Are 404 errors bad for SEO?

Not by themselves: a 404 is a perfectly normal response on the web, and Google knows every site produces some. What actually hurts is a 404 on a page that used to get traffic or links, left without a redirect. A handful of scattered 404s won't harm your rankings.

What's the difference between a 404 error and a 301 redirect?

A 404 error tells the visitor a page doesn't exist (or no longer does), leaving them at a dead end. A 301 redirect automatically sends the visitor from an old URL to a new one, permanently. The 301 preserves your traffic and your rankings; the 404 lets them slip away. Redirect rather than abandon.

What is a "soft 404"?

A soft 404 happens when a page shows a "not found" message (or is simply empty) yet returns a 200 (success) status code to the server instead of a real 404. The result: search engines think the page is valid and index it for nothing. It's worth fixing to keep a clean site.

Why am I getting a 404 error on every WordPress page even though they exist?

This is a classic: your permalinks are no longer saved correctly. Go to Settings then Permalinks in your WordPress dashboard, and simply click "Save Changes" without changing anything. That action rebuilds the rewrite rules and usually makes all your pages reappear.

How do I find a list of all the 404 errors on my site?

A few options: Google Search Console reports the not-found pages it has come across, a plugin like Redirection logs them in real time, and a link-checking tool crawls your site page by page. Personally, I scan my sites before every launch so nothing slips through.

"404 Error": Simple Definition. What Is a 404 Page?

We’ve all hit that frustrating message on the web: “404 Error - Page Not Found.” But what does a 404 page really mean? In this article, I’ll start with a quick, simple definition. And for the more curious among you, we’ll dive into the world of 404 pages, explore what they mean and what they’re for, and cover the best ways to handle them, with a special focus on WordPress, since this is a free site all about building websites with WordPress, let’s not forget!

What exactly is a 404 page?

A 404 page is a standard response in the HTTP protocol, telling you the server couldn’t find the resource you requested. In other words, when a visitor lands on a URL that doesn’t exist on a website, they’re shown a 404 page. In the WordPress context, a 404 page is generated whenever the requested URL matches no existing content on the WordPress site. 404 pages are an essential part of any web experience, but running into one can be confusing and frustrating for users. Understanding why 404 pages show up, and how to handle them properly, goes a long way toward improving the user experience on a WordPress site.

Why do 404 pages matter? The role they play.

404 pages play a crucial role in both the user experience and the SEO of a website. Their importance comes down to a few key aspects:

1. Keeping your site credible

A well-designed, well-managed 404 page helps keep your website credible in the eyes of your visitors. By steering users toward relevant content or offering something genuinely useful, you show that your site is professional and that it cares about the experience.

2. Lowering your bounce rate

Custom, informative 404 pages can help lower your bounce rate by giving users a way out when they hit a dead end. By pointing them to other parts of the site or suggesting similar content, you encourage visitors to stay rather than leave right away.

3. Protecting your search rankings

Search engines like Google factor in the user experience when they rank websites. Handling 404s well, with appropriate redirects and relevant internal links, can help maintain or even improve where your site sits in the search results.

4. Improving user satisfaction

Hand in hand with credibility, a positive user experience is essential to keeping visitors loyal and encouraging them to come back. By serving helpful, friendly 404 pages, you show that you care about your users’ experience, which builds trust and long-term satisfaction. Once you understand why 404 pages matter across all of these areas, you get a much clearer sense of the essential role they play in designing and running an effective WordPress site.

Best practices for designing an effective 404 page

An effective 404 page is key to offering a positive experience even when visitors find themselves at a dead end. Here are a few best practices to follow when designing a 404 page on your WordPress site:

1. A clear, friendly message

Make sure the error message on your 404 page is clear and welcoming. Use simple, empathetic language to explain that the requested page couldn’t be found, while guiding the user toward other sections of the site.

Add clear, relevant navigation links to your 404 page so users can easily find their way again. Offer links to the homepage, popular pages, main categories, or a search box.

3. Visual personalization

Style the 404 page so it matches the design and tone of your WordPress site. Use appealing graphics and engaging visuals to catch users’ attention and encourage them to stick around.

4. Extra help on offer

Provide additional help options, such as a contact form, a link to customer support, or an FAQ, to help users solve their problem or find what they were looking for.

5. Tracking and optimization

Regularly monitor the 404 errors on your WordPress site using analytics and tracking tools. Identify the most frequently requested pages that are producing 404s, then set up appropriate redirects or create relevant content to prevent those errors in the future. By following these best practices, you can turn a frustrating experience into an opportunity to engage and keep your users on your WordPress site.

WordPress & 404: How to handle 404 errors in WordPress

1. Using WordPress’s built-in features

WordPress comes with built-in features to handle 404 errors in a straightforward way. When a URL can’t be found, WordPress automatically generates a default 404 page. You can customize how that page looks through your theme’s options or by adjusting your site’s settings in the WordPress dashboard.

2. Plugins for managing 404 errors

Plenty of WordPress plugins are available to improve how you handle 404 errors. For example, plugins like Redirection let you set up automatic redirects from your 404 errors to existing pages on your site. Others offer advanced features such as deeper customization of 404 pages, error monitoring, and detailed statistics (like the premium version of the plugin mentioned above).

4.3. Building your 404 page by hand

If you’d rather take a more hands-on approach, you can manually create your own 404 page in WordPress. To do this, create a new page in the WordPress dashboard and design it however you like. Then use a plugin (or tweak your site’s settings, though not every theme supports this) to set that page as your custom 404 error page. Don’t hesitate to browse the WordPress plugin directory to find the one that suits you best. For the more technical among you, you can create a PHP template named 404.php at the root of your theme, which WordPress loads automatically whenever a 404 error occurs. That way you get full control over the code of your 404 page.

4.4. Tracking 404 errors in WordPress

It’s important to keep an eye on the 404 errors on your WordPress site. You can do this with analytics tools or plugins (Google Analytics is one of them), or by enabling error logging on your server (via the server logs, for instance). This monitoring lets you spot the pages producing 404 errors and take the right corrective steps by hand, such as creating redirects or fixing broken links. Personally, I use a link-checking tool to crawl every page of my WordPress sites and get the full list of broken links, on macOS I rely on Integrity. It’s a check I run before every single launch.

4.5. 404 redirect strategies

To avoid losing traffic and to improve the user experience, work out a strategy for redirecting your 404 errors. For example, you can redirect 404s to your homepage, to a search page, or to similar or relevant pages. Just make sure you pick the right redirect for each case so navigation stays smooth for your users. On an e-commerce site, for instance, a product that no longer exists is most often redirected to its category page. By understanding and making good use of these different methods and tools for handling 404 errors in WordPress, you can guarantee a better user experience and keep your website running smoothly overall.

A little history: the origin and meaning of the term “404”

The term “404” is everywhere on the web, usually tied to the frustration users feel when they can’t find what they’re looking for. But where does this mysterious number come from, and what does it actually mean? The story of the HTTP status code 404 goes back to the earliest days of the web, when the HTTP protocol was developed to make communication between web servers and browsers possible. As the web grew, it became necessary to give clear signals about the status of the requests users were making. And so the system of HTTP status codes was born, letting web servers communicate efficiently with browsers. HTTP status codes are numbered using a categorization system. Codes starting with 4xx are tied to errors caused by the client, while codes starting with 5xx are tied to errors caused by the server. So the 404 code specifically means an error occurred on the client side, that is, the browser’s request didn’t go through because the resource it asked for couldn’t be found. Here are a few other examples of status codes:

Code 200: Means the client’s request was successfully handled by the server. Whenever you land on any web page without a hitch, it’s because the server returned a 200 code to your browser.
Code 403: Means access to the resource is forbidden for the client, often because of insufficient permissions.
Code 500: Means an internal server error, when the server runs into an unexpected problem.

Over time, “404” became a widely used shorthand for any error of this kind!