410 Gone means the target resource is no longer available at the origin server and this is likely to be permanent. Unlike 404, it states that the absence is deliberate. Clients that can edit links should remove references to the URL.
The server does not need to know where the resource went; if it does know, a 301 to the replacement is better. A 410 is heuristically cacheable.
Typical uses are expired promotions, deleted user content, discontinued products without a successor and URLs removed after a site was hacked.
Example response
HTTP/1.1 410 Gone
Date: Fri, 06 Nov 2026 10:15:32 GMT
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 97
<!doctype html>
<title>Offer ended</title>
<h1>This offer has ended and the page was removed</h1>SEO and redirect checking
For search engines, 404 and 410 both remove a URL from the index; Google's documentation treats all 4xx errors except 429 the same way. In practice, 410 is a slightly clearer signal of intent, and Google has said it may act on it a little sooner. Use 410 when you remove content on purpose and have nothing to redirect to. When there is a relevant replacement, use a 301 instead, because a 410 gives up the value of the links that point to the old URL.
After a cleanup, the Bulk Redirect Checker confirms that removed URLs return 410 and moved ones redirect.
Common causes and use cases
- A product was discontinued and has no successor.
- Content was deleted on purpose: expired offers, removed profiles or spam pages created during a hack.
- URL patterns from an earlier version of the site were retired.