Can 404 errors negatively impact your SEO efforts?

Showing 404 error? It is basically a common code indicating that your required page cannot be found. As depicted by SEO service providers, whenever a website loads on a browser there is a response code in the HTTP header which remains hidden from the website viewer. However, a 404 error is quite normal for a website but it is important to know if such is hurting your SEO efforts or not.

What is a 404-error code on a browser?

404 error is found on a browser when the Google bot tries to crawl a website that is not in existence. The non-existence of the website can be – renaming without proper redirect from the old URL or there can be a typo embedded in the link of the page.

Different error responses –

·         100-199 – Denoting informational responses

·         200-299 – Denoting success responses

·         300-399 – Denoting redirection

·         400-499 – Denoting client errors

·         500-599 – Denoting server errors

As stated by the best Website development company in Kolkata, 404 pages are quite handy when it comes to helping users find the error page. This way users do not need to close the window and navigate to other websites. Websites with 404 pages are known to change a negative web experience into a positive one. However, the fact is true that this kind of error is nearly unavoidable and is quite irritating for users as well.

Can a 404 error affect your website’s SEO?

When it comes to the SEO ranks of a website, there is no such thing as 404 errors ruining your rankings on the search engine. But the important thing is to rectify 404 errors whenever they appear. There can be some impact of 404s on the rankings, in theory, but it will never affect the entire site. When the web page runs a 404 error, it simply states that the page doesn’t exist.

Fixes for 404s –

·  Monitor your website’s errors (SEO crawls) through Google Search Console.

·  Monitor the quantity of 404s on the web pages using Google Analytics.

·  Monitor the web page to make sure it follows your brand standards and create a custom 404 page.

The only thing that these links create is a bad user experience and they are commonly known as broken links. To fix the 404 error the most effective way to remove it is to redirect users to a relevant page or website. This allows for the removal of unwanted URLs from the search engine.

Concluding up, every 404-error redirected to the site may not be bad. But it is important to keep in mind that if the errors are hampering SEO efforts, then 404 error removal could be the only option available. There should be appropriate monitoring of the 404 errors through Google Analytics which can help fix crawl errors when surface.