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Some time ago, Google explained that the return of the “results inaccessible” type of web page could cause Google Search to consider that page to be a soft 404 and consequently remove it from results of searches.
This is also equally true for pages that say “Sorry, we don’t ship to this address” or any other error-prone pages. It can also be considered soft 404.
To make it more simple and precise,
Let’s consider you have an ecommerce website, and the user landed on the page that is currently out of stock, or you don’t provide delivery to the desired location. That’s where this update works, and such pages considered as soft 404
It’s a renowned fact that Google’s prime concern is user’s. They will always deliver the most effective search results and will continue to improve the same through releasing numerous updates.
Here’s a fresh case in which Google has removed pages from its indexes that contained the message “Sorry we are unable to deliver to this address” on the page. A tweet from Nikhil Raj. R revealed how the site’s low 404 counts increased as the number of visitors and impressions on Google search fell substantially.
All Category pages had “Sorry we don’t deliver to this location”. This was shown to customers entering a PIN code which we don’t deliver to, but was part of the page by default. Removed this text from the page and that fixed the soft 404! #seo @JohnMu @methode @rustybrick https://t.co/j3UEsXXb3U
— Nikhil Raj. R (@nikhilrajr) December 30, 2021
To which John Replied
Yeah, if you make your pages look like they might be error pages, we might treat them as such. It’s similar to having a noindex on them, and using JavaScript to selectively remove it. Good job finding this!
— 🐄 John 🐄 (@JohnMu) December 30, 2021
This is a gentle reminder to be aware of such pages. You don’t necessarily want them all to not be in the Google index.
