What is a 404 Error?

A 404 error is the HTTP status code that appears when a browser or search engine tries to access a page that doesn't exist. The server responds with "404 Not Found," meaning the requested URL has no content.

404 errors happen when pages are deleted, URLs change without redirects, or links contain typos. Visitors see an error page instead of the content they expected, creating a poor user experience.

Why 404 errors matter

A few 404 errors won't hurt your SEO - they're normal on any active website. But widespread 404 errors waste crawl budget, frustrate users, and can indicate site maintenance problems.

When search engines encounter many 404 errors, they might crawl your site less frequently, delaying indexing of new content. Backlinks pointing to 404 pages waste valuable link juice that could boost your rankings.

Internal vs external 404s

Internal 404 errors come from broken internal links on your own site. These are completely within your control and should be fixed immediately. There's no excuse for linking to pages that don't exist on your own site.

External 404 errors happen when other sites link to pages that no longer exist. You can't control what others link to, but you can set up 301 redirects to send that traffic somewhere useful instead of to an error page.

How to fix 404 errors

Use Google Search Console to find 404 errors. Check the "Coverage" report for pages returning not found errors. Prioritize fixing errors on pages with backlinks or high traffic.

For deleted content, set up 301 redirects to relevant replacement pages. If you removed a blog post about email marketing, redirect it to your current best post on that topic.

Fix internal broken links by updating or removing them. Use a plugin or tool to scan your site for broken internal links and correct them before they affect users or search engines.