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Evidence reference
Current Google documentation states that most 4xx responses reduce future crawling of those URLs.
SupportedSUPPORTEDclm_3962ec67-e6e8-5fb1-beed-e431231edd6d
This is a stable reference page for one canonical claim in the Editory evidence base. It exists for traceability and citations; the curated documentation is the readable entry point.
Cited by documentation
Sources
- How HTTP status codes affect Google's crawlers
Google (developers.google.com) · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-19
“The crawling frequency gradually decreases” — 4xx (client errors) row, 400 entry (covering all 4xx except 429)
“Google systems will stop using the URL over time” — 4xx (client errors) row, header text
“except 429, have no effect on crawl rate” — 4xx row, note after 400 entry
- Crawl Budget Management
Google · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-19
“a 404 status code is a strong signal not to crawl that URL again.” — Best practices, line 96
- HTTP status codes: what they are and what they mean
SEOZoom · retrieved 2026-08-19
“The crawl frequency gradually decreases” — 4xx section
Release: seo-geo-product-v0.3 · Phase Two freeze: P2-CORE300-FINAL-v1.0 · Generated: 2026-08-23T08:01:40Z