How To Fix 404 Page Not Found – Of the many errors you may see on your WordPress site, Error 404 is not one of the worst. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t frustrating when you or your visitors try to navigate your site and keep coming across a 404 Not Found error message. 😒 That’s the last thing you want first time customers to see from your brand. A 404 error can also be your signal that something has changed or moved, and a 301 redirect may need to be added for SEO.
In this post, we’re going to try to help you get your website working again by explaining a few things:
How To Fix 404 Page Not Found
The 404 (Not Found) status code indicates that the origin server has not found an existing representation for the target resource or is unwilling to report its existence. The 404 status code does not indicate whether this lack of representation is temporary or permanent; The 410 (Away) status code is preferred over 404 if the originating server knows, presumably through configuration methods, that the condition is likely to be permanent.
How To Optimize Your 404 Error Page And Make It Useful For Your Visitor
When you, or one of your visitors, visit your website, your browser sends a request to the web server and receives data back, giving a into what is called an HTTP header. The HTTP header contains an HTTP status code to explain “what happened” with the request.
Usually the request works perfectly and you will never see an HTTP status code (
, your browser will usually display a message with the HTTP status code to indicate the exact problem.
How To Fix The Error 404 Not Found
Just like other error messages (error 500, error 502, error 503, error 504, etc.), the Error 404 not found message is the result of that process.
. The visitor will then see a 404 error because, although your web server is working normally, the requested resource does not exist.
It’s not just posts or pages either, any missing asset can generate a 404 error on the server, such as a missing image file, missing JavaScript, missing CSS, etc.
Error, Page Not Found On Website Page. Vector Flat Illustration Stock Vector
If you see this error on all of your site’s content, it’s usually due to a problem with your WordPress site’s permalinks. If you’re only seeing it on individual content, it’s most likely because you edited the content thread without setting up a reference.
Additionally, a 404 error isn’t always bad—it’s only bad when it interferes with usability. And sometimes things are just out of control!
For example, sometimes a person might enter the wrong URL into their address bar. In that case, they will still see a 404 error, but there is no real problem with how your site is configured. This is actually the answer you want, and you can create your own custom 404 page to help get visitors to the right place (
Error 404 And You
Because different browsers display error messages differently, you may see a different message for this error. Other common variants include:
The 404 Not Found Error message is also unique in that many sites will actually create a custom page to deal with the error, instead of displaying one of the above messages. Some WordPress themes also include custom 404 pages by default. For that reason, you may not see the error message at all because many sites will use funny or creative 404 pages instead.
Below is an example of our own 404 page at . We have a search box and some of our recent blog posts to help visitors find what they may be looking for. Always include search activity on your 404 page.
Oops 404 Error Page Not Found Stock Vector (royalty Free) 1505544152
A 404 not found error has no negative impact on SEO. But it could have serious consequences depending on the reason the error occurs.
For example, if a visitor just writes the wrong URL and sees a 404 error – it will not have a negative impact on SEO. But if you have individual errors as a result of broken URLs, it will hinder Google’s ability to crawl your site properly and have a negative SEO impact that way.
Additionally, if a permalink problem causes 404 errors on the site, Google will not be able to crawl your site’s content. In other words, fix your 404 errors as soon as possible.
Error Page Not Found Concept With People Trying To Fix Error On Website Page Near Big Symbol 404. Can Use For Web Banner, Stock Vector
Many people don’t realize it, but sites that generate a lot of 404 errors can easily run into performance issues, because these responses are usually not cached. We’ve seen this a lot on larger sites, and it can be a big problem if you accidentally advertise or get a viral traffic spike on a 404 page. To minimize the impact of 404 requests on site performance, we automatically ‘ deposit 404 pages for 15 minutes. If you create a new page with the same URL as the 404 page in the cache, we will automatically clear the cache so that your visitors can see the new page immediately. This means your website will be protected from PHP and CPU spikes caused by traffic to dynamic 404 pages.
You may be generating more 404 errors than you think! My My Analysis Tool can help you determine the exact size (as shown below).
You can also quickly see what the main 404 errors are. In this example below, you can see that the site is missing some mobile images, such as
Inspiring 404 Error Pages From Around The World
. These are most likely in the requested theme or plugin code, but the images were never added. Therefore, the server generates a 404 error because it cannot find the resource.
You can also check for 404 errors in Google Search Console or install a third-party plugin such as Redirect that logs 404 errors. However, remember that such plugins also affect performance. It is far better to rely on a server level tool. That’s why we offer these tools to all customers.
The reason these errors are bad is that many 404 pages are very resource intensive. For large sites, you want to avoid a heavy 404 page. Create a simple 404 template that avoids further database queries if possible.
How To Fix Opencart 404 Page Not Found Error?
Below we will go over several different methods to fix the 404 not found error, depending on whether it occurs on the site or on specific content.
If you are experiencing site 404 errors when trying to access content, the most likely cause is a problem with your permalinks (or your .htaccess file, if your host uses Apache). If you are a customer, we use Nginx, so you can manage the .htaccess file as a possible reason.
The easiest way to fix this is to update your permalink settings through the WordPress dashboard. All you have to do is go to Settings → Permalinks and click Save Changes (you don’t need to make any changes – just click Save Changes).
What Is A 404 Error And How Do You Fix It?
Users then try to access the content in the old site and see a 404 page instead of the resource they expected. The best way to fix this is to automatically redirect anyone trying to access the old location to the new location. So they reach the right place without 404 errors. It is also good for SEO. If you move or rename a post without adding a reference, you will lose all domain authority associated with the backlinks pointing to that post.
By default, WordPress will try to redirect modified content/move. But it doesn’t always work and you should never rely on WordPress for this functionality. But don’t worry, there are some easy ways to set up referrals on WordPress:
First, you can use the free Redirects plugin to manage redirects from your WordPress dashboard. Once you have installed and activated the plugin, go to Tools → Redirects and enter the 404 page URL in the Source URL field and the new content location in the field Target URL:
How To Find 404 Page Not Found Error Pages On Your Blog & Fix
If you’re co-hosting, you can also manage referrals from my dashboard. Using the tool is a better way to go about it because the rules are implemented at the server level, which is a much better way in terms of performance. That also means a third-party plugin you have to worry about.
Go to the page you want to manage. Then click on the “References” tab. To add a new redirect, click the big “Add Redirect Rule” button:
Finally, if your host uses the Apache server, you can use .htaccess to set up redirects. The .htaccess Generator site can help you generate the correct code to add to your site’s .htaccess file.
How To Fix “404 Page Not Found” Error On “?m=1” Redirect
While you can do your best to prevent 404 errors by following the tips above, it’s impossible to completely eliminate 404 errors because some things are simply out of your control . It’s not unusual for small WordPress sites to have thousands of 404 errors every month.
For example, if a visitor types in the wrong URL, or another website links to a page that doesn’t exist, people will get a 404 error regardless.
For an easier to use error page, you can use one of the many 404 page plugins. For example, the free 404page plugin lets you set up a custom 404 error page with:
Broken 404 Page On /admin[…] Urls · Issue #2939 · Pimcore/pimcore · Github
Another important feature