A broken link shouldn’t be the end of the visit. Every site eventually serves a 404 “page not found” error — a mistyped URL, an old bookmark, a deleted product page — and what happens next determines whether that visitor keeps browsing or closes the tab for good.
Table of Contents
This guide walks through exactly what to put on a 404 page, what to avoid, and how to use the errors themselves to find and fix broken links before they cost you traffic.
Quick Answer
A 404 page that retains visitors needs three things: a clear, plain-language message that the page wasn’t found, your normal site navigation (header, search bar, or a short list of popular links), and a visible path back to the homepage or a relevant category. The goal is to replace the dead end with a next step.
What to Include on Your 404 Page
Start with the message itself. Skip technical phrasing like “Error 404: Resource Not Found” and say something a non-technical visitor understands immediately, such as “We can’t find that page.” Keep your site’s header and navigation menu visible on the error page rather than stripping it down to a blank screen — a visitor who lands on a 404 should still be able to reach every other part of your site in one click.
Add a search bar if your site has one. Someone who typo’d a URL or followed an outdated link is often still looking for something specific, and a search box lets them find it without guessing at navigation. Follow that with a short set of manual links: your homepage, your most important category or service pages, and maybe one or two popular posts or products. Don’t try to list everything — three to six well-chosen links outperform a long directory dump.
Match your site’s branding and tone. The page should look like it belongs to your site, not like a generic server message. A little personality (a light joke, an on-brand illustration) is fine if it fits your audience, but keep the functional elements — search, links, navigation — front and center so humor doesn’t crowd out usefulness.
Technically, make sure the page actually returns an HTTP 404 status code, not a 200. Many site builders and CMS platforms do this automatically, but if you built a custom error page, verify it with your browser’s developer tools or a status-code checker. Serving a “friendly” page with a 200 status creates a soft 404 — search engines treat the URL as if it has real content, which can hurt how your site gets crawled and indexed.
Finding and Fixing the Broken Links Behind Your 404s
A great 404 page is a safety net, not a strategy — the better fix is reducing how often visitors hit one in the first place. If you have Google Search Console set up, check the Page indexing report (previously called Coverage) for pages marked “Not found (404)” or “Soft 404.” This surfaces a sample of URLs Google has crawled and found broken — it isn’t a complete log of every visitor hit, but it’s enough to spot patterns and catch links worth fixing.
For a fuller picture of which broken URLs real visitors are actually landing on, pair that with your site’s analytics (looking at traffic to your 404 page itself and its referrers) or your server’s access logs. For each broken URL that still gets traffic or has backlinks pointing to it, set up a 301 redirect to the closest live equivalent — an updated version of that page, the relevant category, or a similar piece of content. A 301 tells browsers and search engines the move is permanent and passes along most of the original page’s SEO value. If content was intentionally and permanently removed with nothing to replace it, a 410 (Gone) status is more accurate than a 404 and tells search engines to stop trying to index it.
Also run a periodic link check on your own site — internal links to renamed or deleted pages are a common, avoidable source of 404s. Most SEO crawler tools and many CMS plugins can scan your site and flag internal links pointing to dead URLs.
Tips / Common Mistakes
Don’t rely on your hosting platform’s default error page — it typically shows a bare, technical message with no branding or links, which gives a lost visitor zero reason to stay. Don’t bury the navigation; some custom 404 designs get so creative (full-screen illustrations, games, animations) that they hide the links a visitor actually needs. Don’t forget mobile — test your 404 page on a phone screen, since a cramped link list or oversized image can make it harder to use than the default error.
Avoid auto-redirecting visitors away from the 404 page without warning; it’s disorienting and can break the back button. Instead, let the visitor choose where to go next. Finally, revisit your list of “popular links” or categories on the 404 page periodically — a two-year-old list pointing to discontinued content defeats the purpose.
Explore more: more digital strategy guides.
404 error page design FAQs
Do I need a custom 404 page, or is the default fine?
A custom page is worth building. Default error pages from hosting providers or browsers show no branding, navigation, or search option, so a lost visitor has no easy way to keep browsing your site.
Does a 404 page hurt my SEO?
A real 404 (correct status code, no content to index) doesn’t hurt rankings — search engines expect some dead links on every site. Problems arise from soft 404s, where a broken page returns a 200 status instead of 404, confusing how the page gets crawled and indexed.
Should I redirect every old URL instead of showing a 404?
Only redirect pages that have a genuine replacement or close equivalent. Redirecting unrelated 404s to your homepage across the board creates a poor experience and can look manipulative to search engines; it’s better to let truly gone content return a 404 or 410.
What’s the one thing every 404 page should have?
A visible way back into the site — at minimum your main navigation or a link to the homepage, plus one or two links to popular or relevant content.
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Photo: Various authors (Mobile 📲). / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.