How to Fix 404 Errors in Google Search Console (Step-by-Step)

If you know how to fix 404 errors in Google Search Console, you can stop leaking ranking potential every single day. A 404 means Google found a URL on your site that returns "page not found" — and every one of those is a dead end for crawlers and a bad experience for visitors. The good news: most 404s are fixable in under an hour if you know where to look and what to do.

What Google Search Console Is Actually Telling You

Google Search Console (GSC) is a free tool from Google that shows you how Googlebot sees your site — what it can crawl, what errors it hits, and which pages are indexed. It's different from Google Analytics, which tracks what real users do after they land on your site. GSC is about Google's relationship with your site; Analytics is about your visitors' behavior. Both matter, but for fixing crawl errors like 404s, GSC is the right tool.

When GSC flags a 404, it usually means one of three things:

  • A page was deleted without a redirect being set up
  • An internal link on your site points to a URL that no longer exists
  • An external site links to an old URL that has since changed or been removed

Step 1: Find Your 404 Errors in Google Search Console

Log into Google Search Console and select your property. Then:

  1. In the left sidebar, click Indexing, then Pages.
  2. Scroll down to the "Why pages aren't indexed" section.
  3. Look for "Not found (404)" in the list and click it.
  4. You'll see every URL Google tried to crawl that returned a 404.

Export this list. Click the export button (top right of the table) and download it as a CSV or Google Sheet. You'll need it in the next steps.

Note on data freshness: GSC data is typically delayed by a few days. If you recently fixed something and it doesn't show as resolved yet, that's normal — GSC is not a real-time tool.

Step 2: Decide What to Do With Each 404 URL

Not every 404 needs the same fix. Work through your list and sort each URL into one of three buckets:

Bucket A: The page moved or was renamed

This is the most common case. You changed a URL slug, restructured your site, or migrated platforms. The fix is a 301 redirect — a permanent redirect from the old URL to the new one.

Bucket B: The page was intentionally deleted and has no replacement

If the content is gone for good and there's no logical equivalent page, let the 404 stand. Don't redirect to your homepage — that's a "soft 404" and Google treats it as a low-quality signal. Only redirect to a page that's genuinely relevant.

Bucket C: The page should still exist but is broken

Sometimes a page 404s because of a typo in an internal link, a plugin conflict, or a misconfigured URL structure. In this case, fix the underlying page or correct the link rather than redirecting.

Step 3: Implement 301 Redirects

How you add redirects depends on your platform:

WordPress

Install a plugin like Redirection (free) or use your SEO plugin's redirect manager if it has one. Go to the plugin, add the old URL as the source and the new URL as the destination, set it to 301.

Shopify

Go to Online Store > Navigation > URL Redirects. Add the old path and the new path. Shopify handles 301s automatically.

Apache servers (.htaccess)

Add a line like this to your .htaccess file:

Redirect 301 /old-page/ https://yourdomain.com/new-page/

Nginx

Add a return 301 directive in your server block configuration.

If you have a long list of redirects, use a bulk import feature (most redirect plugins support CSV import) rather than adding them one by one.

Step 4: Fix Broken Internal Links

Redirects handle the symptom. Broken internal links are often the cause. Once your redirects are in place, audit your site for any internal links still pointing to the old URLs and update them to point directly to the correct destination.

Why bother if the redirect works? Because an internal link that passes through a redirect is slightly less efficient for both users and crawlers than a direct link. Cleaning up internal links is a worthwhile maintenance habit.

A dedicated internal linking tool can surface broken and mispointed internal links across your site automatically, saving you from manually combing through every page.

Step 5: Request Reindexing and Monitor

After setting up your redirects, tell Google to recrawl the affected URLs:

  1. In GSC, go to the URL Inspection tool (top search bar).
  2. Paste in one of the previously 404ing URLs.
  3. Click "Request Indexing".

For bulk fixes, you can also submit an updated sitemap under Indexing > Sitemaps. This nudges Googlebot to re-crawl your site structure sooner.

Check back in GSC after about a week. The 404 count should drop as Google re-crawls those URLs and processes the redirects. Keep in mind that GSC data can lag, so don't panic if numbers don't change overnight.

How to Fix 404 Errors From External Links

External sites linking to your old URLs are a separate challenge. You can't edit someone else's website, but you can:

  • Set up 301 redirects from the old URLs — this passes link equity to the new page automatically.
  • Reach out to the linking site and ask them to update the link. This is worth doing for high-authority sources since a direct link is better than a redirect chain.

To find which external sites are linking to your 404 pages, check your backlink profile. A good backlink checker will show you which referring domains are pointing to broken URLs so you can prioritize outreach.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Redirecting everything to the homepage. Google calls these "soft 404s" and they can dilute your site's quality signals.
  • Creating redirect chains. A redirects to B which redirects to C. Always redirect straight to the final destination URL.
  • Ignoring low-traffic 404s. Even pages without direct traffic can hold backlink equity. Losing that equity silently costs you rankings over time.
  • Fixing 404s without updating internal links. Your redirects will work, but your site architecture stays messy.

Quick-Reference Checklist

  • ☐ Export 404 list from GSC (Indexing > Pages > Not found)
  • ☐ Categorize each URL: redirect, leave, or fix underlying issue
  • ☐ Set up 301 redirects for moved/renamed pages
  • ☐ Update internal links to point directly to correct URLs
  • ☐ Submit updated sitemap in GSC
  • ☐ Request reindexing for key URLs via URL Inspection
  • ☐ Check backlinks pointing to 404 pages and reach out to high-value sources
  • ☐ Re-check GSC in 7–14 days to confirm errors are resolving

Keep Your Site's Technical Health Clean Over Time

Fixing 404 errors once is straightforward. The harder part is catching new ones before they quietly accumulate. Regular technical audits flag broken pages, crawl errors, and redirect issues as they emerge — not months later when the damage is done.

CapraSEO's SEO health dashboard monitors your site's technical health continuously and surfaces issues like 404s, broken links, and crawl anomalies in plain language — so you can ask what's broken and get a direct answer without digging through dashboards. Sign in free with Google to connect your site and start catching issues automatically.