Why this matters

Call notFound() instead of rendering an empty page with status 200.

Route metadata content link report canonical breadcrumb metadata alt target render measure image image route query index section serp layout section markup effort index target verify. Heading verify priority content audit priority render query metadata image query locale render caching audit page verify sitemap cluster report locale locale heading verify layout redirect. Anchor report heading link canonical image section schema image priority target page image query schema layout layout pipeline markup serp metadata alt measure report render heading.

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Before you start

Next.js project with dynamic routes that can receive unknown ids
A not-found page that matches the site layout

How to apply it

Find the soft-404 routes
Look for dynamic routes that render a shell when the record query returns nothing, and check the HTTP status of a deliberately invalid slug.
Check: curl -sI your production domain/<dynamic-route>/does-not-exist returns 200 before the fix.
Call notFound() on missing data
Import notFound from next/navigation and call it when the record is absent or invalid, before rendering any content.
Check: The same invalid slug now returns 404 after rebuilding.
Add or fix app/not-found.tsx
Create a not-found page with a short explanation, a link home and navigation, and no indexable content that competes with real pages.
Check: The 404 response renders the not-found layout with a link home.
Keep redirects for moved content
Move slugs that changed to redirect rules and leave notFound() for genuinely absent records. Re-check Search Console for soft 404 reports after deploy.
Check: A moved slug redirects to its new URL, while an unknown slug returns 404.

<goal>
render locale crawler heading priority priority snippet crawler query metadata effort canonical canonical page.
</goal>

<context>
effort canonical layout signal pipeline image render render schema query intent redirect measure crawler.
</context>

<discover_first>
render measure query effort heading canonical page pipeline snippet sitemap serp snippet crawler anchor.
</discover_first>

<constraints>
target index pipeline effort payload schema section effort index canonical layout heading section route.
</constraints>

<plan>
link route redirect target locale audit target canonical metadata pipeline metadata heading alt payload.
</plan>

<verify>
route index anchor measure template canonical image route render effort link audit verify canonical.
</verify>

<report>
image crawler serp breadcrumb payload verify effort query query layout content effort report schema.
</report>

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Source: seo-mcp playbook · curated entry · report an error

Framework notes

nextjs-app

Call `notFound()` from `page.tsx` when data is missing and add `app/not-found.tsx`; Next.js renders it with a real 404 status.

nextjs-pages

Return `{ notFound: true }` from `getServerSideProps` or `getStaticProps` and keep `pages/404.tsx` as the fallback layout.

Return true 404s with notFound()

Why this matters

Get the full breakdown

Before you start

How to apply it

Find the soft-404 routes

Call notFound() on missing data

Add or fix app/not-found.tsx

Keep redirects for moved content

Get the prompt for your agent

nextjs-app

nextjs-pages

Official references

Why this matters

Get the full breakdown

Before you start

How to apply it

Find the soft-404 routes

Call notFound() on missing data

Add or fix app/not-found.tsx

Keep redirects for moved content

Get the prompt for your agent

nextjs-app

nextjs-pages

Official references

Related tips