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If you are using the internet a lot for surfing webpages, chances are great you might see 404 error pages. Did you know what it is? Why a web page shows a 404 error? Let us explain a 404 error for you.

What is a 404 Error?

Wikipedia explains “The HTTP 404, 404 Not Found, 404, Page Not Found, or Server Not Found error message is a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) standard response code, in computer network communications, to indicate that the browser was able to communicate with a given server, but the server could not find what was requested. Further, when the requested information is found but access is not granted, the server may return a 404 error if it wishes to not disclose this information, as well.”

Why 404 Error?

I think now you understand what is 404 error. Now it’s time to learn how 404 error was created. Let’s jump into it. At the end of the blog post, you will learn about WordPress redirect.

• The website URL or content you were looking was either deleted or moved without doing any proper directs
• The URL you typed was incorrect
• The server responsible for the website is not running
• The connection is broken
• The domain you try to visit doesn’t exist

How to Fix 404 Error?

Now you know what is 404 error and how it was created. 404 error is bad for both SEO and for the visitors. The website’s visitors have not found the content that they were looking for. You should know that the 404 page does not necessarily mean that the desired information is not available at all. It means the content you were looking for was not available there but it was available somewhere else on the website.

As a visitor, you can’t fix 404 errors because it is the duty of the webmaster. The only thing you can do as a visitor is reloading the webpage or check the URL.

Fix 404 Error through 301 Redirect

The best and most recommended way to fix the error is using through 301 Redirect. Google recommends that you use a server-side 301 redirect if you need to change the URL of a page permanently.

301 Redirects and SEO

SEO professionals focus on the relationship between 301 redirects and PageRank. I think you know about PageRank already which Google created to judge the “value of a page” based on the quantity and quality of its links.

Using 301 Redirect properly will boost your SEO and if you do it wrong, it could hurt your SEO which means 301 is really important for your Search Engine rankings.

Use WP 301 Redirects Plugin to Manage all 301 and 302 Redirects

The best way to manage 301 Redirects is by using WordPress Plugin named WP 301 Redirects. It helps you to manage all 301 redirects from one place.

Log in to your site and go to the Plugins section and click add new and install the plugin named “301 Redirects – Easy Redirect Manager”.

Once the Plugin installed, you can see the option to manage 301 and 302 redirects.

We hope this article helps to know what is 404 error, how to fix it and get SEO benefits.