What is a 404 error?
Have you ever landed on a website or webpage that cannot be found? Then you would have experienced a 404 error.
So what does this mean exactly? When the website you are trying to reach cannot be found on the server, it will indicate that the particular URL path has no information to display.
Even if users type in URLs incorrectly, 404 errors can still appear. As your website grows, links could change over time, so they become outdated and when clicked on the 404 page can serve as a backup solution until you fix the broken URL.
WHY DO 404 PAGES APPEAR?
It could be because the webpage was either removed, or changed to a different URL, or the URL you typed in never existed (and perhaps was typed incorrectly). Now you might say, what if I fix all my websites’ broken links, do I still need a 404 error page? Yes, of course, it’s sometimes impossible to cover all basis so including this in your standard setup is highly recommended and looks even more professional if the page is custom.
Unfortunately, visitors can lose trust if a 404 page appears, however, creating a custom page with a simple explanation, it’s less likely to scare visitors away.
When we look at Elemental, for example, the blog page can be found at https://www.elemental.agency/blog. Let’s say you accidentally type in https://www.elemental.agency/blogs you will notice you reach a 404 page, because by adding an extra “s” to the URL, you are landing on a page that actually does not exist.
IMPORTANT QUALITIES OF A 404 PAGE
If a page on your website cannot be reached, a standard 404 error will appear. Although that is better than nothing, having a custom 404 page is advised, as you might be able to prevent visitors from leaving your website after seeing the 404 error code.
1. KEEP IT SIMPLE
404 pages can cause confusion if the content on the page is extreme, and users could become frustrated if they see messages about terms like “servers” that they don’t fully understand.
Keep your page super simple with an explanation similar to “The page you are looking for does not exist” or “Sorry, we could not find the page you are looking for”. This makes it much more user-friendly and visitors instantly know there is a problem with the link.
2. OFFER ALTERNATIVE LINKS
Should the user land on a 404 page, you could assist them to find what they may be looking for, by providing alternative or useful links to popular pages on your website.
This way they have the option to navigate to existing pages with valid URLs, instead of having to guess how to navigate further from the 404 page. Offering them even one simple link back to your Homepage, could be very useful!
3. MAKE IT FUN
Adding humour to your 404 page could bring a fun element into the user journey, even if they landed on a page they weren’t necessarily looking for. You could use this opportunity to entertain visitors and keep them engaged on your website, instead of them becoming annoyed and clicking away.
By thinking outside the box you could combine some copy, imagery, or even a game to entertain users, all depending on your brand identity.
4. REDIRECT TO ANOTHER PAGE
Another useful way to set up your 404 page is to have the website redirect to another page on your website. Thus, if the user navigates to a page that cannot be found or does not exist, the website will automatically load another page instead. This could be useful to users, as they will always land on a page they can navigate from, as opposed to a page that cannot be found and could potentially cause confusion.
THAT'S A WRAP
If we were living in a perfect world, there wouldn’t be a need for 404 pages. However, mistakes happen and links change, typos are made and users eventually will end up on a page of your website that simply does not exist.
You can prevent them from becoming frustrated and jumping off your website if you provide them with a useful 404 page. We hope our tips can guide you along, but if you have any further questions or need some help getting this setup, please feel free to contact us.
