How to Fix 404 Errors Fast: The SEO Threat You Can’t Ignore

What Causes a 404 Error?

Since a 404 error is very common across a website, the causes of the same also vary from complex to simple. Some of the most frequent problems are:

• When you move or delete a page, the URL turns into a broken link, and users and crawlers will be shown a 404 error.
• Modified slugs might cause broken links with an error message from outdated URLs.
• Error code 404 may result from a user entering or spelling a URL in the address bar wrong.
• Misconfigured DNS or Domain Name System, which points to an incorrect address, can result in 404 error codes on your site.
• Incorrect cache-control settings on your website can cause proxies or browsers not to load the most recent versions, resulting in 404 errors.
• 404 error codes on your website can arise from DNS (Domain Name System) misconfiguration, which points to an incorrect address.
• .data in your .htaccess file, such as incorrect file permissions, rules or redirects, can also cause 404 errors.
• Incorrect cache-control settings on your website can cause proxies or browsers not to load the most recent versions, hence producing 404 errors.

How 404 Errors Impact SEO and User Experience?

404 errors might appear innocuous, yet they can contribute quite significantly to your website's search engine optimization (SEO). If too many 404 pages are encountered by search engine crawlers, it can interrupt the crawl flow and waste precious crawl budgets on large sites. This can mean priority pages may be ignored, reducing the site's visibility in the search results.

Furthermore, broken external or internal links that lead to 404 errors can damage the user experience, thereby driving guests from your site needlessly boosting bounce rates and reducing engagement signals that search engines include in their ranking algorithms.

From an SEO strategy, handling 404 errors is crucial. Regularly scan your site for broken links; have appropriate 301 redirects for deleted material; customize your 404 page to reroute guests back to relevant material; and create a user-friendly website that is highly ranked in search engines.

Various Types of 404 Errors: Hard vs. Soft

Before you can repair all your 404 errors, you need to know the difference between hard 404 and soft 404 errors. The signals sent between a page and a search bot can be used to clarify it better. According to them, 404 errors can be divided into two categories.

Hard 404 Error

A hard 404 is the HTTP status code for empty pages. Search bots browse empty pages and get explicit 404 error codes from such pages when the server doesn't redirect pages. This informs search bots that this page will not be indexed since it doesn't exist.

After some time, Google will de-list this page from its search. That way, the crawlers will not pay attention to the pages you want to exclude, and it becomes simpler to realise why you built your website.

To verify your site's 404 status for yourself,

• Open up your Chrome browser
• Enable developer tools
• Click Inspect Page
• Navigate to the Network option

You will be able to see the status right away. If not, reload the page.

Soft 404 Error

A soft 404 error, however, is not an actual error code. Rather than return a 404 error, the server returns a 200 OK response to the search engine by redirecting them. This leads the search engine to think that the page is operational even when it may not be.

Some webmasters pass link juice to current pages from non-existent pages through this method.

But you should be aware that if your redirected content is not aligned with the user's search intent, it will confuse search engines and users and hurt your business website's visibility.

Here's a side-by-side comparison of hard vs. soft 404 errors:

Type of 404 Error	Description	HTTP Status Code	Impact
Hard 404	The server correctly responds with a 404 error when a page doesn’t exist.	404	Expected behavior; helps search engines understand the page is gone.
Soft 404	The page appears missing but returns a 200 (OK) status code.	200	Misleads search engines can hurt SEO by indexing non-existent pages.

How to Identify 404 Errors on Your Website?

There are several methods to determine how to check your website's 404 error page.

• Make use of Google Search Console: Once you link Search Console to your website, it lets you monitor 404 errors. Go to ‘Page Indexing' after you log in; then click ‘Not Found (404)' to see a list of all the URLs presenting 404 errors.
• View Server Logs: You can scan your server access logs using Cpanel (/var/log/apache2/access.log for Apache or /var/log/nginx/access.log for Nginx) to spot any 404 error URLs.
• Developer Tools for Browsers: In your Chrome browser, open the developer tools. Reload your page and look under the Network tab for any requests displaying 404 status codes.
• Website Crawlers: Among the web crawling tools available to check your website for broken links include Ahrefs, Screaming Frog, and SEMrush.
• Manual testing: You can manually type the address into the search bar to check if there is a problem with that URL or not should you doubt one.

Conclusion

The 404 Error Not Found is, sad to say, something you cannot get rid of permanently. You will find them all the time when you transfer your website, build new pages or change your code. A skilled technical SEO services team can assist you check your website for errors and advise on and apply the best solutions for avoiding them. Contact our team today.