Create a 410 Redirect for Missing Files

Knowledgebase

htaccess & Redirects | Updated 2026

A 410 (Gone) status code tells search engines that a page has been permanently removed and should be deindexed. Unlike a 404 (Not Found), a 410 explicitly communicates that the removal was intentional. Use this when you want Google to stop showing a deleted page in search results.

How to Set It Up

Add a RewriteRule to .htaccess

Add this to your .htaccess file for each URL you want to return a 410:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^old-page\.html$ - [G,L]
The [G] flag tells Apache to return a 410 Gone response.

01. Remove a Single Page

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^old-page\.html$ - [G,L]

02. Remove Multiple Pages

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^old-page-1\.html$ - [G,L]
RewriteRule ^old-page-2\.html$ - [G,L]
RewriteRule ^blog/outdated-post/?$ - [G,L]

03. Remove an Entire Directory

RewriteRule ^old-section/ - [G,L]

04. When to Use 410 vs 301

Use 301 when the content moved to a new URL - redirects users and passes SEO value
Use 410 when the content is gone and there is no replacement - tells search engines to remove it
Use 404 when the page simply does not exist (the default for missing URLs)

For 301 redirects, see 302 Redirects and the .htaccess Guide.