Whenever the browser asks a website to display something, and if the website cannot find the right page to display, then it shows an error or if the domain is not pointed correctly, or there is a broken .htaccess file or misconfigured file permission, then there comes an error, which is known as 404-page error. These are typically uncovered by users when they attempt to access a defunct website.

 

What Exactly Does it Mean When Your Website Displays a 404 Page Error?

It’s a common enough mistake that you’ll probably see it somewhere online. A client-side 404-page error indicates that the server was unable to locate the specified URL. It gets displayed by its longer name, “404 Page Not Found,” which indicates the page can’t be found on the server.

What Causes This 404 Page Error Message?

Now let us check what causes the 404-page error on the page.

The 404-page error could get occurred due to several reasons.

• If you recently deleted or removed pages from your website without redirecting their URLs, you can find 404 errors.
• When you have relaunched or transferred your domain and get failed to redirect all the previous URLs to the new site, then you can find 404-page errors.
• If you change the page’s URL, or alter any part of the URL, whether it be a category name or the slug of the page, then it will result in 404-page errors.

What Kinds of 404 Pages Errors Are There?

There are two distinct categories of errors, including the Hard 404-page error and the Soft 404-page error. 

Hard 404-page errors:

Hard 404-page errors display the message “Not Found Page” and take place if there is a link that is broken. They also take place whenever there is a link that redirects visitors to pages that do not currently exist.

Soft 404-page errors:

A Soft 404-page error gets displayed when a removed page shows the message a page not found to those who are trying to access it but does not return an ‘HTTP 404 status code.’  In other words, the above issue takes place whenever the removed/non-existing pages redirect users to an irrelevant page, such as the homepage of the website.

Occurrence of 404 Page Error on Different Browsers:

Mozilla Firefox:

When Mozilla Firefox encounters a 404 error, it displays the message, ‘The resource you have requested could not be found on this server!’

Google Chrome:

Google Chrome provides a helpful message in the HTTP status code field of the 404-page error.

Opera:

If you get a 404-page error while using Opera, the page status is described at the top of the page. 

How Does The 404 Page Error Occur? What Are Its Causes?  

You just need to understand now what are the reasons for which your site returns 404-page error pages.

• There is a wide variety of potential causes for the 404-page errors that are displayed on your website.
• Whenever you delete or remove pages from your site recently without redirecting their URLs then you will get 404-page error pages.
• If you relaunch or transfer your domain and failed to redirect all the previous URLs to the new site, then you can come across the 404-page errors page.
• The 404 page can also occur while changing the URL of the page, altering any part of it, whether it is a category name or the slug of the page.  

Why 404 Page errors are bad for the website?

The 404-page error is one of the most probably seen errors. Whenever a client accesses a webpage that has been removed or deleted, and which does not exist, then they find the 404-page error. This issue can get caused by broken links, incorrect URLs, or a redirected page that is no longer valid. It can bring trouble to the page.

The 404-page errors can also affect Search Engine Optimization and even degrade the ranking of the site, which can result in a terrible experience. When your site has more broken links, then it will become difficult for Google and other search engines to crawl your site, which can adversely drop the ranking of your site. It can ultimately give rise to a high bounce rate if the visitor leaves your site due to landing on a 404 page. If this happens consistently without taking fruitful efforts to resolve it, then it can surely increase the bounce rate, and degrade the ranking of your site. This is the reason why the 404-page errors are not good for your website.

How to Find 404 Page Errors on Your Website?

After knowing about the 404-page errors and their causes, let us move toward the ways to find them. There are some tools that can help to find the 404-page errors on the site. Let us have a look at it.

Google Search Console:

Initially, one needs to log in to the Google Search Console account. Then just click on Diagnostics > Crawl Errors, and after clicking on ‘Not Found,’ it shows the list of all URLs that result in a 404-page error. 

WordPress Plugin – Broken Link Checker.

Broken Link Checker is a free WordPress Plugin, which explores the entire site for broken links and determines their status. If you have a WordPress-based website, then the Broken Link Checker will act as the best option for you.

Serpstat:

One needs to click on ‘Create’ after starting a project and entering the domain name, team name, and community name. Then the site gets added to the project list and the ‘Domain Audit’ column gets displayed. You need to click the ‘Start Audit’ button to begin the audit. Open the folder and look for all the 404-page errors, once you are done with the report. It helps to learn more about the error and how to resolve it.

Screaming Frog:

Screaming Frog is one of the best ways to find out the broken links that cause 404-page errors. One can quickly find the 404-page errors with the Screaming Frog. You just need to start by running a site audit, and then go to the top menu and click ‘Response Codes.’ You can filter it for ‘Client Error 4XX to get a list of every page returning a 404-page error.

Dead Link Checker:

It is similar to Screaming Frog, and one can use it to check around 2000 links on the site to find if any of those are broken.

Google Analytics:

Google Analytics can be used to find the 404-page errors, if one has a custom 404 page.

MonsterInsights:

MonsterInsights works in a great way for those who have a WordPress site. It assists in automatically track the 404-page errors when you connect to your Google Analytics.

How to Find and Fix the 404 Pages Error on Your Website?

There are four ways to fix the 404 Page Error.

Redirect the 404 Page Error:

Redirecting the 404 Page Error is one of the easiest methods used to fix the 404-page error on your site in which the users can be redirected to another relevant page. Only the users should be redirected to some relevant page and not back to the homepage.

Restore the Page:

Sometimes the deleted page has a lot of demand from the viewers, and if there is no suitable page to redirect the users, then it is mandatory to restore the original page.

Correct the Link:

You can simply edit the broken link that exists on your site and point it to the correct URL.

Create a 404 Page:

One can also create a custom 404-page error to make sure that no visit is wasted.

Clear Cache:

One can clear all the cache from the data of the browser. It is one of the simplest ways to fix the 404-page error.

Conclusion:

Every problem has a solution! You just need to identify it, accept it, and change it accordingly. If you have 404-page errors, then prioritize your efforts with the above strategies. Understand its root cause, deal with it, fix it with the ways/methods mentioned above, and remove the 404-page errors. If you have a 404-page error on many pages, then fix it first to save your site from the bounce rate. If a 404-page error probably occurs on contact pages, product pages, form filling pages, project placing pages, blogs pages, service pages, or any other pages, then find and fix it with the help of mentioned tools and strategies. The 404-page errors can damage your website ranking and negatively impact SEO, which could make it difficult for search engines to crawl your sites. Hence, it is crucial to find and fix 404-page errors on priority. We hope this article will help you to fix the 404-page error.