Who hasn’t come across a 404 page in their life? It’s quite a frustrating experience because users want to go somewhere (maybe even buy your products) but get stuck in a dead-end.
Because it’s such a frustrating experience for users, search engines aren’t fans of 404 pages, either, and tend to down-rank websites with too many pages returning 404 status codes. So today, we want to find out if any pages are returning the infamous status code 404 and fix them.
Find 404 Status Code with cPanel SEO
Does Every Broken Page Need Fixing?
How to Create a Helpful 404 Page
What Is the 404 Status Code?
A status code is a way of communication between the website’s server and the browser. After the browser requests a URL, the server returns information about the status or accessibility of the requested URL, along with its contents (if available).
In other words, whenever a user intends to access a page, the browser asks the server to send everything the browser needs to display the contents of that page, or, if not available, alternative information.
The code 404 is issued for pages that are not available (and therefore cannot be accessed) and provide no information about pages that should be displayed in its stead (a.k.a redirects).
Pages returning a 404 status code are also called broken pages or invalid URLs. They can turn up for various reasons, for example, because a page is no longer accessible, or the user typed in the wrong URL.
As mentioned, 404 pages are dead ends for users and can negatively affect user experience and website rankings. Therefore, regularly check for 404 status codes and keep them at a minimum.
Find 404 Status Codes with cPanel SEO
Once a week, we run an automated site audit of your website. If we discover any 404 status codes, you’ll find a respective task in your Advisor.
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Go to Advisor and type in “404” in the search bar. |
As you can see, related tasks provide you with a full list of broken pages and instructions on what to do about them:
Does Every Broken Page Need Fixing?
No. Broken pages are a natural part of websites. Also, search engines will not down-rank your website on principle if it returns a couple of 404 status codes. That is why we recommend keeping broken pages to a minimum and not fixing all of them, no questions asked.
When Do I Fix a Broken Page?
You want to fix a broken page, if:
- It has traffic, meaning that users still try to access it. Check your web analysis tool (e.g., Google Analytics, Matomo) for traffic to those URLs.
- It has backlinks. Check Google Search Console if other websites link to those URLs. Alternatively, look for a free backlink checker and check the URL in question.
If neither is the case, you don’t have to fix the URL returning the 404 status code.
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We recommend adding a note to your task that includes affected URLs, as it will keep popping up anew with every site audit. |
That way, you can distinguish between new 404 status codes you need to check and those you can ignore. Check out Google Search Console’s video, John Mueller has great advice on how to handle 404 pages:
How to Fix Broken Pages
First, check if it is correct that that page is inaccessible. If it should be available, see if it wasn’t accidentally set to Draft or noindex, for example.
As a rule of thumb, redirect broken pages that need fixing to another page using 301 redirects. Redirect plugins are useful little helpers to do that.
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For each broken page in your task’s list, set up a 301 redirect and find the “next best” page on a case-by-case basis. |
- Either find a page with similar content and redirect to that page.
- Or choose the next best category, such as product categories or blog.
- If neither of the above is possible, redirect to your homepage.
Keep Broken and Redirected Pages Out of Internal Links
Internal Links are links on your website that link to other pages of your website. Internal links should always link directly to a live page; no 404 pages, no detours.
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Make sure the broken page is not linked internally. If so, update the link target and replace the broken page’s URL with the redirect URL. |
To check if any internal pages link to the broken page, click Go to Table View in your task’s lower right corner.
It will take you to a table listing all internal pages linking to broken pages. Now replace the broken page with the new redirect URL in all pages linking to broken pages.
- Source: URLs that link to a broken page. Replace the link on this page.
- Target: URLs returning 404 status codes, a.k.a. broken pages.
Why Do I Need to Update Internal Links?
Redirects in your internal link structure can slow down your page speed and use up more of your website’s allotted crawl budget than necessary. Each detour (a.k.a. redirect) will prolong the time it takes to a) display the final page in the browser and b) completely crawl your website.
A crawl budget is the amount of time search engines dedicate to a website to crawl it. Search engines use internal links to crawl a website.
How to Create a Helpful 404 Page
Whenever a user comes across an invalid URL, they should be presented with a custom 404 page that is helpful and allows them to navigate elsewhere.
How to Create a 404 Page
There are a few technical things to consider when setting up a 404 page to be displayed upon a 404 status code.
How a 404 page is created can vary depending on your CMS. For example, WordPress uses your theme’s 404.php file. Check out the WordPress Codex about creating Error 404 pages.
Still, we composed a checklist of prerequisites to configure a 404 page:
- The 404 page is displayed whenever a URL is invalid and not redirected.
- Users must not be redirected to a 404 page (e.g., cpanel.net/404). Instead, the 404 page’s contents need to be displayed while still showing the invalid URL.
- The invalid URL must return a 404 status code. That will cause search engines to not index it.
- The 404 page must be set to noindex.
- Do not block 404 pages from crawling in your robots.txt.
What Should a 404 Page Display?
A 404 page kindly but clearly informs users that the page they requested could not be found and offers an opportunity for action.
We came up with two lists for you to stick to: The first has essential information you should provide; a must-have list, so to speak. The second lists optional features to further customize your 404 page.
As a rule of thumb, think about:
- How you can help users get where they most likely want to go.
- How you can make it as easy and convenient as possible for your users to get there.
404 Page: The Essentials
- Inform users that the requested page could not be found.
- Your website’s design
- Logo & Brand
- At least one Call to Action or opportunity for action, such as:
- Included top navigation bar
- Back to Homepage button
- Search
- Footer including Terms of Service & Privacy Policy
Check out those examples:
404 Page: Nice to have
There’re a few other things you might want to include on your 404 page. Here are a few ideas:
- Best-selling products or popular categories
- Locations
- Contact
- Humor
A few more examples for your inspiration:
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