Is your SEO suffering because of a pile of 404 errors? Perhaps you don’t even know you have this issue. Essentially a 404 error (Google not found) is when a user or search engine (in this case Google) tried to access the page on the server and requested page could no longer be found. There are many reasons why this may have occurred. Here are a few.
1. A page was either moved to another URL or deleted entirely, this often happens when websites get upgraded or changed significantly in design. Site owners decide to move pages and or delete them.
2. A product is no longer available within a e-commerce platform and a webmaster chooses pull this product from the site. Usually this equates to a 404 if the webmaster has not provided google with a redirect of the page.
3. A user simply typed in the wrong URL into the browser.
Here are some more humorous 404 errors pages we have seen around the web.
How do I fix 404 errors?
Jump into your webmaster tools and take a look. Once in your Google webmaster tools dashboard select > Crawl and then Crawl Errors. Once inside your Google crawl errors for you site you are now able to ascertain if you have any 404 errors. Here within your Google Crawl errors section we can identify the “server error” or “not found error” and work to rectify these URL 404 errors.
Once you have identified what URL’s are displaying 404 errors to your users you can then decide how to best optimise. If you have a Wordpress site you’re in luck. Simply download a free plugin called Quick Redirects. This plugin allows you to set up permanent 404 redirects for problem 404 URL’s and send them to a new destination URL. Additionally you are able to choose between a new window link or no follow link.  A new window opens up an additional window for the user which redirects them to another URL with the original 404 error still open in another window in the browser.  The no follow link is a piece of code which tells Google not to send link juice towards the new destination URL both of these we see no need for unless you are redirecting to another site you wish to not send positive credibility too.
If you need further help with your SEO – check out SEO Company Melbourne. With professional and proven SEO results, as well as insightful and actionable tips and advice, you’ll find what you need