How Do You Fix 404 Not Found Errors?

Step 1: Find Every Error

The first step is finding the error. After all, tou can't fix what you don't know about. Some broken link tools miss up to 80% of the 404 errors on your website.

SpringTrax's ongoing error monitoring service offers you a comprehensive look at the 404 errors on your website. Once you know about every 404 error, you can fix every 404 not found error.

It is also important to continually monitor your website for 404 errors. That way you find and fix every 404 error as the errors happen.

Step 2: Fix The Error

There are four methods you can use to fix 404 not found errors on your website. If you use SpringTrax to monitor your 404 error pages, we evaluate every 404 on your website and tells you which method of fixing the 404 is best.

Need help Do you need help fixing your not found errors? We can help! Please email info@springtrax.com for more information.

1. Redirect the 404 error somewhere else. If people are reaching /specials, which is an error page, you can tell your server to redirect people fto /special instead.
2. Correct the source link. If the broken link sending traffic to the not found error page exists on your website, and is under your control, you can correct the broken link at the source. However, most 404's come from sources you don't control.
3. Restore deleted pages. Sometimes, you delete pages from your website and people still come to your website to find those page you deleted. If somebody tries to find a deleted page, they'll get a 404 error. To fix this, you can usually restore the deleted page.
4. Ignore the not found error. Sometimes, for low priority not found errors that aren't costing you customers, you can simply ignore the 404 is an acceptable solution.

Step 3: Ongoing Monitoring

The problem is 404 errors is that new ones can occur on a regular basis, especially on active websites. To ensure you are constantly finding and fixing all the broken links and errors on your website, it is important to continually monitor your 404 errors. Using a service like SpringTrax's onging monitoring can you help you find and fix errors before they hurt your bottom line.

Other Considerations

When you work with SpringTrax, you can reach out to our Error Experts at any time to address any questions you have regarding the 404 errors on your website. When it comes to fixing 404 errors, there are two common questions we get:

How Do I Know How To Fix My Site's 404 Errors?

Which of those solutions is right for your website's 404 errors? How you fix a 404 not found error depends on how people found that 404. For example, if people find the 404 from a link on another website, you'll need to redirect the 404 error URL to a working URL on your website.

If people are finding the 404 because of a broken link on your website, you don't need to add the redirect but do need to correct the broken link causing that 404.

Of course, if the 404 results from a deleted page, restoring the old page might make the most sense.

With SpringTrax, you'll know what you need to redirect and where to redirect it. You'll know what links on your site need to be fixed. And, you'll know what deleted pages to restore and 404's you can ignore.

What Not Found Errors Do You Fix First?

When fixing 404's on your site, it is important to remember that not all 404 errors are equally important.

Why does that matter? Well, your time is limited. You need to know which 404's are the most important so that you can use the little time you have to fix the most critical 404 errors first.

SpringTrax gives you a clear idea on which not found error pages are the highest priority to fix. That way, you can fix your website's 404 errors faster than you would without using SpringTrax.

Our mission at SpringTrax is to make sure you can find and fix the errors as fast as possible. The faster you fix, the quicker you'll recover customers you are losing due to 404 not found errors.

-springtrax