For pages that aren’t meant to be 404, Mueller advises:
“If these aren’t meant to be 404 – the important part is to fix the issue though, set up the redirects, have the new content return 200, check internal links, update sitemap dates, etc. If it hasn’t been too long (days), then probably it’ll pick up again quickly. If it’s been a longer time, and if it’s a lot of pages on the new site, then (perhaps obviously) it’ll take longer to be reprocessed.”
Key Takeaways From Mueller’s Advice
Mueller outlined several key points in his response.
Let’s break them down:
For Redirects and Content Updates
Ensure that redirects are correctly set up and new content returns a 200 (OK) status code.
Update internal links to reflect the new URLs.
Refresh the sitemap with updated dates to signal changes to Google.
Reprocessing Timeline
If changes were made recently (within a few days), Google will likely process them quickly.
For larger websites or older issues, reprocessing may take more time.
Handling 404 Pages
If a page is no longer meant to exist, returning a 404 error is the correct approach.
Seeing 404s flagged in Search Console doesn’t necessarily indicate a problem, provided the 404s are intentional.
Why This Matters
Website migrations can be complicated and may temporarily affect search rankings if not done correctly.
Google Search Console is useful for tracking changes, but it has limitations.
The validation process checks if fixes are implemented correctly, not how quickly changes will be made.
Practice patience and ensure all technical details—redirects, content updates, and internal linking—are adequately addressed.
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