{"id":6833,"date":"2017-05-02T09:06:19","date_gmt":"2017-05-02T09:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/?p=6833"},"modified":"2024-10-31T13:18:18","modified_gmt":"2024-10-31T13:18:18","slug":"use-404-error-improve-sites-seo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/use-404-error-improve-sites-seo\/","title":{"rendered":"How Fixing 404 Errors Improves Your Site\u2019s SEO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\">Website owners hate 404 errors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">And they don\u2019t want their visitors to encounter the error either. While it\u2019s a good idea to minimise the possibility of 404s as much as possible, the truth is that you cannot simply eradicate the problem.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">This is probably the most important part that most bloggers and website owners choose to neglect for whatever reason.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">404 errors are a reality, and you can\u2019t escape it. It\u2019s how you use it to your own advantage can make all the difference.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">In this blog post, we are going to discuss how to embrace the reality, accept the fact that you cannot completely eradicate 404s, and how to use it to your own advantage and improve your website\u2019s SEO.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Let\u2019s start with the beginning.<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>What is a 404 error?<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">A 404 error occurs when a user cannot find a webpage on your website. It can happen because of two reasons:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">You may used to have a webpage that isn\u2019t there on your website anymore. Perhaps the URL has been changed or the page simply no longer exists. Whenever a user tries to reach that URL, he will be encountered with a 404 error.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">The user enters a wrong URL and tries to reach a webpage with the wrong address.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">You should be concerned with the first reason. It is your job to make sure that each and every page has the correct URL and is easily accessible. Additionally, if there are broken pages, you should fix them right away. That will help you minimise the possibility of 404s.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">However, you cannot control the second aspect of it, i.e., a website user entering the wrong URL. This is why you cannot completely eradicate the 404 errors on your website.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Making 404 Pages Pretty (And Useful)<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Now that we have established that 404s cannot be completely avoided, it is time to start using them to our advantages.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Here is an example of how a generic 404 error page looks like.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/improvemysearchranking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Improve-Your-Sites-SEO.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-6838\" src=\"https:\/\/improvemysearchranking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Improve-Your-Sites-SEO.png\" alt=\"Improve Your Site\u2019s SEO\" width=\"392\" height=\"294\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Pretty ugly, right?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Apart from being horrendous to look at, this 404 page also does not serve any purpose. More precisely:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">It assumes that the user knows what a 404 error is.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">It does not tell them what to do next.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">On the other hand, look at the following example and notice the differences.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/improvemysearchranking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/\u2018404-Error-to-Improve-Your-Sites-SEO.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-6839\" src=\"https:\/\/improvemysearchranking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/\u2018404-Error-to-Improve-Your-Sites-SEO.png\" alt=\"\u2018404 Error\u2019 to Improve Your Site\u2019s SEO\" width=\"271\" height=\"357\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">The above page is an example from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quicksprout.com\/blog\/\"><span class=\"s3\">Neil Patel\u2019s QuickSprout blog<\/span><\/a>. Since Neil Patel is an influencer \u2014 and people know his blog because of him \u2014 the 404 page is perfect because of multiple reasons:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">First, it clearly indicates that the page users are trying to visit doesn\u2019t exist. It doesn\u2019t assume that everybody would know what a 404 error is.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">The blog is the biggest component of his website, so the 404 page clearly tries to redirect visitors to it.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">The second biggest component is the \u2018About Me\u2019 page (because, again, Neil Patel is an influencer and a well-recognized celebrity in the online world), the second link is to his \u2018About Me\u2019 page.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">As you can see, 404 pages don\u2019t need to be bland and useless. They, in fact, can play a vital role in improving your website\u2019s search engine rankings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Here are a couple more examples of some great 404 pages.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/improvemysearchranking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/404-Error.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-6840\" src=\"https:\/\/improvemysearchranking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/404-Error.png\" alt=\"404 Error\" width=\"360\" height=\"269\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Mint\u2019s 404 page is quirky, funny, but still extremely efficient in redirecting users to important links and pages.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">The following 404 page belongs to ModCloth. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">As you can see, the page does not only do a great job in engaging the lost website visitors but it also successfully tries to redirect them to important pages.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">These links that you see on these 404 pages are of extreme importance. Here are a few reasons why:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol class=\"ol1\">\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">First, whenever someone sees a bland 404 page, the first reaction is to quit the website and start browsing another one. You lose a valuable visitor that way.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">Creating internal links give a boost to the search engine rankings of those pages.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">A well-crafted, engaging and full-of-useful-links 404 page helps reduce pogosticking, which in turns improve the search engine rankings of your website.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">What is pogosticking?<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Pogosticking is referred to the process when a person finds your webpage in the search engine results pages, immediately quits after landing on it, and goes to another website.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Pogosticking indicates to search engines that your webpage wasn\u2019t good enough. As a result of continuous pogosticking behavior, search engines eventually demote your website\u2019s search engine rankings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">When people encounter a great 404 page with engaging content and important links, they don\u2019t quit right away. A useful 404 page still serves their purpose and helps them find relevant content that they were looking in the first place.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">It leads to lesser pogosticking, which improves your website\u2019s search engine positions.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">404 pages are an unpleasant reality, but they don\u2019t necessarily have to be ugly to look at. You can be very creative with your 404 page designs. Additionally, providing internal links to your blog, homepage, about page, or most popular contents can help you plug that funnel to some extent. Visitor retention will increase, which will eventually impact on the profits you generate from your website.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Website owners hate 404 errors. And they don\u2019t want their visitors to encounter the error either. While it\u2019s a good idea to minimise the possibility of 404s as much as possible, the truth is that you cannot simply eradicate the problem. This is probably the most important part that most bloggers and website owners choose [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oct_exclude_from_cache":false,"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[33,35],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How Fixing 404 Errors Improves Your Site\u2019s SEO | IMSR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover the power of 404 error pages in SEO. Make them attractive and useful to retain visitors and improve rankings.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/use-404-error-improve-sites-seo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Fixing 404 Errors Improves Your Site\u2019s SEO | IMSR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Discover the power of 404 error pages in SEO. 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