In short. Use Exclude Paths in Rank Math's 404 Monitor settings to filter requests, and use Delete or Clear Log to remove recorded entries.
Definition: Rank Math's Exclude Paths setting prevents matching missing-page requests from entering its 404 Monitor, the plugin's error log. Separate Delete and Clear Log controls remove entries already recorded.
Key facts
- As of 17 October 2026, Rank Math's monitoring guide documents five exclusion conditions: Exact, Contains, Starts With, End With, and Regex.
- Rank Math's General Settings guide specifies that an exclusion URI, the requested address entered in the field, must omit the leading slash.
- Rank Math's error-fixing guide describes Clear Log as deleting the entire recorded error history, with no recovery of the removed data.
Where are exclusions configured?
Rank Math's monitoring guide gives this settings path in the WordPress dashboard:
Rank Math SEO → General Settings → 404 Monitor
The Exclude Paths control pairs a text field with a condition dropdown. The field accepts the requested path or a keyword; the dropdown determines how the monitor matches it. After editing these settings, the Save Changes button saves the configuration.
Rank Math's General Settings guide says the 404 Monitor module must be enabled for this settings section to appear. The monitoring guide specifies Advanced Mode for enabling that module from Rank Math's dashboard.
How do exclusion conditions work?
The General Settings guide documents exclusions for individual addresses and keywords, alongside regular expressions, which express matching patterns. Additional exclusion rules allow multiple exceptions.
Exact matches the entered URI. Contains matches the entered text anywhere in the requested URI. Starts With and End With match its beginning and ending respectively. Regex applies a regular expression; Rank Math's monitoring guide warns that an incorrect expression can hide important errors.
The monitoring guide's Contains example uses this field value:
rank-in
It excludes the missing address https://yourdomain.com/how-to-rank-in-search from logging because the address contains that text. The field value has no leading slash.
How are existing logs cleaned up?
Rank Math's error-fixing guide describes deleting an individual entry by hovering over its URI and choosing Delete. For several entries, the checkboxes select the records, then Delete in the Bulk Actions menu and Apply remove the selection.
Clear Log removes the whole history. Afterward, the monitor displays errors recorded after the clearing operation. The guide says the removed data cannot be recovered.
The same guide distinguishes unwanted requests from broken links that need attention: it allows ignoring errors caused by spammers and bad bots, and describes correcting internal referring links at their source.
Related terms
- How do I enable Rank Math's missing-page monitor?
- How do I create a Rank Math redirect from a missing-page report?
- HTTP status codes
FAQ
Can I ignore query parameters instead of excluding a path?
Yes. Rank Math's monitoring guide says Ignore Query Parameters records the address without its query string, the part after the question mark. Its example records /t-shirt?color=white as /t-shirt.
Does setting Log Limit to zero stop logging?
No. You disable the limit by entering 0; the monitoring guide gives 100 as the default. It also says exceeding the configured limit automatically clears the monitor and starts the count again.
Should I leave Ignore Query Parameters enabled?
Rank Math's General Settings guide recommends leaving it disabled initially. You can enable it when the log contains many errors for the same address with different query parameters.
Sources
- Rank Math, "Fixing 404 Errors with Rank Math", undated
- Rank Math, "How to Monitor 404 Errors", undated
- Rank Math, "Rank Math General Settings", undated
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