Why Your WordPress Website Needs a Custom 404 (Not Found) Error Page

How to create a custom 404 (not found) web page.

I know this has happened to you. You land on a website and see a “404 Page Not Found” error. The basic vanilla server error page shows that the link you followed is no longer accurate.

Then what? When I run into this, I’ll look for a primary menu to guide me, or I’ll manually remove the last part of the URL in the address bar, leaving just the .com portion, which takes me to the site’s home page.

Then, I’ll do a quick scan. Then, if I am motivated, I may stick around and find something similar on the site.

Most times, I do not.

Nor can you count on your site visitors to hunt-and-peck, either. (This is where having simple, intuitive navigation comes into play.)

Opportunity Lost

404s happen. Especially if you’ve had your site for a while, it becomes even more challenging to track all your posts, pages, and deletions.

404s are produced for several reasons. The most common are:

You deleted a post or removed a page without putting a redirect in place.
A typo in the URL.
Trying to access password-protected content.

Let’s be honest. Getting site visitors is not easy. So when they land on our site, we want to give them the best possible experience. And keep them there for as long as we can.

If we have deleted, moved, or modified a page or post, resulting in a 404, that is not a user-friendly experience. So we want to minimize the likelihood that site visitors leave because they cannot find what they clicked on.

WordPress Plugins Make 404s & 301 Redirects Easy

Using 301 redirects is a way to avoid this. A 301 redirect is when you point the deleted page’s URL to another page on your site that is applicable and similar.

I use the Yoast Premium plugin to help keep up with this when I take a page offline or change the file name. There is also the Redirection plugin, a free option you can check out.

But what if you don’t have a similar article or one worth pointing the old URL to? You certainly don’t want to send visitors to an article that isn’t similar or doesn’t match what they are looking for, which again leads to a poor user experience.

One option is the 404 to 301 plugin. This plugin lets you point any 404s to a page you create, styled however you like, with the info and guidance your site visitors will appreciate.

404 to 301 will redirect all 404s and automatically create a 301 redirect to your custom page. The plugin will also log every 404 error so you can address them individually.

Turn Your 404 Page into a Conversion Tool

While we can handle 404 pages by immediately putting a 301 redirect in place when we delete a page or change a URL, what if you forget to do the redirect? Or what if you deleted a page a while ago that is still displaying in search engines?

Don’t forget about external links to your site that are beyond your control. Links to those deleted pages or posts can also produce 404 error pages.

Enter your custom-crafted 404 page.

With your custom 404 page, you can reflect your personality, be creative, and offer a valuable resource to site visitors. This approach allows them to choose their next click rather than leaving your site and hitting the back button.

404 pages are an opportunity to guide visitors on what you know they are most likely looking for (or may not know what they are looking for). While custom 404 pages can be humorous and fun, I prefer a site-guide approach.

For example, here is my website’s custom 404 page.

You can see how I used a graphic and content to guide visitors to what they may be looking for. You can also include bulleted lists, graphics, and top 5 articles to help visitors.

Since I use the Kadence theme*, spiffy 404 pages like mine are easy to create.

Use your imagination!

You know what folks seek out most. Check your stats to see which pages are most visited. Here’s what you can include on your custom 404 page:

Have a note at the top of the page that what the visitor is looking for cannot be found.
Include a search bar/box.
Include the location of your menus so visitors can discover their options.
Create a list of the most viewed resources.
Use graphics that match the look and feel—and personality—of your website.

Put your personality on display with matching content and creatives. Then, craft your custom 404 page to anticipate how you can best help site visitors who land there.

Once you get your custom 404 page in place, any missing pages or URLs with typos after your domain name will land on your site guide. That’s what I call user-friendly!

At your service,

*Some of the links on this page are to companies with which I have a professional affiliation.
Read my complete affiliate statement here.