diff --git a/services/search/content.py b/services/search/content.py
index ff82a7f54..2c1f5f64c 100644
--- a/services/search/content.py
+++ b/services/search/content.py
@@ -259,6 +259,9 @@ def fetch_webpage_content(url: str, timeout: int = 5, retry_attempt: int = 0) ->
             raise RateLimitError(f"Rate limit hit for {url} (attempt {retry_attempt})")
 
         response.raise_for_status()
+    except httpx.HTTPStatusError as e:
+        error_logger.warning(f"HTTP {e.response.status_code} fetching {url}: {e}")
+        return _empty_result(url, f"HTTP {e.response.status_code}: {e}")
     except httpx.RequestError as e:
         error_logger.error(f"NetworkError fetching {url} (attempt {retry_attempt}): {e}")
         return _empty_result(url, f"NetworkError: {e}")
diff --git a/tests/test_search_content_extraction_parity.py b/tests/test_search_content_extraction_parity.py
index ae66b7064..e5b8e7bcb 100644
--- a/tests/test_search_content_extraction_parity.py
+++ b/tests/test_search_content_extraction_parity.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 """Content extraction behavior for the canonical services.search.content module."""
 
+import httpx
 import pytest
 
 pytest.importorskip("bs4")
@@ -19,6 +20,22 @@ class _FakeResponse:
         return None
 
 
+class _FakeErrorResponse:
+    """Mimics an httpx.Response that fails raise_for_status with a given status code."""
+
+    headers = {"Content-Type": "text/html; charset=utf-8"}
+    content = b""
+    text = ""
+
+    def __init__(self, status_code: int):
+        self.status_code = status_code
+
+    def raise_for_status(self):
+        raise httpx.HTTPStatusError(
+            f"{self.status_code} error", request=None, response=self
+        )
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("module", [service_content])
 def test_content_fetcher_extracts_og_image_and_body_fallback(module, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
     html = """
@@ -49,3 +66,67 @@ def test_content_fetcher_extracts_og_image_and_body_fallback(module, tmp_path, m
     assert "substantive body text" in result["content"]
     assert "much longer than the tiny" in result["content"]
     assert "window.secret" not in result["content"]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("status_code", [403, 404])
+def test_fetch_webpage_content_returns_empty_result_on_http_status_error(status_code, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    """A 403/404 response should degrade to an empty result instead of raising.
+
+    This exercises the real fetch_webpage_content() path: _get_public_url returns
+    a response whose raise_for_status() raises httpx.HTTPStatusError, and the
+    function must catch it and hand back the standard empty-result shape rather
+    than letting the exception bubble up (which previously surfaced as a 500).
+    """
+    monkeypatch.setattr(service_content, "CONTENT_CACHE_DIR", tmp_path)
+    service_content.content_cache_index.clear()
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        service_content,
+        "_get_public_url",
+        lambda url, headers, timeout: _FakeErrorResponse(status_code),
+    )
+
+    result = service_content.fetch_webpage_content(f"https://example.com/status-{status_code}")
+
+    assert result["success"] is False
+    assert result["content"] == ""
+    assert str(status_code) in result["error"]
+
+
+def test_fetch_webpage_content_429_takes_distinct_rate_limit_path(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    """A 429 response must be handled by the dedicated rate-limit branch.
+
+    The status_code == 429 check runs before raise_for_status() is ever called,
+    so a 429 should be reported as a rate-limit error rather than falling through
+    the generic HTTPStatusError handling added for 403/404. We assert on the
+    error message to prove it took the RateLimitError path, not the HTTP-status
+    empty-result path.
+    """
+    monkeypatch.setattr(service_content, "CONTENT_CACHE_DIR", tmp_path)
+    service_content.content_cache_index.clear()
+
+    raise_for_status_called = False
+
+    class _FakeRateLimitResponse:
+        status_code = 429
+        headers = {"Content-Type": "text/html; charset=utf-8"}
+        content = b""
+        text = ""
+
+        def raise_for_status(self):
+            nonlocal raise_for_status_called
+            raise_for_status_called = True
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        service_content,
+        "_get_public_url",
+        lambda url, headers, timeout: _FakeRateLimitResponse(),
+    )
+
+    result = service_content.fetch_webpage_content("https://example.com/rate-limited")
+
+    assert result["success"] is False
+    assert result["content"] == ""
+    assert "Rate limit hit" in result["error"]
+    assert "HTTP 429" not in result["error"]
+    # The 429 short-circuit must happen before raise_for_status() is reached.
+    assert raise_for_status_called is False