Guidelines for creating useful Custom 404 Pages

WHAT IS A 404 PAGE?

A 404 Page is what a user sees when he tries to reach a non-existent/deleted/mistyped url/broken link/missing  page on your website.In response to a request web servers send back a HTTP Status code of 404 to indicate that a page is not found. While the standard 404 page can vary depending on your Internet Service Provider and it doesn't provide the user with any useful information that leads users to move away form your site.

Creating Useful Custom 404 Pages 

 

A Good Custom 404 will help people to find the best information and top most content  they are looking for . As we all know that 404 Page can also be a standard HTML Page too. It even provides customization in the page too.

404 ERROR MESSAGE

Here are some of the Guidelines which we need to follow before creating custom 404 Pages

• You need to tell the visitors clearly that the page you are looking is not found with language friendly invitations. 
• Need to maintain the same look and feel for 404 page which includes navigation of the site.
• Add Links to your most popular articles or posts or even to home page of the website.
• If you didn't find any links or content you need to provide a way for users to report a broken link.
• In order to prevent 404 pages  from being indexed by all major search engines you need to make sure the web server returns an actual 404 HTTP status code to users and spiders  when a missing page is requested.
• Enhance your 404 widget to embed  a search box on your  custom 404 page  by providing users with useful information or a form or email what we are talking about.
•  Tell Search engines about your site's move.