Everything You Need to Know (and More)
Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2024 6:47 am
The disappointment is immense! However, this is probably not the first time you come across a 404 error
According to a study conducted by SEM rush, approximately 10% of the pages on a website return a 404 error . This error code may seem a little vague to you, but when you are notified of a 404 error on your website, you are immediately on alert.
Don't panic! 404 errors are not dramatic if they are well identified and treated (it's much easier to get rid of 404 errors with an SEO specialist in Montreal than black flies in June
Find out in this article everything you always wanted to know about 404 errors with a little bonus at the end!
What is a 404 error?
A 404 error is an HTTP error code that is displayed when the web server all india whatsapp number cannot find the page requested by the user. Simply put, the server could not find the page or website requested.
Imagine requesting a book that no longer exists in a library: ERROR 404. 404 errors take your visitors to an error page .
This is what a 404 error looks like when you search for a non-existent URL:
Find out more about the web referencing price when you use our agency.
In what situations do 404 errors appear?
The following situations may lead to a 404 error being displayed:
A broken link : a user tries to access a page that does not exist or no longer exists. The existence of this broken link may be linked to the fact that a web page has been deleted or moved without a 301 redirect.
A typo in the address bar : 404 errors on user-generated URLs appear regularly. A user searches for an incorrect URL (typo, old address)
Page is blocked : A user tries to access a page blocked by an access restriction (requires login, IP address restriction)
Page no longer exists : A web page has been deleted or moved to a new one, but links to the old page still exist.
The page is temporarily unavailable : when the site is under maintenance
Site is no longer online : the user tries to access a page on a site that is no longer online or has been suspended (domain name change, site deletion)
These five situations are very common on the web ! But the question that everyone asks themselves when this happens on their site is: do 404 errors harm my SEO?
Do 404 errors impact my SEO?
Google is very familiar with 404 errors and indicates that they do not have any negative impact on the performance of a website.
However, it is clear that 404 error messages can have an impact on your SEO ranking if they are too frequent.
Deterioration of user experience
Users get frustrated when they can't find what they're looking for when they click on a link and may decide to leave your site.
Having users leave your site within seconds increases your bounce rate (or reduces your engagement rate). However, this criterion is taken into account in the SEO of your website. A bounce rate that is too high is a negative signal for the search engine, which may consider that your website does not meet the users' search intentions .
Additionally, if there are too many 404 error pages on your website, the overall experience of your visitors will be deteriorated –> this is also a bad signal for Google
Loss of positions
A page not found (error 404) can lose its positions in search results . If a 404 error appears on one of your pages that is already well positioned, the page risks losing its positions quickly, which is a bad signal for the indexing of a website . It will no longer be considered relevant by the search engine.
Fewer indexed pages
“404 errors waste time for the robot that crawls your website”
– Florian Valloire , Senior SEO Strategist at Digitad
If the robots.txt crawling your website encounters too many 404 errors, it wastes time unnecessarily and reduces your crawl budget . The robot.txt can then spend more time crawling non-indexable pages and less time on pages you want to index.
Having fewer indexed pages reduces your visibility on the SERP .
Lost backlinks
You lose backlinks if links from external pages point to a 404 error! This is unfortunate because referring links to your website show Google that your site is relevant and of high quality. Having fewer backlinks can therefore reduce your domain authority.
Having too many 404 errors impacts your SEO ! But how do I know if I have 404 errors on my website?
Tools available to help you detect 404 errors!
Here is a small selection of tools available to help you detect 404 errors:
Google Search Console: an essential tool
This free tool allows you to measure the performance and traffic of your website, but also to detect your 404 error URLs.
Screaming Frog: The Inspector
This crawling tool allows you to extract the content of your website to have a complete list of your pages and their characteristics . Use Screaming Frog allows you to make an inventory of your 404 pages.
Please note that the free version of Screaming Frog allows you to crawl 500 URLs: to be able to crawl more URLs you will need to pay $209.
According to a study conducted by SEM rush, approximately 10% of the pages on a website return a 404 error . This error code may seem a little vague to you, but when you are notified of a 404 error on your website, you are immediately on alert.
Don't panic! 404 errors are not dramatic if they are well identified and treated (it's much easier to get rid of 404 errors with an SEO specialist in Montreal than black flies in June
Find out in this article everything you always wanted to know about 404 errors with a little bonus at the end!
What is a 404 error?
A 404 error is an HTTP error code that is displayed when the web server all india whatsapp number cannot find the page requested by the user. Simply put, the server could not find the page or website requested.
Imagine requesting a book that no longer exists in a library: ERROR 404. 404 errors take your visitors to an error page .
This is what a 404 error looks like when you search for a non-existent URL:
Find out more about the web referencing price when you use our agency.
In what situations do 404 errors appear?
The following situations may lead to a 404 error being displayed:
A broken link : a user tries to access a page that does not exist or no longer exists. The existence of this broken link may be linked to the fact that a web page has been deleted or moved without a 301 redirect.
A typo in the address bar : 404 errors on user-generated URLs appear regularly. A user searches for an incorrect URL (typo, old address)
Page is blocked : A user tries to access a page blocked by an access restriction (requires login, IP address restriction)
Page no longer exists : A web page has been deleted or moved to a new one, but links to the old page still exist.
The page is temporarily unavailable : when the site is under maintenance
Site is no longer online : the user tries to access a page on a site that is no longer online or has been suspended (domain name change, site deletion)
These five situations are very common on the web ! But the question that everyone asks themselves when this happens on their site is: do 404 errors harm my SEO?
Do 404 errors impact my SEO?
Google is very familiar with 404 errors and indicates that they do not have any negative impact on the performance of a website.
However, it is clear that 404 error messages can have an impact on your SEO ranking if they are too frequent.
Deterioration of user experience
Users get frustrated when they can't find what they're looking for when they click on a link and may decide to leave your site.
Having users leave your site within seconds increases your bounce rate (or reduces your engagement rate). However, this criterion is taken into account in the SEO of your website. A bounce rate that is too high is a negative signal for the search engine, which may consider that your website does not meet the users' search intentions .
Additionally, if there are too many 404 error pages on your website, the overall experience of your visitors will be deteriorated –> this is also a bad signal for Google
Loss of positions
A page not found (error 404) can lose its positions in search results . If a 404 error appears on one of your pages that is already well positioned, the page risks losing its positions quickly, which is a bad signal for the indexing of a website . It will no longer be considered relevant by the search engine.
Fewer indexed pages
“404 errors waste time for the robot that crawls your website”
– Florian Valloire , Senior SEO Strategist at Digitad
If the robots.txt crawling your website encounters too many 404 errors, it wastes time unnecessarily and reduces your crawl budget . The robot.txt can then spend more time crawling non-indexable pages and less time on pages you want to index.
Having fewer indexed pages reduces your visibility on the SERP .
Lost backlinks
You lose backlinks if links from external pages point to a 404 error! This is unfortunate because referring links to your website show Google that your site is relevant and of high quality. Having fewer backlinks can therefore reduce your domain authority.
Having too many 404 errors impacts your SEO ! But how do I know if I have 404 errors on my website?
Tools available to help you detect 404 errors!
Here is a small selection of tools available to help you detect 404 errors:
Google Search Console: an essential tool
This free tool allows you to measure the performance and traffic of your website, but also to detect your 404 error URLs.
Screaming Frog: The Inspector
This crawling tool allows you to extract the content of your website to have a complete list of your pages and their characteristics . Use Screaming Frog allows you to make an inventory of your 404 pages.
Please note that the free version of Screaming Frog allows you to crawl 500 URLs: to be able to crawl more URLs you will need to pay $209.