The error messages ‘HTTP 404’, ‘404 Not Found’, ‘Error 404’ or ‘Page Not Found’ all say the same thing: the server cannot find the page or file a visitor is trying to access.
One of the most common ‘404 Not Found’ is when a visitor tries to request a broken or dead link. In other words: the visitor requests a page that no longer exists or has been given a different URL. It could also be that a user simply typed the wrong URL into the browser bar.
How do I avoid error 404?
Most visitors who encounter an error 404 leave the website immediately. Fortunately, there is no man overboard! An error 404 is very easy to fix and easy to avoid. As we just told you, most 404 errors are caused by pages that no longer exist or not redirecting to a new URL. An error 404 has nothing to do with an error in the web design.
The solution: a 301 redirect
A URL of a website can be compared with an address in a residential area. If you have moved, you must indicate this to all interested parties. This also applies to a URL. When you change the name of a URL, you must redirect it to the new page. This can be done via a 301 redirect.
Create 301 redirect
There are several 301 redirect plugins available for WordPress. The plugin we use for creating redirects is Yoast SEO Premium .
Yoast’s built-in Redirect manager notifies you when you change the URL of a post or page, which can lead to a possible error 404. You can also set Yoast to automatically create redirects for you. In addition, Yoast also offers the possibility to adjust or remove the redirects at a later time.
Check redirect
To quickly check if the redirect is working, you can use an HTTP status code checker such as HTTP status. Copy-paste the old URL into your browser. If it changes to the new URL and the status code is 301, then the redirect is set up correctly.
Detect Error 404
Of course, you would prefer to prevent visitors from ending up on an error 404 page. Fortunately, it is very easy to sport the error 404 pages on your website and solve any problems yourself. For example, you can use Google Search Console or SE Ranking for this.
Extra tip: create your own page for the best user experience
It is of course possible that visitors still end up on a page that displays a 404 error. Simply because they typed in a wrong URL, for example. This is easily remedied by creating a custom 404 page. On this page, you try to entice the visitor to look further on your website.
It is important that you make the error 404 pages look attractive and convince visitors to stay on your website. You can achieve this by, for example, adding a search bar that visitors can use to navigate to another page. It also helps to place a hyperlink that directs visitors back to the homepage.