Have you ever encountered 404 errors? For sure, that would be a YES! Certainly, at lease once, you have stumbled upon the error while you were browsing. Let’s say, you could be busy doing some online shopping and when you clicked on the product, you were given an error indicating a “404 page not found” display. Page Not Found, Light, Shadow, Hotel, Palindrome

In this blog post, I will explain the basics of the 404 error. This is such an important topic especially if you run an online store. At the end of the day, if you don’t address these errors correctly, you are stopping the customers from making the purchase. Of course, you would NOT want to miss this opportunity to help the customer, and to earn something in return.

Thus, it is essential to know what really this 404 error is, and learn the ways on resolving these errors correctly if it ever appears on your website. By the next time you see a “404 error” flash on the screen, you would know how to address it properly.

What is it?

Even though the common name is the “404 error”, you have to know the error has many names, such as HTTP 404, 404 Not Found, Page Not Found, and many others. Nonetheless, all these varieties mean one thing, and that is the error message indicating that the browser was able to reach the server. However, the server could not find the requested content.

Other than the first scenario, the 404 error could appear when the requested content is available but not accessible for the user. Usually, the website server will show a “Error 404: Page Not Found” page when a user to click on a broken or dead link. Thus, the 404 error is the most common and most noticeable on the internet.

How can I recognize the 404 error on my online store’s website?

The error 404 is a user-side incident which means it will show up to the users when

content has been removed,
the URL or the permalink has been modified,
perhaps, the user could have misspelled the link.

On the users’ side, the 404 may appear differently because this page error can be edited by the website admin’s side. In order for the users not to abandon the website, the domain side can offer alternative content. In fact, Canva.com shared the 50 websites with the most creative 404 pages.

Conclusion

To read more blogs about SEO and web design, visit Phoenix Search Engine Optimization. In our blog page, you can read a wide array of articles and tutorials for your website. Remember, it’s important to formulate other ways to show the 404 aside from the usual. For most websites, they just display the error on a black white page. Again, you can fully customize 404 error page so use this to your advantage.

When you are an online retailer, you can use the HTTP 404 error to convert users into customers. You make sure that your 404 is convincing enough so that the users won’t decide to leave your website because they weren’t able to find what they are search for. On my next article, I will discuss on How to Resolve a 404 Error on My Online Store?