Page | 27 ramthoughts
com
Example of the default 404 error page
Custom 404 Error Page
A 404 error is what gets reported to browsers or crawlers when a URL (webpage) that has been
requested does not exist
Having too many 404 errors can be detrimental to organic search engine
rankings
Depending on the URL which is producing the 404 error, it might be helpful to 301 redirect the
non-existent URL to an appropriate location
For example, if someone has linked to your widgets page
(www
example
com/widget
html), but has mispelled the URL (www
example
com/wigdet
html), and that
link is sending you a lot of clicks, then it would be a good idea to 301 redirect
/wigdet
html
to
/widget
html, so that you are not serving an unnecessary number of 404 page, and also capture
some of the link value from the link
When a user manages to stumble across a 404 error, the default 404 page does very little to help guide
the user along to a useful section on the website--the only available option is to click the back button
Without a place to move forward, or even a link to the homepage, there is no way to help users find what
they are looking for
A default custom 404 page is equally unhelpful for search engine spiders
These spiders follow a specific
formula while indexing websites: they follow every available link, effectively creating a web or network of
information
When a spider runs into a default 404 page, like their human counterparts, they are unable to
move forward
Unlike human users, however, spiders are not able to execute complex actions, like hitting
the back button
When a spider ends up on these pages, it is unable to proceed with indexing your
website
A custom 404 page gives spiders something to follow even if they run into an error
No comments:
Post a Comment