What is a Page 404?

A 404 page is shown to a visitor to a website when the page being searched does not exist or cannot be found.

What is a 404 page?

A 404 page means that the website works, but the URL cannot be found. Not being able to find the URL can be for several reasons. It could be that it was typed incorrectly, that an internal or external reference is incorrect or that the page has been removed or moved. The visitor sees an error message ‘Error 404’ or ‘Not Found’. These are one of the HTTP status codes.

A page not found is not only annoying for the visitor, but it can also have a negative influence on the reliability that the organization radiates. In addition, it also affects SEO as search engines will remove the page from the search results.

What to do with a 404 page?

What should you do if an error 404 appears? If the website (URL) or device you are receiving the HTTP status code on does not belong to your company, you should contact that company. For your own website, you can use Google Analytics and Google Search Console to check whether all pages still exist.

When the error 404 appears because the page (URL) no longer exists, this can be solved by means of a 301 redirect. With a 301 redirect you automatically refer the visitor to the correct page. This is also a solution for SEO, because in this way the search results can be adjusted.