404 Error
Have you ever clicked a link to only end up at a page that says that the page does not exist? This is a 404 error which means the link you clicked (or typed) is incorrect, the website was revised/renovated and no redirects were put in place or that the website owner has deleted the page without redirecting you to another page.
If your website hosting has not been set up with a custom error page, the visitor will be sent to a generic web host error page. This is very confusing for the visitor as they won’t know what to do next.
404 Error and Search Engines
If you have a bad link to a non existant page on your website (from another website or the search engine results) this can be bad news for potential visitors who have found you in the search engine results. The search engines find the link(s) in their index from visiting websites who have linked to your website or crawling your own web pages.
404 Error – Google
The Official Google Webmaster blog decided to help webmasters out by explaining 404 errors through the week of August 11, 2008. Here’s a list of the posts as of this writing:
- It’s 404 week at Webmaster Central – the announcement of Google’s 404 error series. This initial post covers how error response codes work.
- Farewell to soft 404s – explains soft 404 errors (when your web hosting error page is served up on error) and returning a 404 response code (showing your custom error page when there is a 404 error).
- More on 404 – Answers to questions Google receives about the 404 error.
- Make Your 404 Pages More Useful – Explaination of Google’s Enhance 404 Pages web page widget available through Google’s Webmaster Tools.
The posts at Google Webmaster Central blog include pictures to help you understand how 404 errors work. Check out all their posts on crawling and indexing.
404 Error – Yahoo!
Page Not Found Error Handling – Information from Yahoo! on handling 404 errors in Yahoo! Stores.
“You’re still crawling URLs that I removed ages ago.” – information from Yahoo! Search Help on handling a 404 error.
404 Error – Live Search
Live Search Releases Web Page Error Toolkit – this is an asp.net application for IIS servers.
Customize your 404 error pages with the Web Page Error Toolkit – more information on the Live Search Web Page Error Toolkit.
Bing
Fixing 404 File Not Found frustrations (SEM 101)
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October 4th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
[...] page that lead to a non existant page or website. If the website still exists, you will end up at a 404 error page. If the website does not have custom error pages, then you will see a web server error page. [...]
November 10th, 2008 at 7:47 am
[...] 404 Error [...]
December 11th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
This is good info on the 404 error pages. Just for fun, I have used fun 404 pages out there, there are some ones that will make you laugh. Professionally though, they wouldn’t work. You can Google “funny 404 pages” and see that.
January 10th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Custom 404 pages can often convert visitors who would otherwise leave a site. A 404 page with dynamic content can offer suggestions based on keyword search terms or popular pages that can save a visitor. The standard 404 page that a shared hosting plan throws up is only slightly better than no page.
January 31st, 2009 at 7:10 am
Hi there,
I totally agree that the 404 pages have potential for guiding lost visitors, the nicer the better.
Some search engines will also see it as as something positive.
May 18th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
If a user requests a page that doesn’t exist, your 404 page is displayed. This may happen for a variety of reasons, including another website linking to a page that doesn’t exist. Get your users back on track by providing a useful 404 page that directs them to the home page or suggests other pages they may be interested in.
July 13th, 2009 at 12:02 am
[...] Error pages are used by the web server to show the visitor there has been an error. For example, a 404 error is shown when a page is not found within the webspace. On a free web hosting space the visitor will [...]
July 15th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
[...] of all you need to understand what the purpose of the 404 error is. It appears when the web server does not find the page requested. Next, if you have a missing [...]
August 26th, 2009 at 2:59 am
Custom 404 is better but the thing to note is that some people redirect it to the home page, this confuses search engines which take 404 as the index page. so at all costs, 404 should be a simple page with the 404 header intact and a link to the home page but no redirect.
November 5th, 2009 at 12:00 am
[...] This is confusing to your site visitors because they don’t understand what happened. The 404 error page is the most used error page but you should create a custom error page for each error that might [...]