3 simple steps to a customized 404 error page and why you should make one!

By Karel • februari 12th, 2008

When you own a website you probably have some pages which aren’t on your server anymore but are still indexed by the search engines. When visitors stumble onto such a page they will see a 404 error page as you can see in the image below:

Customizing your own 404 error page

If you don’t know what a 404 error page is check the 404 error page explanation from Wikipedia.

Chances are that these users will click the “back-button” and will never return to your website again. He’s expecting to see a webpage with information (or whatever the search engine result claimed) but all he sees is a error-page.

When is a 404 error displayed
Visitors can run into your 404 error pages for different reasons:

  • Find the page in the search engine results (and clicks the link);
  • Types the wrong URL in the address bar of his browser;
  • Find the (wrong/dead) link on another website;
  • Bookmarked a page which doesn’t exist anymore.

Creating your own customized 404 error page in 3 simple steps
But did you know you can customize your own 404 error page? Customizing your 404 error page is a breeze. So make your 404 error page work for you instead working against you with these 3 simple steps…

Step 1: Create your own 404 error page in HTML or PHP
When you are going to create your own 404 error page keep the following tips in mind:

  • Use the same design as the rest of your website;
  • Include a link to your homepage;
  • Include a link to your FAQ;
  • Include a link to your sitemap;
  • Include a search form;
  • Use the same navigation bars as the rest of your website

Very important: make sure visitors can see that the page they are on doesn’t exist anymore!

Save this file as: my404.html (or save as .PHP if you like)

Step 2: Edit your .htaccess file
If you already have a .htaccess file on your server open it. Otherwise open Wordpad (or any text editor).

Add the following line to the .htaccess file:
ErrorDocument 404 /my404.html

Save the file. If it’s a new .htaccess file save it as .htaccess (and NOT .htaccess.txt).

Step 3: Upload and testing
Almost done… Just upload the two files you just created to your root directory. Now test your new customized 404 error page by going to a page on your website which doesn’t exist anymore.

And presto, there is your own customized 404 error page!

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Comments

Always good to prepare. You’re right. :-)~

Wanna add a little bit of fun to this?

Here’s a 404 page that should only be displayed if you’re 18 or older…lol

Don’t worry, it got 34 Sphinns, it won’t bite..just a little SEO humor is all…

http://learningseobasics.com/archives/20

Absolutely good advice. I can imagine lots of improvement to the 404 pages. However, making a customized one instead of the standard pages is absolutely number one.

Don\t insult your visitors by providing them a standard message telling them it is their fault that they arrived on the wrong page.

That’s funny..A porn site spammer tried to leave a comment with you and it showed up in my mailbox because I have replies going there! lol..I see you removed it though. *-)

He slipped thru the spamfilter ;-)

Nice write up on the 404 error page.

I was just putting together a blog post of my own about why & how to do this but now I think I’ll just link back to this post.

Why mess with perfection eh!

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By cwxwwwxwwxwx on december 23rd, 2008 at 9:32 am

well, hi admin adn people nice forum indeed. how’s life? hope it’s introduce branch ;)

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