Developer
Encoders, converters & dev utilities
404 Not Found
HTTP 404 Not Found. The server has no representation for the target resource and does not disclose whether it ever existed. May be used to hide the existence of a resource from unauthorized clients. When to use it: Return when the requested URL does not map to any resource. It is a client-error (4xx) status, which means the problem is with the request and the caller must change something before retrying. (Reference: RFC 9110 §15.5.5.)
The server has no representation for the target resource and does not disclose whether it ever existed. May be used to hide the existence of a resource from unauthorized clients.
- When to use: Return when the requested URL does not map to any resource.
- How to handle: Verify the URL/path is correct and the resource exists; check for typos or a moved resource.
- Reference: RFC 9110 §15.5.5
- Category: 4xx Client Error
Frequently asked questions
What does HTTP 404 mean?
HTTP 404 Not Found: The server has no representation for the target resource and does not disclose whether it ever existed. May be used to hide the existence of a resource from unauthorized clients. It is a client-error (4xx) status, which means the problem is with the request and the caller must change something before retrying. It is defined in RFC 9110 §15.5.5.
Is a 404 bad for SEO, and when should I use 410 instead?
404 Not Found means the URL maps to no resource; a few 404s are normal and not directly penalised, but large numbers of broken internal links hurt crawl quality and user experience. Use 410 Gone instead of 404 when a resource was intentionally and permanently removed and you want search engines to de-index it faster — 410 asserts the resource is gone for good, whereas 404 leaves its existence ambiguous.