Checks / Links, canonical and speed
Address variants of real pages return 404
A real page answers 200, but the same address with or without the trailing slash, or in another letter case, answers 404. Links written that way, and crawlers that normalise addresses, hit an error page.
url_variants_404 · Links, canonical and speed · Notice
What triggers it
For more than half of up to 3 sampled pages, the same address with the trailing slash added or removed answers 404 or 410 while the page itself answers 200.
What to change
Redirect each variant to the canonical address with a 301, or serve the same page on both.
How to confirm the fix
- Run curl -sI on the address with and without the trailing slash: both answer 200, or the variant answers 301
- Run a new crawl
How common it is
We have not measured how common this is on a sample of sites. Counts appear here when a study covers it.
About this check
| Check ID | url_variants_404 |
|---|---|
| Report section | Links, canonical and speed |
| Severity | Notice |
| How it is decided | Measured: read directly from the page or the server's response. |
| Added | Before 19 Oct 2026 (versions 1 and 2), or a site-wide check with no version date yet |
| Status | Measured in every report |
| Report gives the code | No, the fix is described in words |
Related checks
- Sitemap and site disagree
- URL is hard to read or share
- Broken internal links
- Canonical points to a broken or redirecting URL
See whether it applies to your site
Paste your address and we crawl up to 10 pages and show every issue we find, with its fix. No account, no card.
Every plan crawls up to its page limit and lists these checks with the fix: plans.
How an audit works: method