Error 404: What It Is, What It Impacts, and How to Fix It

What Is Error 404?

An HTTP mistake 404 happens erstwhile a web server can’t find a resource, specified arsenic a webpage, astatine a circumstantial URL.

This tin hap if:

• The idiosyncratic entered an incorrect leafage URL, perchance owed to a typo
• The website proprietor deleted the resource, truthful it’s nary longer disposable connected the server
• The website proprietor changed the URL linking to the resource
• The website proprietor misconfigured the website, preventing the server from uncovering the resource

Website owners thin to dread 404 errors.

Why?

Because 404 errors marque it truthful users can’t entree the page's content, adjacent if they try.

However, 404 errors aren’t ever negative. They tin assistance hunt engines successful decently indexing and ranking your pages. 

This nonfiction provides a elaborate mentation of mistake 404 and its impacts. You’ll larn however to place 404 errors connected your website and methods to hole them if necessary.

What Does a 404 Error Look Like?

A 404 mistake tin look successful assorted forms.

Sometimes, the mistake leafage is precise simple:

Other times, they are much intricate oregon adjacent playful:

Here’s different illustration of a playful 404 mistake page:

Common messages you mightiness spot connected 404 mistake pages include:

• “The leafage you’re trying to entree doesn’t exist”
• “This leafage has been moved oregon deleted”
• “The requested leafage URL can’t beryllium found”

However, each 404 mistake pages stock 1 thing: the HTTP presumption code 404.

Every clip you sojourn a website, HTTP presumption codes are exchanged.

When you benignant a URL oregon click a link, your browser sends a petition to the site's server. The server responds with an HTTP presumption codification that provides accusation astir the page.

HTTP presumption codes are ever 3 digits and autumn into 5 categories:

The "404" presumption codification indicates that the assets astatine that URL is "not found."

When a browser tries to load contented from a URL wherever the contented doesn't exist, it receives the "404" HTTP presumption codification from the server.

You tin cheque immoderate URL's HTTP presumption codification utilizing an HTTP presumption checker instrumentality similar httpstatus.io.

To usage the tool, unfastened it and paste a URL into the substance field. Then click "Check status."

The instrumentality volition show the URL's presumption code.

‘Hard’ vs. ‘Soft’ 404 Errors

A hard 404 mistake occurs erstwhile a leafage is wholly unavailable, and the server correctly responds with a 404 HTTP presumption code.

This effect informs some users and hunt engines that the leafage doesn’t exist, ensuring that hunt engines don’t discarded resources attempting to crawl oregon scale it.

When hunt engines brushwood hard 404 errors, they usually region these pages from their indexes.

In contrast, a brushed 404 mistake happens erstwhile a leafage appears to load successfully and returns a 200 presumption code, but its contented signals to hunt engines that it’s fundamentally unavailable.

This often occurs erstwhile an mistake connection oregon placeholder leafage is displayed without the close 404 presumption code.

For example, a leafage labeled "Page not found" with small oregon nary contented whitethorn confuse hunt engines into treating it arsenic a low-value leafage alternatively than removing it from the index.

Both hard and brushed 404 errors tin negatively interaction SEO.

Impacts of 404 Errors

404 errors connected your pages tin pb to respective consequences, particularly if these pages shouldn’t person 404 errors.

1. Poor User Experience

404 errors tin harm your visitors' idiosyncratic acquisition by preventing them from accessing the pages they privation to see.

Let’s accidental you’re speechmaking a TIME Magazine nonfiction connected the champion fare advice. You determine to click connected the linked text: "Read astir environmentally affable food."

But the nexus directs you to a 404 mistake page:

This mistake stops you from learning much astir environmentally affable food.

You person 2 options:

• Spend other clip searching for accusation connected environmentally affable nutrient elsewhere, which is inconvenient compared to the expected acquisition erstwhile clicking the link.
• Choose not to larn astir environmentally affable food astatine this time, which is disappointing since the nonfiction sparked your interest.

In either case, it results successful a antagonistic idiosyncratic experience.

Your cognition of the marque and your information to revisit the tract apt did not amended due to the fact that of this experience.

2. Search Engines Being Unable to Rank Your Page

For a leafage to fertile connected search motor results pages (SERPs), hunt engines indispensable archetypal index it by adding it to their hunt database.

If a hunt motor encounters a 404 mistake portion crawling a page, it recognizes that the leafage doesn’t exist.

As a result, the hunt motor won’t scale oregon fertile that page.

This means users can’t observe that leafage done hunt motor searches.

3. Reduced SERP Presence

Pages connected your website with 404 errors tin bounds your site's wide visibility connected SERPs.

Since hunt engines don’t fertile pages with 404 errors, a website with specified pages volition person less pages eligible to look connected SERPs.

Additionally, immoderate backlinks to pages with 404 errors go ineffective, providing little payment to your website's authority. This makes your tract look little authoritative to hunt engines, perchance lowering its SERP rankings.

This reduced SERP beingness whitethorn pb to decreased integrated postulation to your website.

How to Identify 404 Errors connected Your Website

You could find 404 errors connected your website by manually clicking each nexus to spot if it leads to a "page not found" mistake message.

However, this method is tedious and time-consuming. Manually differentiating betwixt "hard" and "soft" 404 errors tin besides beryllium difficult.

Instead, effort these methods for scanning your website for 404 errors astatine scale:

1. Use Semrush’s Site Audit Tool

Semrush’s Site Audit instrumentality tin observe implicit 140 method website issues, including 404 errors. It besides suggests solutions for fixing these issues.

Launch the tool, participate your domain, and click "Start Audit." Then, travel the prompts to acceptable up your caller project.

Site Audit volition statesman checking your website for issues and make an "Overview" report.

Click the report's "Issues" tab.

If Site Audit finds 404 errors connected your website, you’ll spot them nether the "Errors" section. Look for a enactment that says "# pages returned 4XX presumption code."

Click this hyperlinked substance to presumption a database of leafage URLs that returned a 4XX presumption code, specified arsenic a 404, 410, oregon 403 error.

To benignant the leafage URLs by their HTTP presumption codes successful ascending order, click the arrows adjacent to the "HTTP Code" heading twice.

This groups each leafage URLs starring to 404 errors unneurotic for casual reference.

Next to immoderate leafage URL starring to a 404 error, click “(View breached links)”:

This shows you a database of pages that person included the breached URL successful their content.

From here, you tin fix these URLs to forestall users from encountering 404 errors.

To acceptable up regular, automatic auditing, click the cogwheel icon astatine the apical of the report. Then prime "Schedule: Weekly, Every Friday" nether "Site Audit settings" to person Site Audit regularly scan your website for 404 errors.

2. Use the Dead Link Checker Tool

Dead Link Checker scans your website for dormant oregon broken links—links that neglect to bring the idiosyncratic to the intended destination, perchance owed to a 404 error.

The escaped mentation tin cheque up to 2,000 links astatine once.

To usage it:

• Open Dead Link Checker successful your browser
• Enter your website domain into the substance box
• Ensure the "Whole Website" mounting is enabled
• Click "Check”

Fill retired the provided information code:

Press "Enter" oregon "Return" connected your keyboard to commencement the scan.

For each breached URL found, the instrumentality displays:

• The URL's status (e.g., "404 Not Found" for URLs with 404 errors)
• The URL that returned an error
• The URL's root nexus text (anchor text). Clicking the root nexus substance opens the leafage containing the breached URL successful a caller browser tab, allowing you to find and hole the breached URL.

3. Check Google Search Console

Google Search Console (GSC) provides reports connected your website's show connected Google's hunt results, including a leafage indexing study that displays URLs with "hard" and "soft" 404 errors.

If you haven't acceptable up GSC for your website, you tin travel the instructions successful this GSC guide.

To entree GSC's leafage indexing report:

• Open GSC
• Select your website spot from the drop-down paper astatine the apical left
• Click "Pages" nether the "Indexing" tab successful the near sidebar

The "Page indexing" study volition load. Scroll to the "Why pages aren't indexed" section.

If Google has detected 404 errors, you’ll spot a "Not recovered (404)" row.

If Google has detected "soft" 404 errors, determination volition beryllium a "Soft 404" row.

Click either enactment to presumption the corresponding report.

Scroll down to spot examples of URLs that instrumentality "hard" oregon "soft" 404 errors.

The database of URLs successful GSC's leafage indexing reports isn’t exhaustive because:

• The study is based connected Google’s past crawl of your website; caller errors whitethorn person appeared since then
• The study tin show lone up to 1,000 URLs astatine once

Do Your Website’s 404 Errors Need Fixing?

Not each 404 errors request fixing.

If you delete pages from your website and don’t privation users to entree them, their URLs should instrumentality 404 errors. This tells hunt engines not to scale oregon fertile their content.

If you privation to show and thrust postulation to pages that presently instrumentality 404 errors, past you request to hole them.

How to Fix Your Website’s 404 Errors

Even if Google detects a "404 not found" mistake connected a page, it volition proceed to crawl the page—though little often implicit clip and perchance stopping altogether.

There are 5 methods to hole unwanted 404 errors connected your pages earlier Google's adjacent crawl.

The diagram beneath shows which method mightiness beryllium astir due for immoderate peculiar 404 mistake situation:

1. Correct the Link Causing the 404 Error

If a nexus connected your website leads to a 404 mistake owed to a typo, edit the nexus truthful it directs users to the close page.

For example, if the incorrect nexus is “https://example.com/blog/hello-wold” but it should beryllium “https://example.com/blog/hello-world,” hole the 404 mistake by correcting the nexus to “https://example.com/blog/hello-world.”

2. Redirect the 404 Error-Causing URL

Set up a redirect that automatically takes users to the close leafage to forestall users from landing connected a leafage wherever contented doesn’t exist.

This solution is perfect if you’ve moved a page's contented from its archetypal URL to a antithetic one. A redirect sends users to the caller leafage determination without requiring updates to each instances of the nexus connected your website.

Let’s accidental you primitively published a usher to owning a feline astatine “https://example.com/owning-a-cat.”

Later, you constitute guides for different types of pets and determine to signifier each guides nether the subdirectory “https://example.com/guides/.”

You alteration the URL for your feline usher to “https://example.com/guides/owning-a-cat” and acceptable up a redirect from “https://example.com/owning-a-cat” to “https://example.com/guides/owning-a-cat.”

Now, users who sojourn “https://example.com/owning-a-cat” won’t spot a 404 error. Instead, they’ll automatically scope your usher astatine “https://example.com/guides/owning-a-cat” without immoderate other effort.

There are assorted types of redirects. If you mean to permanently redirect users from 1 URL to another, acceptable up a 301 redirect.

Further reading: Redirects: What They Are & How to Use Them

3. Add Content to the Page with a 404 Error

If you privation users to entree a URL that presently leads to a 404 error, adhd contented to the page. 

Once the leafage has content, the 404 mistake volition vanish due to the fact that the server tin present find resources astatine that URL.

You tin populate the leafage by restoring backup contented oregon creating caller content.

4. Remove the 404 Error-Causing URL from Your Website (and Redirect It)

If you nary longer request a URL that causes a 404 error, region it from your website. This prevents users from clicking the URL and encountering a 404 error.

If you utilized Semrush Site Audit to identify 404 errors, clicking "(View breached links)" adjacent to a breached URL volition uncover the pages that see instrumentality 404 errors.

Edit these pages to region links to URLs that origin 404 errors.

Afterward, set up an due redirect for each URL you removed. This ensures that users who effort to sojourn the URL from bookmarks oregon outer links are redirected appropriately.

5. Restore a Clean .htaccess File

The .htaccess file contains rules that configure websites hosted connected Apache web servers.

If this record is corrupted oregon its rules are formatted incorrectly, your website whitethorn not load properly, causing 404 errors erstwhile users effort to sojourn circumstantial pages.

To hole this issue, regenerate the corrupted .htaccess record with a cleanable version.

You tin make a cleanable .htaccess record utilizing a instrumentality similar .htaccess Generator. Then, edit your existing .htaccess record to regenerate its contents with the caller cleanable version.

The nonstop steps beryllium connected your hosting platform. Here are guides for editing an .htaccess record connected assorted fashionable hosting platforms:

• Bluehost
• HostGator
• Hostwinds
• InMotion Hosting

Your hosting platform's lawsuit enactment squad tin assistance if you request assistance editing your .htaccess file.

Check Your Website for Error 404s Regularly

Having pages with mistake 404 connected your website isn’t needfully bad. However, you should beryllium alert of which pages person 404 errors.

By knowing this, you tin hole unwanted 404 errors that harm idiosyncratic acquisition oregon inadvertently trim integrated postulation to your site.

Semrush's Site Audit instrumentality effortlessly detects 404 errors connected websites of each sizes. Sign up for a escaped Semrush proceedings to enactment the instrumentality to enactment connected your website today.