What is a 404 Error & How to Fix it in WordPress

What is a 404 error? What does it mean?  

If you are looking for answers to these questions, we bet you have had the frustrating experience of coming across this error on your website. 

404 not found error is a standard HTTP response code for when you stumble upon a broken link. 

To put it simply the server is telling you that it could not find or locate the page/link you tried to access and hence returning with a NOT FOUND page.

404 errors are displayed with different names.  

• 404 not found error
• Not found
• 404 error
• HTTP 404 

All of these mean the same thing. 

What Causes 404 Errors? 

You click on a broken or a dead link and the server is unable to find to it and it returns with a 404 not found error. 

This error may be due to multiple reasons such as if you miss something in the URL Structure. 

Like here in the URL I made a mistake of writing the ‘abut’ instead of ‘about’. The server could not find that page and hence Not Found, error 404 occurred. This would be a client end error. 

The most common causes of 404 errors are pretty simple:

• The file got deleted or corrupted 
• Files have been moved to a new location
• Temporarily unavailable when under maintenance or migration
• While being moved from HTTP to HTTPS
• Incorrect URL (spelling mistake perhaps)  
• Website is being redesigned
• Bad permalinks 
• Due to incompatible Plugins 

How to Fix 404 Errors?

The old links of pages/ posts who’s permalink have been changed all result in 404 pages.

There are two methods to fix 404 errors

• Refreshing permalinks
• Rewriting your .htaccess file

Refreshing Permalink

Sometimes WordPress does not redirect to pages properly for one reason or another.

And to fix this problem you have to refresh/update that page’s permalink.

This is an easy fix

All you need to do is visit

Dashboard >> Settings >> Permalinks

No new selection is needed, just pressing the update button will do the trick.

Rewriting your .htaccess file

The second most common solution to this problem is setting up 301 redirects.

301 redirect is a way to permanently reroute traffic from the old Page/URL to the new one.  

You rewrite a rule in your .htaccess file that automatically sends all the traffic that comes to your previous page to the new one. 

.htaccess in WordPress help your site become cleaner and more readable to both Search Engines and people. 

You can edit this file on your PC and upload it via FTP or C-panel or you can make your life easy by simply installing the SEO Plugin by Yoast, 

Once the Plugin is installed just follow these steps. SEO>>Tools>>File Editor>>Paste>>Save

Once Yoast SEO plugin has been installed and configured this problem will most probably be resolved. 

Otherwise you will have to manually update your .htaccess file. Which is also easier than it sounds. Just copy-paste this code

BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress 

Customize Your 404 Pages 

While designing your website make sure that you design a 404 page. 

Generally, 404 pages can be very frustrating for both you and your viewers but you can turn this around into your brand’s advantage simply by being a little creative.

You must be thinking, creative with 404 pages? how? 

If you have a look at these amazing 404 pages, you get the idea of what it is that we are suggesting.    

1- Pixar 

We personally love Pixar’s 404 pages the most. 

They feature Sadness form their Oscar-winning Inside Out. It’s simple and to the point yet creative. 

2- 20th Century Fox 

They use captions form different movies to tell you that they couldn’t find the page that you were looking for. 

We came across snippets from four different movies, Edward Scissorhands, Revenge of the Nerds and Napoleon Dynamite. Check out which one your get!

3- Lego 

Lego uses animation on their 404 pages and has a button to guide users back to their home page. 

4- Marvel

Marvel has multiple strictly brand centered 404 pages.  They get extra points for the moving images on their 404 pages. 

Create your 404 pages in such a way that they become mini brand ambassadors for your website.  

404 Not Found Error And SEO

All website must have a custom 404 page. 

404 pages not only give a good user experience,

They also guide visitors and crawlers when they have stumbled upon a broken link and help them find their way.

It’s wise to leave a link of your home page on your 404 pages, it help redirect traffic back to your website instead of bouncing away.   

Custom 404 pages in the site map help crawlers and is considered good for your websites SEO.  

How to Find 404 Errors on Your Website

Screaming Frog Screaming frog is a great SEO tool you can use to crawl your website to see if you have any 404 pages.

It’s simple and easy to use. All you have to do is put your URL in the search bar and wait for Screaming frog to do its magic

The free version of Screaming frog can check up to 500 pages.   

Google search console

You can also use your Google search console account to crawl your website for 404 pages. 

Click on not found and It will give you the URLs of all the pages with broken links. 

Conclusion 

Hope this was helpful! 404 Errors are not something that is only happening to you.

Not Found errors are inevitable, they ARE going to happen. so should you sit back let it happen?

No! That’s a terrible strategy. 

404 Errors are like Cancer for your site. they kill the buzz of your user experience eventually dropping your SEO ranking and increasing the bounce rate of your site. which means they dangerous for your business. 

Try and fix these errors on your own with the help of this article. and if you are still having some trouble let us help you. Contact Us Now or buy a Ticket and let us help you save your business.