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Here are a couple of examples of companies that made the error page their own. Of course, error pages wouldn’t be complete without a few back-end web designers using them to have a little fun. Content management systems like WordPress make adding a 404 page to your site easy. If you are developing a new website, your designer should create a 404 page as part of your standard setup. Web developers also use tools to redirect outdated links to updated ones.īut it’s still important to have a 404 page in place as a backup. I know what you’re thinking: “wouldn’t it be better to fix the main products page?” Yes, fixing broken links improves “site hygiene” and organic search results. Instead, they’ll get a simple error message that says “Page Not Found,” and they can go back and start over. Your 404 page catches visitors who click on that broken link so they won’t get bounced off your site or rerouted to a broken page. But – uh oh! – the person who took down the “widget-1” page didn’t remove the link from the main product page.
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Now let’s say you have those products linked on the main products page - “.” Simple enough, right?īut then you decide not to make “widget-1” anymore, so you take the product page off of your website. (Look for the guy at your next Halloween party in a white T-shirt that says “404 - Costume Not Found.” Even though it’s still not funny, at least you’ll get the joke.)īesides the misspelling issues above, 404 pages cover any broken or dead links on your site.Īnother example: let’s say you have products listed on your site, each with their own unique URL path. The three-digit signifier has made its way into popular language in other ways.
#What is 404 not found code
In this case, the domain name is incorrect, even though the path works.įinally, “404” refers to an HTML code response. In contrast, typing in “” gives you a broken link. The path they’re trying to follow, however, literally leads nowhere. What happens if you slip up and type “” They’ve got your domain name right, so the server was able to reach your site. When looking at things SEO-wise the 404 Not Found status code pages with a high volume of traffic should be redirected using a 301 to the most relevant page. The protocol is “ the domain name is “,” and the path is “/blog.” The 404 Not Found status code means that the server either did not find a current representation for the requested resource or is trying to hide its existence from an unauthorized client. Generally speaking, URLs have three sections:Ĭonsider the web address “” as an example. Let’s break that definition down.įirst, “URL,” or Uniform Resource Locator, is tech-speak for a web address. If that sentence made your eyes glaze over, you’re not alone. This page indicates that the user reached the domain they requested, but the URL path provided no information. Here’s an official-sounding explanation of the 404 page:Ī 404 page is also known as an “error page” or “Page Not Found” page. Let’s start, as they say, at the beginning. (*Editor’s Note: This might not be true.)īut what is a 404 page? And why does my company’s website need one?Īll good questions. If you combined all the times someone landed on a 404 page instead of the page they were trying to reach, you’d have more hits than Google, Facebook, and America Online combined.* The 404 page is a staple of the internet.