Do you know what is “404 Page Not Found Error”, does this affect SEO of your website and how to fix it? In this article, we’re going to answer all of these questions. To know the complete information, read this article till the end.
Whenever you click on a link, many times we aren’t able to reach that address and we see an error of “404 page not found” in front of us, it means that the page for which that link was sent is missing in the address. Although, there are many types of errors, but 404 error can be really harmful for your blog’s SEO.
WHAT IS “404 PAGE NOT FOUND ERROR”?
404 Error is a http status code and we call it client error i.e. many times visitors to our site mistype the address of our site and then 404 page error appears in front of them.
For instance, if you type yahoo.com in your browser then it will open, but, if you type yahoo.com/aa then you will see a 404 error because that page is not available on the Internet.
Now let’s take an another example and we will type the URL of our blog theseobuck.com, then our blog will open and if we type theseobuck.com/suggestions, then the “Suggestions” page of our blog will open. But, if we search by typing theseobuck.com/bb then we will see 404 error because this page is not available on our blog.
HISTORY OF “404 PAGE NOT FOUND ERROR”:
Now a question must be arising in your mind that what is its history and when this 404 error started.
Many years ago, the Internet was first started in the Switzerland and the database of almost all the files was kept in one room and it was maintained by two to three scientists. When someone needed any kind of data, scientists used to send it from one computer to another.
But many times, they used to get such a request in which they did not have any data, then they used to reply 404 error in return. It means that the data you are asking for is not available with us.
The room with the database in that building was on the fourth floor, so the number 404 of this error was kept and since then this number has been running in the Internet world. Even today, if someone types the wrong word with the URL, then 404 page not found error comes in front of him because that file is not available on the Internet.
DOES 404 ERROR AFFECT THE SEO OF OUR BLOG?
Although; 404 page errors are called client errors because your visitors search by typing some wrong words with the URL of your blog, but sometimes this error also comes due to your mistake and then it becomes your responsibility to fix it.
For example, if you put a link of another page in your post and you type something wrong while typing the link. So, if a user clicks on that link, then a 404 error will appear in front of him, but it was you who made the mistake because you had typed the wrong link while interlinking.
And in this way, if you type the wrong link while interlinking on many pages and a lot of 404 error comes, then it will have a bad effect on your blog’s SEO.
HOW ARE 404 ERRORS FORMED?
404 page errors may be due to various reasons; including:
WHEN THE LINKED PAGE IS DELETED:
When you have linked an internal page to another page on your site and later delete this page and then forgot to remove the link to this page in that post. Then; when a visitor clicks on that deleted page, a 404 error will appear.
WRONG INTER-LINKING:
When you publish a new post on your blog, you put the link of other posts (internal linking) related to the same category in that post as interlinking and it is also necessary for SEO.
But while interlinking, if you mistype the link of another page and when a user comes to that post and clicks on that link, a 404 error appears in front of him.
PUTTING WRONG LINK:
Many times we put the link of our blog or website while creating our profile on other sites or social media platforms and at that time we mistype that link. Then, whenever a user clicks on that wrong link, that page will not open because that address is not available on the Internet, so 404 page error will appear in front of him.
Apart from this, we request for backlink from another sites and when they are ready to provide backlink, then by mistake they enter your site’s URL incorrectly on their site, then, in this situation also 404 error is generated.
USER TYPES WRONG LINK:
Many times users search by typing some wrong words with the URL of our blog, but that page is not available on our site, then where will it appear and in this situation 404 error appears in front of them.
HOW TO FIX 404 PAGE NOT FOUND ERROR:
If your visitors are getting “404 page not found error” by wrongly typing the name of a page along with the URL of your blog, then there is nothing to worry about because it should not make any difference to your blog’s SEO.
But; if you yourself have typed the wrong URL while interlinking your page from another page and because of that 404 error is coming, then you will have to find and rectify it because due to this your blog SEO can have a bad effect.
HOW TO FIND 404 PAGE ERROR?
There are many paid and free online tools available to find 404 page errors; including:
If your blog is built on WordPress, then you will find many free plugins such as 404 Page that will easily detect 404 page errors on your blog and then you will be able to fix all of them. If there is a problem with the links interlinking to each other page in your blog, then you can fix it by editing it yourself.
FIXING 404 PAGE NOT FOUND ERROR FROM INTERNAL LINKING:
Whenever you delete a post on your blog, always keep in mind that the link of that should be removed from all of your blog posts.
If you have not yet taken into account the 404 error while deleting your post, then where is the link of all the posts you have deleted so far, where is the link in another pages, use a plugin to find out the one which is giving the 404 error. Start removing all those links using the tool.
FIXING 404 ERORS COMING FROM EXTERNAL SOURCES:
If the URL of any page of your blog is on another blog and you have deleted that page, then you can contact the owner of that blog and ask to replace the URL of your other page. Or you can redirect that external link from the page you deleted earlier to a different page. Keep in mind the following things while redirecting the 404 error URL to another page:
- Always use 301 type redirection as it passes the page rank correctly.
- Both the page’s content and purpose should be the same, for example, the page with the link coming from outside, the kind of content in the page, you redirect that link to the page with the same content.
- Do not redirect the URL with 404 error to the home page, some people do this but it is not the right way for SEO.
CRAETE CUSTOM 404 PAGE:
We are not able to track or redirect all urls, so many bloggers create a custom 404 page on their blog. Custom 404 page is a page that the browser shows to the user when the browser receives a 404 error code from the server.
That is, if you have created a custom 404 page on your blog and a user goes to your site by typing a broken link or a wrong link, then the browser shows the same page in front of that user.
TAKE AWAY
After reading this article, you must come to know what is 404 page not found error and how to fix it. If you still have any question, please ask in the comment section below. And, don’t forget to share this article with others.