404: That’s An Error
A secret code behind 404 on your website page
You are sitting in front of a computer, searching for your favorite movies or seeking new books on a website. But something happens, the website page you are going to shows the number 404, you need some clarification and find out what is meant by 404. Is that a secret code for you to open a secret door? Well, it is not. Here I will explain what 404 means on your error website page.
Introduction
The 404 error, also called the “Not Found” error, is an HTTP status code that means the server could not find the requested resource. Despite being this simple, this is one of the most crucial things in user experience design and even web development. This article refers to the past and present, impact and best practices for handling 404 errors.
Story Behind 404
The 404 error was born during the ancient days of the Internet when HTTP status codes were created by Tim Berners-Lee and his team at CERN in the late 1980s as a means through which the server could comment on a request made by a client. The server didn’t find what the client was requesting. And it was for that reason that the 404 error was standardized.
Technical Breakdown
If the server is unable to locate the requested resource, it replies with a 404 error code and sends back the response message where the browser will generate an error message. This process is detailed under the points below:
1. To the server, the HTTP request is sent by the client, in a browser and it checks if there are resources with the required URL.
2. It checks with the server’s resources if it matches the URL requested.
3. Upon discovering no matching URLs within its existing resources, the server rejects the request by returning a status code 404 which shows the absence of such a location.
We should first make a distinction between client-side and server-side causes of 404 errors. Client-side reasons can consist of mistyped URLs or links that don’t work anymore; but as for server-side reasons, they can be as a result of the resources moved or deleted.
Impact on User Experience
When users hit a 404 page, they are interrupted in their browsing and may become irritated as well. Research also points out that 73% of persons encountering 404 errors will likely exit your webpage without further clicks, leading to increased bounce rates henceforth risking client outflow thereby killing trust and credibility faster than any other factor at play.
In addition, if your website returns 404 error codes often, it may harm its Google search engine optimization rankings: google and other search engines consider error messages caused by missing URLs to be an indication of neglect on the part of the webmaster, which subsequently affects their position within SERPs negatively. A Research Study conducted by SEMrush indicates that 42% of all sites contain one broken hyperlink indicating that this is a widespread problem.
Monitoring and Resolving 404 Errors
Frequent checking and fixing 404 errors is very important when it comes to keeping a good website. One can employ tools such as Google Analytics as well as Search Console which help keep tabs on how many times 404 errors happen. There is often software available that knows where these bad links are located; it also prepares reports making their control quite simple.
These practical steps for fixing 404 errors include:
1. Broken Links checking: You can scan your website for broken links by using tools like Screaming Frog.
2. Redirect obsolete URLs: Install 301 redirects to show people the way from past or deleted URLs to the most current and related web pages.
3. Revise internal links: in a way that will ensure their correctness.
Case Studies and Real-World Experience
404 errors have been dealt with properly by many websites, and even transformed into user-friendly experiences. For instance, MailChimp’s 404 pages include an odd picture as well as a searching tool that takes people who use it back to what they were looking for. Another memorable story is presented by Pixar in its 404 page such as this; they use images displaying some actors in their films making this page more interesting to the visitors.
Conclusion
Any prosperous website must know how to handle 404 errors well. User-friendly 404 pages, consistently keeping track of errors as well as promptly solving them are some ways that can improve user experience on such sites thus maintaining their credibility while increasing SEO at the same time. Should one want to know more details on this topic, various sources provide such information including Moz’s guide to HTTP status codes and Google’s documentation on handling 404 errors.
References
- Berners-Lee, T. “HTTP Status Codes.” World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), 1989.
- Fielding, R. T., & Reschke, J. “Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Semantics and Content.” Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), 2014.
- “Understanding 404 Errors.” Google Search Central, Google, 2023.
- “The Impact of 404 Errors on SEO.” SEMrush Study, 2023.
- “How to Handle 404 Errors for SEO.” Moz Blog, 2023.
- “Broken Links: How to Find and Fix Them.” Ahrefs Blog, 2023.
- “Creative 404 Error Pages.” Smashing Magazine, 2023.
- “Tracking 404 Errors with Google Analytics.” Google Support, 2023.
- “Using 301 Redirects for SEO.” Yoast Blog, 2023.
- “Best Practices for Designing 404 Pages.” Nielsen Norman Group, 2023.
- “HTTP Status Code Guide.” Moz, 2023.
- “Handling 404 Errors.” Google Developers, 2023.
