When Not To Use Redirects For 404s
Next he explained when not to use redirects for 404s, explaining that it’s a crummy experience to show a web page that is irrelevant to what the site visitors are expecting to see.
Mueller explains:
“On the other hand, if you just have similar pages, then don’t redirect. If the user clicked on your site in search of a knife, they would be frustrated to only see spoons. It’s a terrible user-experience, and doesn’t help in search. “
It’s Okay To Show 404 Responses
Mueller next explained that it’s okay to show 404 responses because it’s the right response for when a browser or crawler asks for a page that doesn’t exist on a server anymore.
He explained:
“Instead, return an HTTP 404 result code. Make a great 404 page. Maybe even make a 404 page that explains why spoons are superior to knives, if you can make that argument. Just don’t blindly redirect to a similar page, a category page, or your homepage. If you’re unsure, don’t redirect. Accept that 404s are fine, they’re a normal part of a healthy website.”
Always Investigate Error Responses
Something that Mueller didn’t mention is that 404 responses should always be investigated. Don’t stop investigating just because the page doesn’t exist and there’s no other page to redirect it to. Sometimes there’s a real problem that needs solving.
404 By Internal Links
For example, some 404s are caused by broken internal linking where a URL is misspelled. You can “fix” that by redirecting the wrong URL to the correct URL but that’s not fixing the problem because the real problem is the broken link itself.
404 Caused By Outgoing Links
Some 404s are caused by linking to pages that no longer exist. Linking to pages that don’t exist makes it look like the page is abandoned. It’s a poor user experience to link to a non-existent web page and there is never a “normal part of a healthy website.” So either link to the right page, link to something else or don’t link to anything at all.
404s Caused By Inbound Links
There are another type of 404 responses that Mueller didn’t talk about that need looking into. Sometimes sites misspell a URL and when that happens the right response would be a 301 to the correct response. You can try contacting the site to ask them to fix their mistake but it’s easier to just add the redirect and move on with your life.
Listen to the question and answer at the 2:08 minute mark:
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