In short. Enable 404 Monitor in Rank Math's dashboard, then choose Simple or Advanced under General Settings → 404 Monitor and save the changes.
Definition: Rank Math's 404 Monitor records requests for pages or files that the web server cannot find. As of October 2026, Rank Math documents a module enabled through its dashboard, with Simple and Advanced logging options in General Settings.
Key facts
- Rank Math's Advanced Mode documentation lists 404 Monitor among the modules available only in dashboard Advanced Mode.
- Rank Math's error-fixing guide places the module switch under WordPress Dashboard → Rank Math SEO → Dashboard → Modules.
- Rank Math's monitoring guide documents Simple logging with URI, Hits and Access Time; Advanced logging also records Referer and User-Agent.
Where is the module enabled?
Rank Math's Advanced Mode guide gives the initial path as WordPress Dashboard → Rank Math SEO → Dashboard. The Advanced Mode control sits in the top-right corner. Selecting it exposes additional modules, including 404 Monitor.
The error-fixing guide then directs administrators to enable 404 Monitor in the Modules tab. The report opens from Rank Math SEO → 404 Monitor in the WordPress menu. It can initially show an empty log; recorded errors appear there when visitors encounter missing pages.
How do Simple and Advanced logging differ?
Rank Math's monitoring guide gives this settings path:
WordPress Dashboard → Rank Math SEO → General Settings → 404 Monitor
The Mode setting offers Simple and Advanced. After selecting an option, the Save Changes button at the bottom saves the configuration. Dashboard Advanced Mode makes the module available; the monitor's Mode setting selects the information recorded for requests.
In Simple logging, URI means Uniform Resource Identifier and identifies the address requested. Hits counts accesses to that address, while Access Time records the latest hit. Repeated errors for the same address are grouped into an entry with a hit count.
Advanced logging adds Referer, the address of the page that led the visitor to the missing page, and User-Agent, which supplies browser information. It records individual errors even when requests concern the same address. Clicking the Hits count filters errors for that address. Rank Math recommends Advanced logging for investigating errors that Simple logging cannot resolve because the additional entries can quickly fill the monitor.
What information appears after activation?
The monitoring guide states that errors recorded before Advanced logging was enabled have empty Referer and User-Agent fields. Newly recorded errors can contain those details. In the guide's example, typing an incorrect address directly leaves Referer empty, while following a broken link records the referring post's address.
Rank Math's error-fixing guide documents sorting by URI, Hits and Access Time in Simple logging. Advanced logging supports sorting by URI and Access Time. Clicking a column header changes the sorting order.
Related terms
- HTTP status codes
- How do I exclude requests from Rank Math's missing-page logs?
- How do I create a Rank Math redirect from a missing-page report?
FAQ
Why is the module missing from my dashboard?
Check whether you have selected Advanced Mode in the dashboard's top-right corner. Rank Math's Advanced Mode guide lists 404 Monitor as a module available in that mode.
Do I need Advanced logging to see repeated missing-page requests?
You can see repeated requests in Simple logging: Rank Math's monitoring guide explains that the Hits field counts accesses to the same address. Advanced logging adds Referer and User-Agent details for investigation.
Sources
- Rank Math, "Fixing 404 Errors with Rank Math", undated
- Rank Math, "How to Monitor 404 Errors", undated
- Rank Math, "Rank Math’s Advanced Mode", undated
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