“404 (Page Not Found) error” is one of crucial part of any web page. It’s a special page when a user tries to find a page that doesn’t exists on your site. But, how to customize it?
Google shows the way.
- Tell visitors clearly that the page they’re looking for can’t be found. Use language that is friendly and inviting.
- Make sure your 404 page uses the same look and feel (including navigation) as the rest of your site.
- Consider adding links to your most popular articles or posts, as well as a link to your site’s home page.
- Think about providing a way for users to report a broken link.
- No matter how beautiful and useful your custom 404 page, you probably don’t want it to appear in Google search results. In order to prevent 404 pages from being indexed by Google and other search engines, make sure that your webserver returns an actual 404 HTTP status code when a missing page is requested.
- Use the Enhance 404 widget to embed a search box on your custom 404 page and provide users with useful information to help them find the information they need.
- Use the Change of Address tool to tell Google about your site’s move.
The above point number 6 states a new tool by Google to add it in your site or blog. This widget puts a google search box for your site and provides appropriate search suggestions upon searching from that search box.
Google’s Enhance 404 widget is a nice tool to install on site.