When was the last time you clicked on a link and instead of arriving at the desired web page, you ended up with an error saying that the page does not exist? The message you received reads: ” Error 404 not found “.

What does Error 404 mean? A 404 error is nothing but a standardized HTTP ( Hypertext Transfer Protocol ) status code that you will see in the form of a message sent from the server. The error message comes in response to an HTTP request sent through the browser.

The basic message indicates that the user has successfully connected to the server, but the server cannot find the requested information.

What is Error 404 and when does it happen?

A 404 error occurs when users try to follow dead or broken links, and they in turn return an Error 404 message. These errors are among the most common on the Internet. The message can come in different forms:

• 404 error
• Error 404
• 404 not found
• HTTP error 404
• 404 error page not found
• Error 404 not found
• HTTP 404 not found
• Error code 404

What causes Error 404 not found?

The most common reason you see an Error 404 page is when the content of the page has been deleted or moved to another URL. Other reasons for the appearance of this message can be various, but it is always a problem related to the URL, a problem with the server or the domain.

It is not uncommon for dead links to remain on a site for a long time as site owners are unaware that their linked content has been moved or deleted for a long time. There are numerous website pages that appear in search results even though they are no longer available at the specified URL.

Other websites linked to dead or broken links are usually not notified that the site in question no longer exists or has been moved to a new URL. Therefore, it is necessary to check more often if somewhere on the site there are pages and links that do not work.

What problems can this error cause?

If you have a lot of 404 pages on your site, users will spend less time on it. And the longer you have the broken link on your site, the more users will see the error.

Search engine algorithms pay special attention to the way users behave on your site. Their online behavior plays a big role in the ranking process. And Error 404 is an inconvenience you don’t want your visitors to encounter. Once they see that the content they are trying to reach is not available, they will leave your site and go to a competitor.

In addition to a negative user experience, high bounce rates can negatively affect your SEO. There are indications that Bounce Rate is a fairly significant ranking factor.

Checking and tracking this error on the site

Now that you know what a 404 error means, you can turn to what you can do to spot and track them on your site. You can find various tools on the Internet that crawl websites and find pages with this error.

Some of the more popular tools that allow you to find these errors are: Google Search Console , V3C Link Checker , Dead Link Checker. As occurrences of these errors are quite harmful, it is necessary to devise the best way to reduce and overcome the damage. This is achieved by creating special pages tailored to appear on this occasion.

The importance of creating a custom page for this error

One of the main goals of effective web design is to keep users on the site without having to look for an alternative. This is exactly the reason why you should consider creating special custom pages that are displayed when a 404 error occurs. The goal is to attract and retain the user’s attention, offering an explanation of why they reached the page in question and proposing a solution according to their needs.

Today when everyone is looking for ways to improve the user interface and user experience creating a custom page for this error plays an important role if you want to deliver a good user experience . You let users know why they encountered a problem and then provide them with one or more solutions to keep them on your site.

What does Google say about this?

The guidelines provided by Google regarding this error and creating a separate page for this error are as follows:

• The page should follow the same style and navigation as the rest of the site.
• The page should contain links to popular site pages.
• Users should be given the option to report a broken link.

You can find more articles about web design and other topics about successful online presence on our blog.