How to Fix a 404 Error in WordPress

How to Fix a 404 Error in WordPress .elementor-19992 .elementor-element.elementor-element-19992{text-align:center}Last Updated on March 17, 2020When you were starting your blog, you probably werent thinking too much (or at all) about its 404 page.You were most likely more concerned with designing a beautiful homepage, contact page, and crafting your perfect About Me page. Disclosure As an independent review site, we get compensated if you purchase through the referral links or coupon codes on this page â€" at no additional cost to you. Dismiss alert Understandably, the 404 template often gets overlooked.But, it’s actually really important. I’ll explain why you shouldnt ignore 404 errors in this post, as well as offer some suggestions on how to fix a 404 error.Furthermore, with a bit of cleverness, you can actually customize your 404 page and turn it into an effective marketing resource.With just a few edits you can set it up to generate more leads, convert more subscribers, and increase your page views along the way.You might also like: Best WordPress hosting Table of Contents What is a 404 Error?Why Might Your Website Have 404 Errors?What is a 404 Page?Is a 404 Error Bad for SEO or do 404 Errors Hurt Your Site?How To Fix A 404 Error Find And Monitor Problem AreasHow to Fix a 404 ErrorHow to Create a 301 RedirectDiscovering Second Tier 404 ErrorsHow to Customize Your 404 PageWhat to Include on Your 404 PageConclusionWhat is a 404 Error?A 404 error is shown when a page, image, element or file cant be found on a website. Join the FREE TrainingDo You Want To Learn How To Build 6 Figures Authority Sites?Join This Free Training To...Finally have a proven method to finding profitable nichesGet access to a foolproof keyword research methodLearn how to outsource quality contentLearn how to build white hat links to your site without headaches 404 is the HTTP status code that a website outputs when no result can be displayed.For example, someone may type an address on your domain which doesnt exist, lets say: yourdomain.com/elephantsBut, you dont have any page URL named elephants so they land on a 404 page that displays something along the lines of:404 Not Found. The page you were looking for has moved or doesnt exist. Please go back.This can be problematic for you because your visitor hasnt been able to find the resource they need, and most likely will exit your website.Of course, we dont want your visitor to leave and then search for it on your competitors website instead. Why Might Your Website Have 404 Errors?There are various reasons why your website may be displaying 404 errors.The common reasons that a 404 error is shown:The page, post or image was deleted or renamed and not redirectedMisspelled or broken linkExpired domainThe server could be down or interrupted temporarily or permanentlyWhat is a 404 Page?The 404 Page is a default page that displays an error message when no page can be accurately displayed.This page is often a dead end for the user. If there i s no other information here to keep them on your website, they will most often leave.We dont want your visitor to leave your site, so consider this 404 error page an opportunity to capture their interest again.Is a 404 Error Bad for SEO or do 404 Errors Hurt Your Site?Yes, an no. Although Google doesnt outright penalize websites that deliver too many 404 errors, having too many errors does suggest that there may be a problem for user experience.Google wants to rank websites that deliver the best user experience and quality content. If a site has many broken links and missing content it does send a signal to search engines that your site may be low quality, no longer maintained, or have thin content.All of which negatively impact your chances of ranking high in search results over time. So fixing 404 errors when possible is always recommended.As well, if you dont give your visitors anything to do once they land on your 404 page, they will more often than not just leave. This can nega tively affect your websites bounce rate.So these are all reasons why you shouldnt ignore 404 errors on your website.How To Fix A 404 Error Find And Monitor Problem AreasA page will then display any errors your website may have had in recent crawls.If there are any problems, it will look something like this:Discovering Second Tier 404 ErrorsMoreover, in order to find and fix all 404 problems on our website, we need to go deeper than just the page level errors.We need to discover what people are searching and typing into the address bar of our website before landing on the 404 page.One of the best ways to discover what queries are leading to 404 errors is to turn on 404 Monitor in our Rank Math plugin settings.Because even if you actively stay on top of your redirections, there will still be times when people land on your 404 page.They may misspell a link, or be sent from somewhere else that uses a broken link.How to Customize Your 404 PageDepending on the theme you use, you will hav e different ways to edit the 404 page template.Some themes give you an easy to edit 404 page feature built in, which you can access from Appearance Customize.But most themes do not offer this solution.One way to customize the 404 page is to edit the page template from within your Cpanel. Typically the location of the template is found on a path like this:public_html/yourdomain.com/wp-content/themes/yourthemename/404.phpAlthough this method is only recommended if you have experience modifying code.A simpler way to edit your 404 page is to use a plugin. One of the most popular plugins for this is 404Page.This way you can edit the page from within your WordPress dashboard and not have to mess with your websites template files in CPanel.What to Include on Your 404 PageOnce you have decided how you will access this page, its time to decide what to put on it.Because our goal is to keep visitors on our website once they land on this page, we need to give them a reason to say.As mentioned, your 404 page is an opportunity to give a great user experience, while increasing page views and conversions.So crafting this page with care is important.Another 404 page that I like, which is super simple yet effective is that of Search Engine Journal. 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