Fixing 404 Error as a Website Owner

Facing a 404 error as a website owner is very difficult as these errors can negatively affect your website’s SEO. You can follow these simple fix 404 error pages:

1. Restore Deleted Pages or the Recent Backup

As a website owner who recently got the 404 error, it is better to check the web pages you deleted recently. You can go to the local backup of the web server and then restore them to retrieve the deleted files. 

If you are still determining the backups, contact your hosting provider. The hosting provider will assist in recovering the deleted web pages. You can also consult a professional web developer to help you retrieve the web pages. 

2. Use Descriptive URLs

There are different types of URLs you can use for your webpage. However, you can use a descriptive URL rather than a generic and cryptic URL to eliminate the chances of a 404 error:

3. Disable the .htaccess File

.htaccess is the web server’s configuration file that controls the permissions and basic and advanced settings. Therefore, we don’t recommend you disable or modify the .htaccess file without deep knowledge. Improper configuration file handling can affect the website’s working and permissions. To disable the .htaccess file, please follow the below process:

• First, access the FTP of the web server and go to the local files. You will see the .htaccess file here, so right-click on it and then click on the Rename option.
• Now, rename the file to htaccess_backup to disable the .htaccess file. Once you are done, then check if the error is resolved.
• If the issue still exists, please go to the FTP again and rename the .htaccess file as the original.

4. Create A Custom 404 Page

Creating a custom 404 page can help you provide a user-friendly and informative experience for website visitors if they land on any non-existent page. On this page, you can guide the visitors about what to do next and apologize for the inconvenience.

You can also include the correct links and navigate to the valuable content. Hence, adding a custom error 404 page is good as it can improve user experience and manage the website’s branding.

Also Check: How to create a custom 404 page?

The error 404 or “Page Not Found” represents that the server cannot find a web page request by the user. It is given when the webpage doesn’t exist on a website. It is a standard HTTP status code, meaning a specific resource could not be found on a server.

404 issue usually occurs from the client side, which indicates that a user’s browser can connect to a server, but the server cannot find a requested page. Missing resources on a web server is the most common reason for the error 404. Hence, the website owners need to handle the 404 error correctly to improve the user experience.

There are multiple situations where error 404 occurs due to some other reasons like bugs and glitches. So in this tutorial, we will explain everything about the HTTP 404 error a.k.a Page Not Found error, and also discuss how to fix the 404 error.