How To Eliminate 404 Errors From Your Blog

404 errors occur when the resources or page a visitor tries to access is not found on your blog. There are many causes of 404 errors. But irrespective of what caused the error, it is a very bad user experience and you need to fix it once and for all.

Now, Apart from the fact that people hate to see 404 errors on your blog, Google and other Search engines hate it too. It is a very bad SEO practice to ignore the 404 errors in your blog. 404s affect your ranking. Monitor 404 errors on Search Console and fix or redirect them.

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404 Errors Causes And Solutions

Now, take a look at the popular causes of 404 HTTP error and solution:

1. Wrong URL:

404 error appears when a user types a URL incorrectly. For example, if you type flashlearners.com/aboutflashlearner/ instead of flashlearners.com/aboutflashlearners/, you are supposed to get a 404 error.

2. Page Moved Or Deleted:

Another possibility is if you have moved or deleted a page but did so without redirecting the old URL to the new one. When that happens, you’ll receive a 404 error instead of being automatically redirected to the new page.

3. .htaccess File Error

After website transfer or deleting plugins directly from file manager, certain codes from this plugin will still remain in the .htaccess file. Better still, editing the .htaccess file wrongly can lead to a Not Found error on your blog. Some times your homepage might work while other pages will display 404.

To fix this particular error, simply delete the .htaccess file. Login to your wp-admin and go to settings then permalink. Hit Save without making changes to the permalink. Unable to access your dashboard? Simply edit or create new .htaccess file and add the default code. The default .htaccess code is shown below:

# BEGIN WordPress

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]

# END WordPress

There are many ways you can fix 404 errors on your blog. I have tried a whole lot of strategies on the web to cure Not Found Error. However, there is a particular way that worked best for me.

It is very simple, download and install 404 to 301 plugin on WordPress.org directory. You could also try other ways of installing WordPress plugin.

After installing the 404 to 301 plugin, go to settings and enable error log. The error log will help you take track of the pages that are not found and give you the option to redirect them to any page of your choice.

The Plugin also automatically helps you redirect 404 errors to the home page or similar pages. The good news is that there is never 404 error with the plugin. Another plugin you could also try out to solve your 404 errors is the Redirection Plugin.

404 TO 301 FEATURES

You can redirect errors to any existing page or custom link (globally).
You can set a custom redirect for each 404 paths!
No more 404 errors in your website. Seriously!
You can optionally monitor/log all errors.
Exclude paths from errors.
You can optionally enable email notification on all 404 errors.
You can choose which redirect method to be used (301,302,307).
Will not irritate your visitors if they land on a non-existing page/url.
Super Lightweight.
Increase your SEO by telling Google that all 404 pages are moved to some other page.
Completely free to use with lifetime updates.
Developer friendly.

Feel free to ask me any question using the comment box and don’t fail to share this tutorial with friends. Sharing Is Caring!

Read: Complete season one of my blogging series

S03E1: How to remove strange characters in your blog

SO3E2: How to upload Apk files to wordpress library

SO3E2: Write long and interesting posts

SO3E2: Common mistakes to avoid in blogging

See Also: Latest on the series