HTTP
HTTP 410Gone
HTTP 410 Gone means the resource existed, has been removed on purpose, and will not return. It is the explicit, permanent version of 404. Search engines drop 410 URLs from their index faster, and clients should delete links to it.
What 410 means
Where 404 says "nothing here, no further information", 410 says "there was something here, it is gone for good, stop asking". Browsers display it like a 404. Crawlers and link checkers can act on the extra certainty: search engines de-index, feed readers unsubscribe, link-maintenance tools flag the link for removal.
Choosing between 404, 410 and 301
| Situation | Code |
|---|---|
| Content moved elsewhere | 301 to the new URL |
| Content removed, equivalent page exists | 301 to the equivalent |
| Content removed permanently, no equivalent | 410 |
| URL never existed, or you do not know | 404 |
| Content temporarily unavailable | 503 with Retry-After, or keep 200 with a notice |
Configuring
Apache (.htaccess):
Redirect gone /old-campaign/
RewriteRule ^products/discontinued/ - [G,L]nginx:
location /old-campaign/ { return 410; }Serve a helpful body with the status: explain that the page was removed and offer navigation, as with a 404 page.
Verifying
curl -I https://example.com/old-campaign/Expect HTTP/1.1 410 Gone.
Frequently asked questions
When should I use 410 instead of 404?
When you removed the content intentionally and have no replacement: expired listings, deleted user pages, retired campaign URLs, spam pages you cleaned up. If a replacement exists, use a 301 to it instead.
Does 410 remove a page from Google faster?
Google has said it treats 410 as a slightly stronger signal than 404 and may drop the URL sooner, but both lead to removal. The difference is small; correctness matters more than speed.