404 is an HTTP status code that shows up when a website can’t find the page you tried to load. When you click on a broken link or bookmark, you’ll get a 404 not found error message instead. Here, we’ll talk about the “404 not found” error, how it’s caused, and how to fix it.
What Makes a 404 Not Found Error Happen?
The 404 not found error is one of the most common error codes, and it is very common. A “client-side error” shows up on the user’s screen as soon as the web server can’t find the page with that URL.
The following are the most common causes of a 404 error:
- The wrong URL.
- Changed the URL or domain name of a site
- Deleted pages or pages that are not there
Many website owners make their error pages for the 404 not found error code, which may look different depending on which website you try to load.
The 404 HTTP error is also known as:
- Not found: 404 Not found.
- The requested URL [URL] was not found on this server
- 404 Page Not Found
- Error 404. The page you like can’t be found.
- HTTP 404
- 404 File or Directory Not Found
- 404 Not Found Error
You can get a 404 error even if you don’t know where to look for something. If you run a website, the error means that people who come to your site will see the error code when they load your page, leaving in a few seconds. Most people won’t arrive back to the page. It can hurt your SEO because Google’s algorithms think your page doesn’t match what people are looking for.
Simple Fixes
There are many things you can perform to fix a 404 error, like:
Reload the page:
There are times when the 404 error page is caused by a small mistake. Press F5 or click the “refresh” button at the top-left corner of your web browser to make your browser start over from the beginning again.
Verify the URL:
Verify the URL in the search bar to see if there are any mistakes in the spelling. This is what causes the 404 error most of the time, and a quick search for typos is all it takes to fix the problem.
Make use of Google:
Try searching for the page on a well-known search engine like Bing or Google. Type the name of the web page that’s giving you a 404 error into the address bar and hit Enter. It should show up here if the page’s URL changes.
Conduct a website search:
Similarly, you can move up one directory level at a time until you discover a page that loads, then traverse the website to find the page you need.
The Entire Website Is Down
If you can’t load any pages from the website, the site has likely gone down. Is It Down Right Now? I can help you find out if the site is down. If it’s a well-known site or the site has its own social media pages, you could also check there to see if anyone else is having the same problem as you.
If the entire site is unavailable and you are the only one affected, the following steps may help:
Clear your web browser’s cache:
It could assist to clear your browser’s cache if it only happens to you and you don’t know why (for instance, you can load it on another device). Make sure you read our guide on clearing your cache in all the most popular browsers.
Change the DNS servers:
The 404 error may be fixed if you change your DNS server. As long as the whole site gives you this error, your ISP or government filters might have blocked the site.
Notify the website’s administrator:
Finally, you can contact the person who runs the website to tell them about the problem. During website updates, there are sometimes small mistakes that impact the site’s performance that the people who work on it may not have noticed.
How to Correct a 404 Not Found Error on a Website
If you’re the master or director of a website and want to find and remove broken links from your site to make it more user-friendly, check the Google Search Console. Web crawlers are used by this tool to check your website for problems, such as links that cause people to get the error 404 response code when they click on them.
- Select Start immediately on the Google Search Console website.
- Enter the URL of your website and create sure you own it. If you want to do this, go to your hosting control panel and type in the TXT record. This may bring a while to resolve.
- Then, click the Go to property button.
- Please look at the left-hand menu and click on Coverage to get to it.
- Here, you must be able to view any problems that your pages might have, such as broken links.
If you use WordPress, you can quickly fix the 404 error. A lot of the time, WordPress 404 errors are caused by problems with the. htaccess file, which makes it hard for people to find things.
Your website can be fixed by following these steps:
- Take a look at the WP admin panel.
- Select Permalinks in the Settings area.
- Save the changes.
This should modify the. htaccess file and flush the rewrite rules, so resolving the 404 error code issue.
Resuming Your Browsing
People who run websites or want to read an article don’t like when the “404” error shows up. So now that you know how to solve it if it comes up again, you don’t have to be angry anymore.