Google has said time and time again that 404s are normal, they don't cause penalties or indexing issues. But a similar question came up about 410s, which are stricter versions of 404 status codes.

Back in the day, there was a difference between how Google responded to a 404 vs a 410 server header response code. 410s were faster and more permanent. It seems as if that may have recently changed.

From time to time the question as to how Google handles 404 and 410 error codes comes up. So it’s good to understand the differences. Google’s John Mueller ...