I had this problem recently as well. If you've tried the main troubleshooting steps, it might be similar to what Brett84c said - the build process is not being followed properly.
For example, this website recommends that you insert the following block of code into your backend express app's index.js file in order to serve static files from a pre-built folder.
// ... other app.use middleware
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, "client", "build")))
// ...
// Right before your app.listen(), add this:
app.get("*", (req, res) => {
res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname, "client", "build", "index.html"));
});
However, this means that you must ensure that the build folder it is serving that is located in the backend folder has actually been updated (re-built) each time you make changes to the "client" frontend React app.