410 Gone

A 410 Gone is an HTTP status code that tells web browsers and search engines that a web page has been permanently removed from the server — and that it’s gone for good. Unlike a 404 Not Found, which suggests the page might come back or could be missing temporarily, a 410 explicitly states: “This content is intentionally gone and won’t be replaced.”

This status is used when a website owner wants to clearly signal that a page has been deleted and there’s no point in trying again in the future.

When to use a 410 status

The 410 Gone status should be used intentionally and carefully. Here are some common cases where it’s appropriate:

• You’ve permanently removed outdated or irrelevant content (e.g. expired promotions, old job listings).
• You want to de-index low-quality or thin content pages that are no longer needed.
• You’ve removed duplicate or cannibalizing pages as part of an SEO cleanup.
• You want to tell search engines to stop indexing certain URLs completely.

If you’re just moving content elsewhere or changing URL structures, a 301 redirect is more appropriate. But if the content is intentionally gone with no replacement, 410 is the better choice.

410 vs. 404 – what’s the difference?

• 404 Not Found means the server doesn’t currently have the page. It might be broken, deleted, or just mistyped. Search engines will check back later.
• 410 Gone means the page has been deleted on purpose, and search engines should stop trying to index it.

Using 410 can help clean up your indexed pages faster. Google treats 410 as a stronger signal than 404 when deciding to remove a page from its search index.

SEO implications of 410 Gone

Using 410 status codes strategically can be a helpful SEO practice — especially when you're trying to:

• Remove pages from Google's index faster than relying on 404s alone.
• Clean up outdated, thin, or duplicate content to improve overall site quality.
• Signal clearly that certain pages should no longer be crawled or linked to.

However, if a deleted page had backlinks or ranking power, using a 410 will permanently discard that SEO value. In such cases, consider a 301 redirect to a relevant page instead to preserve link equity.

How to implement a 410 Gone

You can configure a 410 response in different ways depending on your setup:

• Apache (.htaccess file):

  Redirect gone /old-page
  

WordPress plugins: Some SEO plugins like Yoast SEO Premium or Rank Math allow you to set 410 redirects through the admin interface.

In summary, the 410 Gone status code is a clear and final way to tell the web and search engines that a page has been deliberately removed. Used correctly, it helps with site hygiene and indexing control — but be cautious when using it on pages that may have SEO value.