Thoushand of 404 Broken Links.

[EgeQW]

Hello,

I was checking my Search Console and saw that.. I don't know how that's possible but i have over 1K 404 Pages.

I think they should be bad for SEO and i don't know why there tons of 404 pages. Are they important links for Shopify or something? Should i remove all?

Thank you!

[NotFoundBot]

Hello,

Are these URL's real pages that should exist?  Are they pages/categories you've deleted?

You should be able to export them into a csv to review them, instructions here. 

The impact on SEO is if the pages had backlinks, you are losing that link juice (lost link equity).  But again, it depends on what these URL's are.  If they do have backlinks that you want to preserve, you could setup appropriate 301 redirects to the URL that doesn't 404.

Regards--

Travis

[Yvonne_Yoast]

Hi @EgeQW,

It's common for websites to have some 404 errors, and having a few won't necessarily hurt your SEO. However, having over 1,000 404 pages could indicate significant structural issues that might affect your SEO. It's important to monitor and fix these errors regularly. Here are some steps you can take:

1. Identify the Source: Use tools like Google Search Console to identify where these 404 errors are coming from.
2. Fix Broken Links: Update any internal links pointing to these 404 pages to direct users to relevant content.
3. Use Redirects Wisely: Avoid blanket 301 redirects of all 404 pages to your homepage as this can create a mess and won't solve the underlying issues. Instead, use targeted redirects to relevant pages.
4. Regular Maintenance: Regularly check for and fix 404 errors to ensure your website is properly crawled and indexed by search engines.

For more detailed guidance, you can read more in our Yoast articles:

• 404 Not Found error pages: the do's and don'ts
• 404 error pages: Check and fix
• SEO Anti-patterns: 301 redirect all your 404s to your homepage

If you need further assistance, consider using tools like Screaming Frog to crawl your site and find hidden issues.

[randomperson123]

You should explain your reason 3. this is not a true statement. It definitely can depend on your circumstance. Certainly thousands of 404 is a problem but to say a 301 for 404's is bad is not true.