Have you optimize your 404 error page? If yes how smart is your 404 error page? Recently, there is a so much hype about customized 404 error page, I have read
404 error page
many articles about custom (stylish) 404 error pages. But Is it necessary (or really required) to have such page(s)? There are some obvious reason that at one or other stage of your blogging life you will be having a broken links or moved pages. Having an SEO friendly 404 page will make our life much more easier (ofcourse, who doesn’t like Search Engine Optimized error page 
)
I have been searching for a customized error page and asked one of my designer friend to design one page for me, but to be frank I was never satisfied with the concept. There was one question in my mind that always challenge me that why can’t I display the “related pages” based on the URL (of missing post) of the post or based keyword. Even “related posts” plugin didn’t help me in this case. I know one can design a custom 404 error web page that links to the home page…but I never liked it.
Installing smart 404 error page plugin will help you to achieve SEO advantage as it makes your site to have the relevant pages for URL that doesn’t exists. It will display the link to the relevant pages based on the words in the URL. Isn’t it an amazing plugin.
Download this plugin from author site from here
How to install it?
Download the above .zip file or download it from wordpres plugin directory.
Upload it to your wp-content/plugins/ directory.
Go to your admin panel and activate the plugin from your inactive plugins list.
Add ‘<?custom404_print404message();?>’ to your theme or edit the 404.php file.
Share your experience with us. Do you prefer a custom page or 404 error page SEO plugin?
Related Posts:
wordpress-missed-schedule-error1-300x166.jpg" alt="[How to] Fix Missed Schedule WordPress Bug" title="[How to] Fix Missed Schedule WordPress Bug" width="50" height="50" border="0" class="crp_thumb" /> [How to] Fix Missed Schedule WordPress Bug
Releasing New WordPress Theme Simplegant 1.0 With Control Panel
August 2009 Best Posts And 125×125 Ad Winner
WordPress Newest And Updated Plugins
Offer Cool Custom Avatars To Your Commentators-Custom Avatars For Comments WordPress Plugin
{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
It sounds pretty cool. Greg Ellison
.-= Greg Ellison´s last blog ..[Plugin: WP-Affiliate] plugin doesn’t work anymore with WP 2.8 =-.
@Greg Ellision
Thank you for liking it. It is really helpful (I haven’t activated it yet,lol)
I have been trying to figure out which 404 page plugin I wanted to use because after installing Analytics 360 I noticed I have some serious 404 page issues, this is going to save me some serious time.
.-= Extreme John´s last blog ..9 Must Have Firefox Greasemonkey Scripts =-.
@Extremejohn
Give it a try. Let me know how is it working for you
Hey P.s I love how the button looks thank you very much I appreciate you including my button in your sidebar!
.-= Extreme John´s last blog ..Community Coffee Cinnamon Roll Review =-.
@Extreme John
It’s my pleasure. It looks really nice. How did you make such button?
That sounds very handy. I never thought about actual optimization of my 404 page but it’s definitely is something I’ll work on now.Id love a custom 404 page but you could also get a plugin to redirect the visitor to your homepage and also to transfer the link juice being passed to non existing links to your homepage that the person linking to you just could have spelled wrong (just a thought)
.-= Blaine Bullman´s last blog ..13 Part Video Series: Affiliate Marketing and Product Creation By Jeff Johnson =-.
@Blaine Bullman
or time on the website.
It is possible and it sound reasonable. The only problem is it will direct to the single page or link but not to multiple of them. Consider this plugin as your related post plugin, it will show a different post for different error page, isn’t it great? It will also increase your page view
I think I only put Google AdSense ads (and perhaps a Google search box) on my 404 page lol I wouldn’t call it an optimization ^^
.-= Michael Aulia´s last blog ..Happy Birthday, Google Chrome =-.
@Michael Aulia
lol. Why don’t you give it a try and let me know how it is working out??????
I already have the 404.php file in my theme! I think I would like to edit the same file rather than installing one more plugin. Installing too many plugins slows down out blog loading
.-= Tech-Freak Stuff´s last blog ..Useful Tips for Writing Good Blog Comments =-.
@Tech-Freak Stuff
I do agree that installing too many plugins slows downs blog loading time. This plugin is a different then your 404.php file. Using this plugin you can definitely get more page view. don’t you think helping the readers to navigate easily is more important, moreover this plugin is very light. It doesn’t consume much source. Well I will leave it up to you to decide. For me SEO plugins and security plugins are more important than loading time
Nice Description of this plugin
I have added it to my must have seo wordpress plugins
Have a look
http://www.gupshupblog.com/must-have-wordpress-seo-plugins.html
I hope it helps everybody
.-= Sunil Jain´s last blog ..Free Michael Jackson Wordpress Theme =-.
@Sunil Jain
Thank you for adding in the list. It is a really helpful plugin.
Will try it out..Thanks for sharing
.-= Een Rockstar´s last blog ..3 Easy Steps to Content Research =-.
@Esb Rockstar
Give it a try and let me know how it works for you.
This plugin is a great idea. So far i haven’t done anything at all about the 404 page.
.-= Christie´s last blog ..Gut feelings =-.
@Christie
Try in once
Looks liek a very useful plugin and that’s a really nice find..But will have to investigate properly whether everything is O.K with this plugin or not.
.-= Typhoon´s last blog ..3 Twitter Monetization Models to Make Money with Twitter =-.
@Typhoon
It is a very useful plugin but one must investigate it more before trying it out.
Hey Richy bro, You’re really digging lots of content for your readers. I’ll also like to try this plugin for my blog
.-= FreeTechJournal´s last blog ..Tech-Fun : fun-filled programs and vbs scripts =-.
@FreeTechJournal
Saurabh bro, Thank you for your kind words. I am trying my best to give my best.
It sound really great. I really like it this would surley help me
thanks again.
@Streky
The plugin is really good. I am using it, it helps a lot. Thank you for your comment
Thanks Ricky about this. I’ve been searching for a while now, which plugin to use for my 404 page
.-= steppinout´s last blog ..25 Creative And Outstanding 404 Pages =-.
@steppinout
I have tried out this plugin and to be frank the result is really good. Don’t forget to add the code in your 404.php file.
Hi, can you tell me a plugins that automatically redirect a 404 page to other page which is similar or in one tag ? Thank you..
.-= Taufiq Hasan´s last blog ..Built-in Image Editor on Wordpress 2.9 =-.
@Taufiq Hasan
You can go for 301 redirect or .htaccess hack. Let me know if you need more help.
pretty cool work…. great post … nice info
.-= Devilslab-Your guide to stay updated´s last blog ..Best Mobile Web Browsers | Download Latest and Best Mobile Web Browsers =-.
@Devilslab
Thank you for liking it.
Is it the same as page Not Found? I have been having the error when I started using .php at the end of the permalinks.
@Rian
. Let me know if you didn’t get it.
Yes we are talking about 404 error page. All you need to do is to paste the code in your 404.php file after activating the plugin
Great looking plugin. But looks like you are NOT using it here. More over I found a typo in your own 404 page
May be you wanted to mean “Oh no. You found a HOLE in our website, but I can assure your this was not our fault.”
when you said – “Oh no. You found a WHOLE in our website, but I can assure your this was not our fault.”
.-= TechChunks´s last blog ..How to Save Money at Top Tech Stores: Greatest Ever Collection of Discount Vouchers Here =-.
@Techchunks
I really suck at English. Sometimes in hurry I do some typo mistakes. Thanks for pointing it out. I will short it out.
Has anyone tried this on WordPress 2.9.1.? I was curious for your thoughts before I installed it since it says it hasn’t been tested with this version yet.
Thanks.
@Eric
It is working well. There are many plugins which says it hasn’t been tested with new version of wordpress but it still works fine. I tested it on my demo blog and it is working fine.
I’m a wordpress designer as well. Let me know if you need any help with building your custom 404 error page. You can check out my theme which offers widgetized 404 page which means you can use any of your plugin to show on 404 page. Check the theme at http://geniusgeeks.com/2010/01/releasing-new-wordpress-theme-pltheme-beta/
{ 2 trackbacks }