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How would you troubleshoot if thousands of URLs are reported as ‘Soft 404s’ after a CMS update?

Troubleshooting thousands of Soft 404 errors after a CMS update requires a structured, thorough approach. Here's how you can go about it:

1. Understand the Issue

Soft 404: A page that appears to be missing (e.g., no meaningful content) but returns a 200 OK status code instead of a 404 or 410.

2. Collect Initial Data

  • Google Search Console → Indexing → Pages → Filter by "Soft 404".

  • Export the full list of affected URLs.

  • Compare against logs or sitemap to determine:

    • If they existed before the CMS update.

    • If they are intentionally removed or changed.

3. Identify Patterns

Analyze the URLs for common traits:

  • Are they in a specific folder (e.g., /blog/, /products/)?

  • Do they share similar templates or parameters?

  • Are they legacy URLs pointing to non-existent resources?

4. Inspect Sample Pages

Manually visit a few affected URLs:

  • Does the page look blank, have thin content, or redirect improperly?

  • Check HTTP headers (e.g., with Chrome DevTools or curl):

    curl -I https://example.com/suspect-url

    Look for:

    • Status code (should not be 200 OK if content is missing).

    • Canonical tags (misconfigured ones can cause issues).

    • Meta noindex or redirects.

5. Review CMS Update Changes

Dive into what the update modified:

  • Templates: Did layout or content population logic change?

  • Routing: Are URLs being routed to the wrong controller/view?

  • Redirects: Did redirect rules get altered or removed?

  • Plugins/Modules: Any new SEO or URL handling plugins added?

6. Common Causes to Check

  • Empty pages still returning 200 OK.

  • Redirects to home page or unrelated content.

  • Missing canonical URLs or canonicalizing to a non-existent page.

  • Session-dependent or JS-generated content failing to load for bots.

  • URL normalization issues (e.g., trailing slashes, case sensitivity).

7. Fixes and Recommendations

Based on your findings:

  • Ensure non-existent pages return 404 or 410.

  • Redirect old URLs to equivalent new content using 301 redirects.

  • Update templates to serve proper content or error codes.

  • Improve thin content pages with meaningful content.

  • Use a custom 404 page to improve UX and signal the right status.

8. Test & Validate

  • Use curl, Screaming Frog, or Google's URL Inspection Tool to verify fixes.

  • Submit corrected URLs for reindexing in Search Console.

  • Monitor progress over the next few crawls.

9. Prevent Future Recurrence

  • Add automated tests or monitoring for HTTP status codes.

  • Maintain a URL mapping table during future CMS updates.

  • Educate devs/content teams about SEO implications of thin content.

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