Learn/404-Errors-Drive-Visitors-Away

What Does "Page not found" Mean?

A "Page not found" message - also called a 404 error message - is the standard response a web server gives when it can't find a requested URL, or web address.

Imagine someone driving across town to visit your business, and finding a "Closed" sign when they expected the store to be open. Will that person come back? They might, if you're selling something that's hard to find. But if your product is easily found elsewhere, they probably won't.

It's the same story on the web. If someone gets a "Page not found" error when they follow a link to your website, or type your web address into the navigation bar of their web browser, they might try to find your website by other means...if they're really motivated. If they aren't, they probably won't.

Why Do 404 Errors Occur?

Someone can get a 404 message if they mistype a URL into a web browser navigation bar. They can also get a 404 message if they're trying to get to your site by clicking on a link that's broken. This is the most common cause of 404 errors.

A link can become broken for a number of reasons. People often rewrite web page URLs, whether they're reorganizing their site, or they want to enhance search-engine optimization by including keywords in the URLs, or for some other reason. When they do that, any link to that page using the old URL instantly becomes a broken link. It can't take someone to the page anymore.

A link can also be broken because someone made a mistake when they typed the URL to make the link. These inaccurately coded links will also result in a "Page not found" error.

How to Avoid 404 Errors

Help would-be visitors to your site avoid the dreaded "Page not found" error by following best practices:

• Submit new pages to search engines immediately.
  • Submit to Google
  • Submit to Bing

• See our article, Link Juice: Save Every Drop, for tips on making sure links to old pages are changed to point to the new pages. The article also includes a list of tools for locating your old links, both on your own site and around the web.

• If you've changed the URL for a page on your website, redirect visitors to the new page from the old one. Even if you've resubmitted your changed URLs, and done your best to locate old links and correct them, you may have missed some links. If someone arrives at an old web page and finds your contact information, or an invitation to visit your new page -- with a link, of course -- you'll be giving them something much better than an error message. That's a good way to build trust with site visitors.

• You can check with your web hosting company to see if it offers a 404 redirect. When a user enters the URL for an old page, your web hosting company can redirect a visitor to a page you specify, instead of returning a 404 error.

• Stay organized by recording changes to your site. Then you can go back and fix links when you're done.

Examples