Off page SEO

How to fix a 404 error

Here are a few different ways you can fix a 404 error code on your website:

1. Moving a page or directory

As you add pages to your site, there’s a chance they end up in the wrong folder.

This fix is simple — you just need to check the pathway to the page you want to access and compare it with what’s in your file transfer protocol (FTP) service or content management system (CMS).

If the location doesn’t match, move it accordingly and try accessing the page again.

Sometimes, the folder could be the issue instead of the page. If you move a folder that contains multiple pages, all the individual pages’ URLs will change. You need to account for these changes and update the URLs as needed.

2. Using redirects

If you need to move a page to another location, implement a 301 redirect to prevent the page from crashing to a 404. A 301 redirect tells the Internet and Google that your page has moved permanently to a new URL. This redirect will send users from the old page to the new one.

Let’s say you have individual product pages, but you want to move them under one parent page, which changes the URLs. You don’t want users to bounce from the product page. Adding a redirect to the new location can improve UX and help SEO by helping search engines index your site and pages.

3. Restoring deleted pages

You might notice that old or deleted content is receiving a lot of traffic, leading to 404s. Using your CMS or website analytics, you can see what pages are getting traffic and, if possible, reboot the URL to capture that traffic and prevent 404s.

Say that you wrote a blog post on a trending industry topic. However, you later rewrote or combined the content with another page, so you delete the first link. In that case, you could still get traffic for a page that doesn’t exist.

In that case, it may be best to revive the page and create a page worth viewing. This step will help with SEO and boost your keyword targeting and UX.

4. Leaving error pages for low-performing content

Sometimes, leaving an error page can help with SEO. If you have low-performing content, leaving an error page can tell Google that you removed it and are focused on improving your site.

It’s normal for sites to have 404 pages that tell users what to do next:

Adding these pages can help search engine crawlers and keep people on your site for longer, even when they hit the 404. A 404 page can contain links to other recommended pages. For example, a franchise site might link to its individual locations.

5. Looking for broken links

Often, a 404 error can be as simple as a broken or mistyped link.

Finding and removing a broken link can prevent unnecessary 404s and help clean up your internal linking. Tools like this one from Ahrefs make it easy to account for all your links.

404s are part of owning a website. Regardless of how you choose to handle them, making sure you give your users and search engines the best experience possible will serve you best in the long run.