Once a 404 error is logged, however, it’s pretty much up to you to go into your code, create redirects and fix the problem so your users don’t constantly land on those same 404 errors over and over again.  Subscribing to a tool like Errorlytics will take you the extra step.  Not only will it track your 404 errors for you, but it allows you to set up simple, plain English (no code) rules so the specified 404 error gets automatically redirected in a search engine friendly manner.   Errorlytics also has the capability of showing you where these 404 errors are coming from, so you can see if you can go even further in decreasing the number of 404 errors that come up on your site.  For example, if an old posting on your friend’s blog links to a page that no longer exists, Errorlytics can show you that URL so you can tell your friend to change the link to the new page.

If your website runs on Wordpress, then the 404 notifier does have the benefit of having all the information in one place, but Errorlytics does feature the RSS feed and/or email update, so that will minimize the amount of times you’ll need to log into Errorlytics to check up on and fix 404 errors.  Also, since Errorlytics works on many types of sites (Wordpress, Drupal, Ruby, PHP, etc.) you can log your 404 errors for all your sites in one location and see what bots or spiders are tripping 404s across all the sites you manage.

As Wordpress users ourselves, we love the 404 notifier plug-in.  If, however, you need a 404 tracking tool, that adds SEO benefit AND works for all different types of websites, then check out Errorlytics.

According to Wikipedia.org, a 404 Not Found Error Message is

an HTTP standard response code indicating that the client was able to communicate with the server but either the server could not find what was requested, or it was configured not to fulfill the request and did not reveal the reason why. 404 errors should not be confused with “server not found” or similar errors, in which a connection to the destination server could not be made at all.

For a not-so-technical person, that doesn’t help much, so here’s another way of saying it.  When a request is sent to your web server for a specific page, regardless of whether the request comes from a human user’s web browser, or a search engine spider crawling the web, the server returns 1 of many possible “codes”.  When the page requested cannot be found, that’s when a 404 code is returned.  It’s similar to getting that recorded message when you call a number that’s not in service anymore.  Instead of a voice saying “The number you are trying to reach is no longer in service”, however, you get a screen that says “404 Page Not Found”.

There are many cool 404 error pages out there.  Certain people in the world decided that since 404 errors are inevitable, then they might as well get a laugh out of them.  We’ve looked around the web and complied a list of great custom 404 pages, so check them out.  Maybe you’ll get some inspiration for your site.  SEO Best practice dictates, however, that 404 errors be avoided whenever possible and 301 redirects be used.  A 301 is a different server code that tells the requester that while the page they are seeking isn’t in service at this time, they can go to a new place instead to get what they were looking for.

That’s when Errorlytics steps in.  Errorlytics can log all the 404 errors that occur on your site.  After you set up a rule to generate a 301 redirect to a page that you specify, Errorlytics will eliminate that 404 error from ever occuring again.  Any inquiry for that URL will direct the user to the working page that you specify.

This awesome new widget is a great compliment to Errorlytics.  If you’re thinking about using the Google 404 widget, it may certainly help the visitor on that particular 404 instance.  However, if Errrorlytics is installed on your website, it will capture the info on this 404 for you and you can quickly create a rule that will ensure that the error will never occur again.  Creating positive visits from the start (pro-activity) rather than only trying to fix an already failed visit (re-activity) is the name of the game.

Google’s 404 widget is great from a user experience point of view.  It automatically performs searches that had to previously be done manually by the visitor.  What it doesn’t do, and where Errorlytics augments it, is the fact that if a user sees the widgit, a 404 error has already occured.  Errorlytics helps you avoid 404s to critical pages going forward – preserving your traffic and your SEO.

“Why not just edit your 404 page to say ‘Hey, the page you are looking for is not here, click here for the homepage’”

From an SEO standpoint and a “my-page-won’t-be-a-pain-in-the-toosh” standpoint, there are many reasons why Errorlytics redirects are more worthwhile than a 404 page that links to the homepage.  I’m a much better story teller than list writer so I responded with the following story about a pretend webmaster, Bob, and a potential customer, Cathy (mom of some little girl who didn’t get a name in the story)  Here’s what I wrote:

Bob has a website selling T-Shirts with different animals printed on them.  Let’s say that a mom, Cathy, is looking for a website on which she can buy a T-Shirt with a puppy on it for her daughter.  She goes to Google and types “girls’ tshirts, puppies.”  Bob’s indexed, high ranking page for a puppy T-Shirt shows up as the 1st search result.  Cathy clicks this link.  This page URL, however, has been changed, and Bob has not properly redirected the page. Therefore, Cathy gets a 404 page that says “Hey the page you are looking for is not here, click here to go to the homepage”.  This 404 page shows that Bob hopes that Cathy will go to his homepage, do a 2nd search on his site and find the puppy T-Shirt on his site.  Why would Cathy do that though? She is unaware that Bob still has the puppy T-Shirt, she may be tg hinkinthat a 2nd search is pointless.  Also, she could just click her browsers “Back” button sending her back to the Google search results that will happily send her to the other 270,000 sites that have a puppy T-Shirt [maybe even on the 1st click]. Now if Errorlytics told Bob that people were getting this 404 error, he could easily redirect these people to the new puppy T-Shirt page.  Now let’s say that Bob sells his shirts for $15 each.  Even if Bob has the highest tiered Errorlytics account that’s $99.95, Bob only needs to sell 7 shirts to get his money back.

What’s the moral of the story?  A little extra effort can go a long way.  Simply knowing about the 404 errors that people encounter on your site is not enough to preserve your page views and visitor value.  Errorlytics is special in that it identifies the 404 errors that occur on your page, and then prompts you to correct the issue and redirect the user to the most relevant existing page.

Errorlytics is useful for all sorts of things, better SEO, better user experience, less administrative frustration, more insight into your site, etc . But really when it comes right down to it there is really only one thing people want to know when they’re evaluating to a product. Is it worth the cost?

Based on the assumptions below, the answer to that question is an emphatic, YES!

*Calcuations based on 1.5M 404 errors, an average of 4PPV, and 8CPM.

1. Links to homepage and other possibly related links. A simplified version of your site navigation can help the user get away from the 404 error page, but stay on your site (the ultimate goal).

2. “It’s not your fault” Attitude. Let the visitor know that they are not to blame for the error that brought about the 404 error page. The best attitude to portray would be one that is apologetic, while at the same time, quickly working towards a solution. Many 404 error pages have a humorous spin to them, which is perfectly fine. Just make sure that the humor is appropriate for your audience and matches the rest of your website.

3. Suggestions as to what may have gone wrong. A list of popular errors may help the visitor figure out on his/her own what happened. Simple errors can be a mistyped URL, slight variations in the URL (use to capital letters and special characters) or a recent site re-launch.

4. Use the same look and feel as the rest of your website. This way, the user at least knows that they are on the right site. This goes a long way to helping a visitor feel like their efforts aren’t going completely down the toilet. This piece of advice also includes making sure that your logo is always somewhere on the 404 error page.

5. Give them a way to contact you directly via email. This email address is for two groups of people that are guaranteed to visit your site: the people that like to be extra helpful and the people that like to point out when someone else has made a mistake. Make an email address available so they can contact you and let you know that they have come across an error that needs attention.

6. A simplified version of your site search. Better yet, a pre-populated searched based on the page they tried to reach. This way, they can see a list of pages on your site that do exist and maybe it’s what they were looking for. In this case everyone’s happy. Just be sure to keep the error page as simplifies and confusion-free as possible.

If you would like to see some examples of what we’re talking about, check out this medium-sized list of great examples of custom 404 error pages.

Befor I get into the list, this has to be the coolest 404 error page I’ve seen.  It made me lol (laugh out loud). . .literally: http://www.lookitsme.co.uk/404_me.

The following are simple 404 pages that aren’t too extravagant, but get the job done:
http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites/404
http://www.cnn.com/404
http://flickr.com/photos/404-error-page
http://www.imdb.com/404
http://nytimes.com/404
http://www.walmart.com/404
http://www.nfl.com/404

These pages sacrifice some functionality for creativity. They also make us laugh out loud [lol]. Nevertheless, these are some great examples of 404 error pages:

http://www.dazeofourlives.com/404.htm
http://www.limpfish.com/notfound.html

http://www.intuitive.com/badpage
http://www.snopes.com/badpage

http://www.fryewiles.com/templates/errors/404.html
http://www.patterntap.com/404
http://www.geeksquad.com/404.html

http://ifolderlinks.ru/404/

http://www.rush68.net/404/

http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/html/404.html

http://www.larknews.com/july_2004/5.html
http://www.centerd.com/error.html

http://www.hulu.com/404 (turn volume on)

These are our favorites. They turn 404 error pages into an art form!
http://www.homestarrunner.com/systemisdown.html (turn up the volume)
http://www.homestarrunner.com/404 (speakers are necessary)
http://www.orangecoat.com/404
http://www.southparkstudios.com/404
http://www.expansionbroadcast.com/404

Errorlytics Tutorial from Josh Katinger on Vimeo.

A quick tutorial on how to use errorlytics. More info at www.errorlytics.com

A quick tutorial on how to use errorlytics. More info at www.errorlytics.com

Client Plugins Menu for 404 Drupal Module

After clicking “Client Plugins” you’ll see your choice of all the different platforms that Errorlytics supports. Simply click on Drupal for complete module download, installation and configuration instructions…

Drupal module tabs for Errorlytics

The Drupal module currently supports both 5.x and 6.x versions of Drupal.

We would love to hear your feedback on how Errorlytics has helped your Wordpress site be the best it can be. Use the comments for below or email support@errorlytics.com.