All About Custom 404 Pages

A custom 404 page is a page on your site that appears when a user reaches a broken link to your site. You need one because it can help your search engine rankings and it can also prevent your users from leaving your site.

First, create a page on your site that directs people to your home page or other location with a message stating that they have found a page that no longer exists. Add the page to your site files.

Second, check to see if you have an .htaccess file in the root folder of your site. If so, you will want to alter this in Notepad (or similar editor). If you do not have an .htaccess file, create one with Notepad (or similar) making sure there is no .txt. extension on the file. Inside the file, you need to use this text:

ErrorDocument 404 /filename.html

filename.html should be replaced with the name of the file you created for the page you added to your site.

Third, test it out. Try a url that doesn't exist on your site to see if your custom 404 page is working. If it is not working, check with your web host. See our web design 404 page.

Search engines like to see that you have a 404 page covered and users appreciate not receiving a 'This Page Cannot Be Found' error.