Can 404 errors negatively affect SEO?
404 errors happen frequently. It's allowed to remove content that's no longer relevant, resulting in a page's disappearance. User error in typing the incorrect URL when accessing a site is not the website owner's responsibility.
Even Google has this to say:
Do the 404 errors reported in Webmaster Tools affect my site’s ranking?
404s are a perfectly normal part of the web; the Internet is always changing, new content is born, old content dies, and when it dies it (ideally) returns a 404 HTTP response code. Search engines are aware of this…. The fact that some URLs on your site no longer exist / return 404s does not affect how your site’s other URLs (the ones that return 200 (Successful)) perform in our search results.
Google Search Central Blog So, 404 errors do not have a direct negative impact on SEO. Despite this, it is still recommended to monitor 404 pages. Although 404 errors do not directly harm your e-commerce store regarding SEO, tracking them can reduce potential issues that might negatively impact your SEO efforts or even enhance your site performance.
