Difference between revisions of "Learn/404-Errors-Drive-Visitors-Away"

Latest revision as of 00:06, 7 November 2013

By [[User:|]] on

Don't hang a "Closed" sign on your website

A "Page not found" message - also called a 404 error message - is the standard response from a web server when it can't find a requested URL, or web address.
Imagine driving across town to visit a business and finding a "Closed" sign on the door during open hours. A 404 message is like that "Closed" sign - it says your site isn't open for business. If you're trying to do business on the web, you want to make sure your site can be easily found, around the clock.

The web is like a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week mall. People expect websites to be available all the time. When someone clicks a link to your website and gets a "Page not found" error, they'll likely regard your website as broken, or nonexistent. If they're really motivated, they might try to find your website by other means. If they aren't strongly motivated, they won't.

Why Do 404 Errors Occur?

Anyone can recieve a 404 message if they're trying to get to your site by clicking on a broken link. This is the most common cause of 404 errors.

A link can become broken for a number of reasons. People often rewrite web page URLs when they're redesigning their site, or they may try to enhance search engine optimization (SEO) by including keywords in the URLs.

When a URL gets rewritten, any link to that page using the old URL is instantly broken. It can't take someone to the page anymore.

How to Avoid 404 Errors

Help would-be visitors to your site avoid the dreaded "Page not found" error by following these tips:

Submit new pages to search engines immediately.
- Submit to Google
- Submit to Bing

Read Link Juice: Save Every Drop for tips on making sure links to old pages are changed to point to the new pages. The article includes a list of tools for locating your old links, both on your own site and around the web.

If you've changed the URL for a page on your website, redirect visitors to the new page from the old one, using a 301 redirect.

You can also redirect people manually. You can revise the web page at an old URL, inviting people to visit your new page. Make sure you include a link to the new page. It's also good to offer your contact information if you think people may be confused and may need to communicate with you directly. It's a good way to build trust with your site visitors.

You can check with your web hosting company to see if it offers a 404 redirect. When a user enters the URL for an old page, your web hosting company can redirect a visitor to a page you specify, instead of returning a 404 error.

Stay organized by recording changes to your site. Then you can go back and fix links when you're done.

Mistypes and 404 Errors

People can get a 404 error if they mistype your website's domain name in the navigation bar of their web browser.

You can't account for every possible mistyping of your domain name. But if your domain name is easy to mistype or misspell, you can purchase these commonly mistyped domain names. Then create a 301 redirect from each of the mistypes back to your website. It's a good way to capture website visitors who might otherwise go astray. This article has been republished on webmaster news site {{{2}}} (visit).

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-==What does a "page not found" message mean?==
+{{ArticleTemplate2
-Have you ever typed a URL in the navigation bar only to receive a "404 error message" or learn that the page no longer exists? It can be frustrating and feel like a waste of time, especially when repeated attempts produce the same results. It's not good for site visibility and it certainly isn't good for a customer trying to find your page. It's similar to a customer crossing town to visit your business and finding the "closed" sign on your door. Will the customer return? They might if you have a niche business, but if you're selling something that can be obtained elsewhere, they probably won't return. The same can occur with your website.
+| Writer = SuziZiegler
+| Name = Suzi Ziegler
+| Header = 404%20Errors%20Drive%20Visitors%20Away
+| Subhead = Don't hang a "Closed" sign on your website
+| Bitly = http://bit.ly/404message
+| Date = January 13, 2011
+}}
+==Don't hang a "Closed" sign on your website==
+----
+{{SiteReportMedRecAd}}A "Page not found" message - also called a 404 error message - is the standard response from a web server when it can't find a requested URL, or web address.
+<br />
+Imagine driving across town to visit a business and finding a "Closed" sign on the door during open hours. A 404 message is like that "Closed" sign - it says your site isn't open for business. If you're trying to do business on the web, you want to make sure your site can be easily found, around the clock.
-==When and why do these messages occur?==
+The web is like a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week mall. People expect websites to be available all the time. When someone clicks a link to your website and gets a "Page not found" error, they'll likely regard your website as broken, or nonexistent. If they're really motivated, they ''might'' try to find your website by other means. If they aren't strongly motivated, they won't.
-"Page not found" or "404 error message" is the standard response to a server request for a site that is either dead, broken, or no longer exists. In other words, when a server looks for a specific URL and can't find the requested site, the server will send a message indicating the page cannot be loaded or opened. Link rot is a slang term for the same occurrence.
-While there are many reasons for a link to be broken, it is frequently due to some form of blocking such as content filters or firewalls. Links may also be rendered inactive when the server hosting a page stops working, or relocates to a new domain name.
+==Why Do 404 Errors Occur?==
+----
+[[Image:404.png|270px|left]]
+Anyone can recieve a 404 message if they're trying to get to your site by clicking on a broken link. This is the most common cause of 404 errors.
-==How to avoid a 404 error message?==
+A link can become broken for a number of reasons. People often rewrite web page [[Glossary/URL|URLs]] when they're redesigning their site, or they may try to enhance search engine optimization ([[SEO]]) by including [[Glossary/Keyword|keywords]] in the URLs.
-The following simple rules will stave off a 404 error message or page not found notice when searching for your URL.
+When a URL gets rewritten, any link to that page using the old URL is instantly broken. It can't take someone to the page anymore.
-:* Redirect on-site rather than take your page down. Finding something instead of nothing is the way to go. When someone arrives at your page they should find something useful even if it's a message saying the page is no longer updated. Instead, display a message that invites them to to visit your new homepage or contact you for more information.
+==How to Avoid 404 Errors==
+----
+Help would-be visitors to your site avoid the dreaded "Page not found" error by following these tips:
-:* Redirect from the host
+:* Submit new pages to search engines immediately.
+:** [http://www.google.com/addurl/ Submit to Google]
+:** [http://www.bing.com/webmaster/SubmitSitePage.aspx Submit to Bing]
-Another option is to check with your hosting company to see if they offer a 404 redirect. Then, when a user enters the URL of any page off your domain (i.e.-www.yourcompany.com/nopage) that doesn't exist, they are automatically taken to a specified page, such as your index or home page. It's the easiest way to ensure that a potential customer is never lost due to a page not being found.
+:* Read [[Link Juice: Save Every Drop]] for tips on making sure links to old pages are changed to point to the new pages. The article includes a list of tools for locating your old links, both on your own site and around the web.
-. Submit new pages to the search engines
+:* If you've changed the URL for a page on your website, redirect visitors to the new page from the old one, using a [[Glossary/301-redirect|301 redirect]].
-Another good idea is to resubmit new pages to search engines for reindexing. Although it's nice to inform visitors that a page they're looking for no longer exists, it's even better to have the new page with all the information the visitor wants appear when they perform a search.
+:* You can also redirect people manually. You can revise the web page at an old URL, inviting people to visit your new page. Make sure you include a link to the new page. It's also good to offer your contact information if you think people may be confused and may need to communicate with you directly. It's a good way to build trust with your site visitors.
-. Keep an eye on your page listings
+:* You can check with your web hosting company to see if it offers a 404 redirect. When a user enters the URL for an old page, your web hosting company can redirect a visitor to a page you specify, instead of returning a 404 error.
-Do yourself a favour and check regularly to make sure your site listings aren't taking potential clients to 404 pages. Go to a search engine like www.altavista.com and type www.yoursiteURL.com in the search bar.
+:* Stay organized by recording changes to your site. Then you can go back and fix links when you're done.
-If the search results index a page that no longer appears on your server:
+==Mistypes and 404 Errors==
+----
+People can get a 404 error if they mistype your website's domain name in the navigation bar of their web browser.
-go to the search engine's submissions page and submit the new URL for the page that covers the information of the old page, and
+You can't account for every possible mistyping of your domain name. But if your domain name is easy to mistype or misspell, you can [[Learn/Getting-a-Website-for-the-First-Time|purchase these commonly mistyped domain names]]. Then create a [[Glossary/301-redirect|301 redirect]] from each of the mistypes back to your website. It's a good way to [[Website-Visibility-Report|capture website visitors]] who might otherwise go astray.
-make note of the name of the page that's no longer available, and then rename one of your existing pages with this old title.
+{{LearnBottomBio
-This way you can ensure that people who search for information on your site will be taken to the correct page until the new page is indexed -- and ensure you don't lose potential sales because of missing pages.
+| Writer         = SuziZiegler
+| Name          = Suzi Ziegler
-. Get organised with updates
+| Image         = Image:Pink Wig.jpg
+| AuthorWebsite = AboutUs.org
-Keep notes: maintaining a Website is a big job, so don't rely solely on your memory. Keep a notebook or digital log full of your site changes to help refresh your memory and ensure you follow up changes with the search engines.
+| ShortBio      = Suzi shares her love of words with [[AboutUs.org]] as a writer and editor. <small>Have a question for Ms. Ziegler? Contact her [[User:Suzi_Ziegler|here]]...</small>
+}}This article has been [http://www.sitepronews.com/2011/04/16/404-errors-drive-visitors-away/ republished] on webmaster news site {{LinkPair|SiteProNews.com}}.
-==How do I prevent robots scanning my site?==
-There is no easy way to prevent all robots from visiting your site. However, you can request that well-behaved robots not visit your site by adding these two lines into your robots.txt file:
-:User-agent: *
-:Disallow: /
-This asks all robots to please not visit any pages on the site.
-==Things to be aware of==
-* You need a separate "Disallow" line for every page, file, or directory that you want to exclude.
-* You can't have blank lines in a record. Blank lines are used to separate multiple records.
-* Regular expression are not supported in either the User-agent or Disallow lines. The '*' in the User-agent field is a special value meaning "any robot". Lines like "User-agent: *bot*", "Disallow: /tmp/*" or "Disallow: *.gif" won't work.
-* Everything not explicitly disallowed is considered fair game to retrieve.
-* The robots.txt file is a polite request to robots and not a mandate they have to follow. Robots that scan the web for security vulnerabilities, email address harvesters used by spammers, and other malicious bots will pay no attention to the request.
-* The robots.txt file is a publicly available file. Anyone can see what sections of your server you don't want robots to examine. If you want to hide information, password protect the section instead of trying to rely on robots.txt to hide information.
-==Examples==
-__NOTOC__