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Search Console lists a URL under Blocked due to other 4xx issue when Googlebot requested it and got a 4xx status code that none of the other rows cover. Google's help page: "The server encountered a 4xx error not covered by any other issue type described here."
The 401, 403 and 404 codes have their own rows in the report, so this one collects the rest: 400, 405, 406, 410, 451 and other less common codes. The label doesn't say which code Google got. That is the first thing to find out.
Fetches the URL now and shows the exact HTTP status code, every redirect, and any noindex. Free, no signup.
Step 1: find the exact status code
- Fetch the URL. The checker above prints the code. From a terminal, compare a normal request with one that sends a Googlebot user agent. A firewall that treats bots differently answers them differently:
- Run a live test in URL Inspection. Google's help page suggests debugging these URLs with the URL Inspection tool. The live test fetches from Google's own IP addresses, so it shows what a firewall that checks IPs, not user agents, sends to Googlebot.
- Look at the listed URLs as a group. Odd parameters, old paths or one template? The pattern usually tells you the cause faster than any single URL.
If the page answers 200 everywhere now, the error is over. Go to Step 5 and validate.
Step 2: what Google does with a 4xx
From Google's documentation on HTTP status codes:
- "All 4xx errors, except 429, are treated the same". A
400or410counts as much as a404: the page doesn't exist for Google. - "the indexing pipeline removes the URL from the index if it was previously indexed." "Newly encountered 404 pages aren't processed."
- "Any content Google receives from URLs that return a 4xx status code is ignored." A page that looks normal in a browser but sends a 4xx header is not indexed.
- "The 4xx status codes, except 429, have no effect on crawl rate." Unlike 5xx errors, they don't slow crawling of the rest of the site.
A 429 (too many requests) is different: Google treats it "as a signal that the server is overloaded, and it's considered a server error." If that is your code, read the server error (5xx) guide instead.
Step 3: what each code usually means
| Code | Usual cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
400 Bad Request | The URL itself is malformed: broken query strings, encoded junk from old links, tracking parameters the app rejects. Also oversized cookies or headers on some setups | Find where Google found the URL (URL Inspection shows referring pages). Fix the link, or redirect the bad pattern to the clean URL with a 301 |
405 Method Not Allowed | The server refuses GET or HEAD for that path, often an API endpoint or form handler that got linked | If it isn't a page, stop linking it and leave it out of the sitemap. If it is, fix the route |
406 Not Acceptable | Some hosts' firewall rules answer 406 when a request matches a security rule, such as a user agent or header pattern | Compare the two curl requests above. If only the bot request fails, ask the host to exempt verified Googlebot |
410 Gone | Someone removed the page on purpose and said so | Usually nothing. If the page should exist, restore it or 301 it to its replacement |
451 Unavailable For Legal Reasons | A geo-block or legal block. Googlebot mostly crawls from US addresses, so a block on US visitors hits it | Decide whether the page should be in Google. If yes, Googlebot must be able to reach it |
| Other codes | Custom firewall or CDN rules, app bugs that return a 4xx for valid pages | Search the firewall or CDN event log for the URL and the code |
Getting 403 instead? That has its own row and its own guide to 403 errors, including how to verify Googlebot before you allow it through a firewall.
Step 4: do you need to fix it?
Often you don't. Google's help page: "In general, we recommend fixing only 404 errors that you link to yourself or list in a sitemap." The same logic applies to other 4xx codes. "404 responses are not necessarily a problem, if the page has been removed without any replacement."
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| Page removed on purpose, nothing replaces it, no links or sitemap entry point to it | Leave it. Google keeps trying for a while ("in case it's a temporary error") and then crawls it less |
| Page moved | "If your page has moved, use a 301 redirect to the new location." |
| Your own pages or sitemap link to it | Fix the links and the sitemap, or make the URL work again |
| A page you want in Google returns a 4xx | Fix it now. While it returns a 4xx, it can't be indexed |
| Junk URLs you never made (parameters, scraped links) | Leave them. They do no harm to your other pages |
Step 5: validate, and why validation fails
When the URLs you care about return 200 (or a 301 to the right page), click Validate Fix in the Page indexing report. "Validation typically takes up to about two weeks, but in some cases can take much longer."
The usual reasons a validation ends as Failed:
- Some URLs still return the error. Validation checks every listed URL, including the ones you meant to leave alone. A removed page that keeps its 4xx fails validation even though nothing is wrong. Validate only after fixing the ones that matter, and expect the deliberate ones to stay listed.
- The firewall only blocks Googlebot. The page works for you, but Google's recrawl still gets the code. Run the URL Inspection live test before you click Validate.
- The error comes and goes. Rate limits and security rules that trigger under load answer differently on different days.
Don't start a new validation while one is running.
Hear about a 4xx the day it starts
Search Console reports a 4xx days after Googlebot hits it, and only for pages Google tried. NoindexWatch fetches the URLs you choose and tells you by email, Slack or Discord when one starts returning a 4xx or 5xx, along with noindex, robots.txt blocks, canonical and redirect changes, and again when it recovers. The free plan covers 1 site with up to 20 URLs, checked once a day, no card; paid plans check every hour.
Sources: Google Search Console Help, Page indexing report; Google Search Central documentation on HTTP status codes and network errors. Related: Blocked due to access forbidden (403) · Server error (5xx) · My site disappeared from Google.