404 Error Pages Best Practices
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PPC Analytics Social Local Mobile Video Content Development Reports 404 Page Best Practices Development 11 Sep 13 | Brad Miller Facebook0Linkedin0Google+0Twitter0 The Internet is no different than anything else in life. Mistakes will
Funny 404 Error Pages
always happen. Whether it's because someone has mistyped your URL or you forgot custom 404 error pages to change an old link, at some point, one of your prospective customers is going to land on a 404 error pages wordpress 404 error page. The error page is shown whenever a server can't find the specified page. Unfortunately, most marketers see an error page as a "tech issue" and don't give it a second's
Creative 404 Error Pages
thought. The 404 page is rarely given the consideration and importance it deserves. There are many different considerations that, if neglected, could have a significant negative affect on the performance of your site. So, how should we approach 404s? Why are they relevant to marketers? Let's have a look at each of them in a bit more detail. Limiting the Damage You'll never completely remove
How To Remove 404 Error Pages
the need for a 404 page. Even if you were to clean up your entire internal link structure, you'll always have people mistyping a URL into their search bar (especially if they are searching on a mobile device). You also have very little control over the URLs that other sites use to link to you. Unless you make it your business to contact every website owner who links to your site, and make sure their links are accurate and up to date, you will inevitably get the odd mistake. Having said all of that, the most embarrassing and detrimental of errors are when someone is sent to a 404 from one of your internal pages. This you can control! To find out which of your pages are currently returning a 404, you can simply check your Webmaster Tools account or use a tool like 404 Checker. You can then check each of these pages and replace any internal links with a more appropriate page on your site. How to Find 404 Pages You can use any number of tools to identify 404 pages, such as Screaming Frog, Link Sleuth, or Google Webmaster
Great 404 Error Pages What We Learned From Great 404 Error Pages By Divi Fernando 21/04/2016 Every once a while you might have come across a 404 error page while surfing the web. These error pages are caused due to various reasons and most of them are out of your 404 error pages templates control. There are two types of 404 error pages: Generic 404 and Custom 404. A custom 404
404 Error Fix
helps in three ways: Reduces customer frustration Helps branding and linking to other parts of your website In some cases, it may even lead to conversions internet 404 error For all those who are not aware what 404 error pages are and what custom 404 means, read on to make your concepts clear. We are going to sum up the basics about error 404 and learn best practices and tips illustrated with a https://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2293339/404-page-best-practices few inspiring examples: What Are 404 Error Pages? When a page you are trying to open on a website cannot be found on their web server, it gives you a 404 error page. A 404 error is a response code from the server that is categorized under HTTP status codes. You would know it is a 404 error page when you see the following error messages: 404 Not Found The requested URL was not found on this server. HTTP 404 Not Found 404 Error The page cannot be https://www.woorank.com/en/blog/takeaways-from-great-404-error-pages found Shown below are two common samples of generic 404 error messages. The 404 errors can be caused due to various reasons, such as: Page requested does not exist Server is down Internet connection is down Broken links Incorrect URL Page has been moved to a different address Custom 404 Error Pages Vs. Generic 404 Error Pages The generic 404 error pages, as you can see in the sample screenshot above, generally do not direct the web surfer on what to do next. If leaving your website visitors clueless is not what you want, you must consider using custom 404 pages. You can check your site’s broken links with this tool and avoid 404’s occurrence, but you cannot avoid those that occur due to reasons out of your control. Hence, having a custom 404 page is a MUST. How To Setup A Custom 404 Page If it is a hand-coded site, you would need the help of your website designer or website developer to setup a custom 404 error page. If your website is built on a CMS (Content Management System) you can probably build your own 404 error page. Just follow the steps required to build a new webpage on your CMS. The following is a list of links to documents that demonstrate how to create a custom 404 page on the respective CMS’s: Creating an Error 404 Page on Wordpress Creating a Custom 404 Page on Joomlahttps://docs.joomla.org/Creating_a_Custom_404_Error_Page Specify 403 and 404 Pages on Drupal If you use any of the commercial web hosting services mentioned here you will f
130,000 Smart Insights members from 80 countries who trust our advice to Plan, Manage and Optimize their marketing. Email address GET ACCESS My clients love http://www.smartinsights.com/user-experience/findability/engage-with-404-error-pages/ the insights I am now capable of providing them - Drew https://moz.com/learn/seo/http-status-codes Shug, Owner, Big Storm Just like having an expert working by your side - Sharon Sheridan, Digital Marketing Manager It's made my digital marketing tangible, measureable and actionable - Kirsty H, Director of Content and Brand, Presentation Studio Actionable Marketing Advice Login Digital Marketing Toolkits Back Digital 404 error Marketing Strategy and Planning Digital Transformation Digital Experience Management (desktop/mobile website) Content Marketing Email Marketing Google Adwords Google Analytics Marketing Campaign Planning Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Social Media Marketing All Marketing Advice Industry Back Agency Business-to-Business (B2B) E-commerce / Retail Startup and Small Businesses Membership Back Membership options Membership for Businesses How can Expert Membership help me? Member support 404 error pages and FAQ Blog Back Our latest posts Most popular posts Social network updates Summary for past 7 days Company Back About Contact Us Advertising Consultancy Training Marketplace Login | Join now Search Popular Searches RACE planning Digital plan 7 examples of engaging 404 error pages April 4, 2014 Findability Share this:Tweet By Jill Quick Creative approaches to say sorry more positively Having worked on a number of web projects over the years, I still receive great examples of 404 page designs sent to me by my former team members. Why? A well designed 404 page can be an opportunity to build your brand when something goes wrong for your user and I attempt to bring them in all web projects I work on. If you're not a webmaster, you may not know what a 404 is, although you will certainly have seen them! Technically speaking Wikipedia describe it as 'The 404 or Not Found error message is a HTTP standard response code indicating that the client was able to communicate with the server, but the server could not find what was requested.' Your users will des
SEO with marketing resources for all skill levels: best practices, industry survey results, webinarsandmore. Advance your marketing skills: Local Marketing | Content | Social Media Get started with: The Beginner's Guide to SEO The Local Learning Center The Beginner's Guide to ContentMarketing Q&A Get answers from the Moz Community Help Hub Learn how to use Moz Products Community & Events Connect with 500K online marketers Blogs Read the Moz Blog and YouMoz Moz Pro Moz Pro: Resources Overview Features Pricing Resources Start My Free 30-Day Trial Overview Features Pricing Resources Start My Free 30-Day Trial HTTP Status Codes HyperText Transfer Protocol (or HTTP) response status codes are returned whenever search engines or website visitors make a request to a web server. These three-digit codes indicate the response and status of HTTP requests. Top Tips Use 301 redirects rather than 302 redirects when redirecting URLs on a site to ensure that link juice (ranking power) is passed between the redirecting web pages. Web pages that return 404 (File Not Found) for extended periods of time and that have valuable links should be 301 redirected to other web pages. It is important to have customized 404 pages with recommended navigational options when website visitors request pages that return a 404 response code. What are HTTP Status Codes? An SEO's Guide to HTTP Status Codes HTTP Status codes are three-digit numbers returned by servers that indicate the status of a web element. It is important to understand that the first digit of each three-digit status code begins with one of five numbers, 1 through 5. From the 100s through the 500s, status codes fall into the following categories: 100s - Informational: Request has been received and the process is continuing. 200s - Success: Request was received and processed successfully. 300s - Redirection: Request has been received, but needs to perform an additional step to complete the request. 400s - Client Error: Request was made by the client, but the page is not valid. 500s - Server Error: Valid request was made by the client, but the server failed to complete the request. While there are many different HTTP status codes, most are not directly important to SEO. Important HTTP Status Codes for SEOs and search engines 200 OK The request has succeeded. This is considered correct for most scenarios. 301 Moved Permanently The requested resource has been assigned a new permanent URI and any future references to this resource should use one of the returned URIs. The 301 redirect, as it is commonly called by SEOs, should be utilized any time one URL needs to be redirected