The error 404 is quite common and yet difficult to handle. More importantly, it becomes a serious headache if your website is a CMS website like WordPress. There are default settings to deal with the WordPress Error 404. However, there is much more which is required to resolve the issue. This is because the flexibility of the WordPress websites serves as a double-edged sword. Luckily, if you hire a proficient website development company for your website development, you won’t have to worry about the issue. Navicosoft is one such stop for your website development that testifies your website for possible bugs and provides full support.
Let’s dive into Error 404 and find out ways to resolve it.
What are Error 404 pages?
WordPress error 404 pages indicate that the requested page has moved to another destination. Typically, the server fails to find the requested file on the website provided that there is nothing wrong with the server. It may either be unexpected, or it may be a consequence of some changes you have made to your WordPress website, such as changes in the permalink. Some other causes include errors in the coding of index.php and search.php files.
The WordPress error 404 may appear as
- 404. That’s an error
- We can’t find the page you are looking for.
- Not found
- HTTP Erro 404
- Error 404
How to avoid the 404 error?
Prevention is the best cure. Therefore, you must set up your permalink properly. Never delete your old posts. Rather, you can make a custom page containing the data you want to take down. Be responsive to the incorrect incoming links and report to the website handling authority.
How to resolve WordPress error 404?
Here is a variety of plugins available for the error. They help in preventing as well as managing the 404 error. More importantly, these plugins are free, and they may either redirect your visitor or log the 404 error.
- 404 to 301
It is a simple plugin that handles 404 errors to your website’s pages or any custom URL by redirecting it to 301, 302, or 307. It allows enabling logging, which provides information such as IPs, URLs, and user agents.
- Genesis 404
If your website is a genesis theme-based, a 404 page is the right option for you. It facilitates a shortcode that helps customize the 404 pages and adds a search bar on the page. It may help you in improving the user experience.
- Smart 404
The smart 404 searches for the matching posts to the requested URL. Hence, it would offer a list of the possible links if it finds the matching or similar links. Hence, the plugin helps to reduce the bounce rate due to WordPress error 404.
- Redirection
I find this plugin the most amazing. The redirection plugin monitors the 404 error and helps you map the errors to 301 redirects. It allows you to setting up a custom redirection to pass any URL through a different page, file, or website. Moreover, it creates a log of all the redirections.
You can redirect from either the nonexistent pages or the pages that exist with the plugin as well.
- Colorlib 404 Customizer
Even a newbie can handle the plugin and offer custom and better layouts for the 404 page. It will provide you with various options on WordPress Customizer for editing and customizing the page compliant with the website design.
- Safe Redirect Manager
Specially designed for large-scale websites, Safe Redirect Manager is recommended by the top-notch website development company. It redirects from the WordPress error 404 pages safely and very easily. Moreover, it offers amazing features such as the WordPress filter for 404 and the redirects loop.
- All-in-one Reirection
As the title indicates, it is a one-stop-solution for WordPress error 404 redirections. It offers a built-in special feature for the 404 pages. It brings you all the relevant information such as the IP addresses, hit numbers, referee, and source URL. With this data, you can easily redirect the pages to the relevant blog posts.
- 404 solution
404 solution plugin is one of the smartest solutions to the error 404. It redirects the 404 pages to the best-matched URL. Moreover, it improvises the redirection if a better match is posted recently. It won’t be wrong to say the 404 solution is both simple as well as advanced.
Knowing it all is not enough always. However, buying the services of front end & backend developers of a reliable website development company, Navicosoft saves you from serious losses.
