The SEO topic of using a 404 versus a 410 error status code for pages not found is one of those topics that has been around for the past two decades. And now Google's John Mueller replied to another question about it saying that the difference between the two is so minimal that it doesn't matter.
He said in a Reddit thread, "It doesn't matter. The difference in processing of 404 vs 410 is so minimal that I can't think of any time I'd prefer one over the other for SEO purposes."
Here is his full response:
It doesn't matter. The difference in processing of 404 vs 410 is so minimal that I can't think of any time I'd prefer one over the other for SEO purposes (for being semantically / pedantically superior: sure. for better tracking in logs: sure. for SEO: nope).It's one of those things that is theoretically correct, but which has ended up wasting so much time overall across the internet that it would have been better to just live with the imperfect instead. The alt-tag of HTTP codes.
(And I realize that writing this out now will trigger another cycle of needless attention - or is it really needless? Hi, mom. I would like to thank the academy for the honor of being here. Support the Women in Tech SEO group. Floss.)
This is now where I take you back in SEO history to tell you about all the times Googlers spoke about this topic.
In 2012, John Mueller said Google treats 404s and 410s the same. Before that, in 2010, we throught 410s were faster and also in 2009 there were known as more permanent. In 2014 Matt Cutts told us that 410s were immediate and 404s were delayed 24 hours. And in 2021, John Mueller said both are fine - use whichever you want. Also in 2021, Google said they might add 404 vs 410 reporting in Search Console.
That is just some of our earlier coverage.
The sad part of this response is that the topic of the thread was "Will removal of offending content alone undo HCU penalty?" but John did not discuss that...
Forum discussion at Reddit.
