If you have 404 pages on your website that you want to remove from Google’s index, you can use the following steps:
1. Identify the 404 pages you want to remove: Use a tool like Google Search Console or a website crawler to identify the 404 pages on your website. Make a list of the URLs of these pages.
2. Return a 404 or 410 status code for the 404 pages: You can do this by updating the server configuration for your website or by using a plugin or script to return a 404 or 410 status code for these pages.
3. Use the “noindex” tag for the 404 pages: You can add a “noindex” tag to the source code of the 404 pages to instruct search engines not to index these pages.
4. Remove or update any links pointing to the 404 pages: Make sure to update or remove any internal or external links that are pointing to the 404 pages. This will help search engines understand that these pages are no longer available.
5. Monitor the progress: Use a tool like Google Search Console to monitor the progress of the removal process and make sure that the 404 pages are being removed from Google’s index.
By following these steps, you should be able to remove 404 pages from Google’s index and improve the overall performance of your website in search results.