A 404 error appears when a page does not exist. Some 404s are normal, but broken links to important pages lose visitors and the value of links pointing to them.
When 404s are fine
- A page you removed on purpose with no replacement.
- Random URLs people mistype.
When to fix them
- A page that had traffic or links was moved or renamed.
- Your own website links to a missing page.
- A product was replaced by a similar one.
Types of redirects
| Type | Use for |
|---|---|
| 301 (permanent) | Page moved for good; passes most ranking value |
| 302 (temporary) | Short-term changes, such as a temporary promotion |
Redirect to the closest match
Redirect an old product to the most similar product or its category, not everything to the home page.
Finding broken pages
- Search Console’s Pages report lists “Not found (404)”.
- Website crawler tools find broken internal links.
- Analytics shows visits to your 404 page.
Make a helpful 404 page
Include search, links to popular pages and contact options. See our own 404 page.
Create redirects
Generate redirect rules with our redirect generator.
Read redesigning without losing rankings.
Want the full picture? This article is part of SEO: the complete guide, our in-depth guide with everything in one place.
