404 vs 410: Not Found vs Gone
404 means nothing is at this URL (maybe temporarily, maybe never). 410 means something was here and was removed on purpose, for good.
410
HTTP 410 Gone
The resource used to exist but was intentionally and permanently removed, with no forwarding address.
Causes & fixes →| 404 | 410 | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Not found — no claim about the past or future | Permanently removed, intentionally |
| Search engines | Re-crawl for a while before dropping | Drop from the index faster |
| Cacheable by default | Yes | Yes |
| Use when | Unknown URLs, typos, temporarily missing content | Deleted products/posts, retired API versions |
Rule of thumb
Use 301 if the content moved, 410 if it’s deliberately gone forever, and 404 for everything else.