realize that writing this now will trigger another cycle of unnecessary attention, or is it really unnecessary? Hi, Mom. I’d like to thank the academy for the honor of being here. Support the SEO Women group in Tech. Floss.)
This is where I take you back in SEO history to tell you all the times Googlers talked about this topic.
In 2012, John Mueller said that Google treats 404s and 410s the same. Before, in 2010, the 410 were faster and also in 2009 they were known as more permanent. Matt Cutts told us in 2014 that the 410 was immediate and the 404 was delayed by 24 hours. And in 2021, John Mueller said both were fine: use whatever you want. Also in 2021, Google said it might add 404 vs 410 reports to Search Console.
This is just a portion of our previous coverage.
The sad part of this reply is that the topic of the thread was “Does removing offensive content by itself undo the HCU sanction?” but John didn’t talk about that…
Discussion in the forum a Reddit.
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