How to create a 404-error page

Everything must be perfect on a site, even non-existent pages. Error 404 spoils the impression of the site and reduces traffic because users simply close the tab or return to the search engine results to continue looking for answers to their questions.

The 404 Not Found response code means that the user is trying to follow a link to a page that doesn't exist or that has moved to another address. A non-optimized 404-error page looks like this:

Or so, if we are trying to get to the page from Google search:

This problem can occur for several reasons:

In most cases, site owners, especially of the large ones, may simply not be aware of the existence of this error. The more pages and the more complex structure, the easier it is to make mistakes in the link setup. To analyze and check the "bitness" of the links, you can use the "Site Audit" service in Serpstat. It'll analyze all internal and external links of the site, specify the availability and nature of different issues.

To do this, open the list of projects, and add a new one. Enter the domain of the site in the window that opens. The name will appear automatically, but you can change it. Next, click "Create", and run the audit.

After that, a window with check settings will appear on the screen. You can set your limits on the number of pages that are scanned, the speed and duration of the scan. It's better to choose the automatic scanning speed in order not to overload the site.

Having finished setting, you can begin the audit. Its duration depends on the number of pages and links on the site.

The result of the check will include all 404 errors that were detected. They are collected in a table in the error summary. In the same table, you can see the problem description and the ways how to solve it.

Besides, the service will show the overall level of domain optimization, the graph of the depth of verification and other indicators.

We don't always know at what exact address the error is, and if there is one at all. Moreover, the problem often arises because the user enters the wrong address. Thus, it's better to be safe and think ahead about what the error 404 "Page Not Found" will look like if something goes wrong.

The page should be both interesting and useful to the user. The error pattern 404 must be creative and fit into the overall concept. Also, much depends on the specificity and orientation of the site. The page must have a small text with the explained situation to the user.

Information and entertainment portals attach links to other materials. It's desirable for them to be thematically intertwined with what the user is looking for.

In this case, you need to know the exact page which the user tried to hit in order to offer him a similar product or material. You can easily do it if the URL contains a category or section.

Designers often add interesting animations or even mini-games. From our own experience, we can say that such methods of user distraction from the negative work at 100%. Here's the collection of original page design options for 404:

Sometimes developers redirect the users to the main page or other site pages, without any explanation. You shouldn't do that. As a result, the user begins to nervously poke at the same item in the hope of still going to the desired page but constantly gets the wrong place.

It's better to explain to a person that there is no such page, or it has moved and to offer him or her something in exchange, for example, similar materials, the ability to continue the search or interactive content.

Proper registration of this error directly affects the confidence of a potential client or reader. If users often stumble upon Error 404 Not Found and immediately leave the site, we don't just lose traffic. We give our competitors positions in the search results list.

Search engines track user behavior on sites. Permanent loss of traffic means that the resource doesn't work correctly and doesn't bring any benefit. The optimized 404-error page allows you to retain the user and offer him something useful in exchange. Thus, a positive effect on ranking.

This page is usually created by default for all the sites, regardless of the used CMS. The exception is one-page business card sites. It's important to remember that this is the same full page of your site, just like all the others.

Therefore, you need to know not only how to make a 404-error page, but also how to connect it to the site via the .htaccess file. First, you need to transfer the 404-page template to the root folder of the site. Then open the .htaccess file and write the following code in it:

YOUR_SITE is the domain, and the entire link is the path to the real page. We enter it in any free line.

Due to this, it'll be displayed the 404 page, the template of which we created, and not the standard one. Instead of expanding in PHP, you can write in HTML, there's no real difference.

We fill in on a hosting and check. To do this, make a mistake in any of the links of the site (add or remove a letter, for example). If the server shows a new 404 page, it means that everything is OK. If it doesn't happen, an error was made most likely in the code.

Popular CMSs allow you to automate this process and eliminate the need to edit the code manually. For example, in WordPress, this task is solved by the 404-page plugin. It allows you to customize the page with the error "on almost any topic". To install it, you need a version of WordPress 4.0. Similar solutions exist for other CMS.

The optimized 404-error page helps not only to keep the user but also to increase the audience loyalty to the service.

Don't forget that this is a full-fledged page, which should be concerned as much with design and development as with the other site pages and functionality in general.