404: Not Found, But We Found Some Cat Videos Instead

We’ve all probably seen them, but what is a 404 and when does it happen? A 404 simply means "page not found." It's like the library telling you, "We looked everywhere, but the book you're looking for isn't here." There could be many reasons for this, like:

• The page might have been moved or deleted.
• The link you clicked might have been typed incorrectly.
• The website might have been taken offline due to deprecation or technical difficulty.

When you see a 404, it could be a temporary or a permanent error. It doesn't mean your computer is broken; it just means you stumbled upon a dead end on the website. Most websites, including your State of Illinois website, will display a special "404 page" to let you know what happened and often tell you to either use search or navigate the menu to find the information. However, regardless of the information displayed to a user, it is discouraging to click a link or be directed to a page and NOT find what you were looking for.

This broken experience on a website has a negative impact on your visitors, dealing with 404 errors on your website is important for several reasons:

1. User Experience:

• Frustration: Encountering a 404 page (often called a "page not found" page) can be frustrating for users. It disrupts their browsing experience and can leave them feeling lost or confused.
• Loss of Trust: Frequent 404s can damage your website's credibility and make users less likely to trust your information or return in the future.

2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO):

• Search engine crawlers: Search engines like Google use crawlers to discover and index the content on your website. These crawlers can also encounter 404 errors.
• Negative impact on ranking: Too many 404s can signal to search engines that your website is poorly maintained or has broken links. This can negatively impact your website's ranking in search results.

3. Missed Opportunities:

• Potential customers: Users who land on a 404 page might be potential customers who are trying to find information or make a purchase. If they encounter a dead end, you've missed an opportunity to engage with them.
• Data insights: 404s can also represent valuable data about user behavior on your website. By understanding why users are encountering 404s, you can identify areas for improvement and optimize your website accordingly.

By addressing 404 errors, you can create a smoother and more user-friendly experience for your visitors, improve your website's SEO, and potentially reach a wider audience.

The Web Content Management unit provides several tools to help identify 404 errors within your site as part of your web hosting package.  These tools monitor your website and report on broken links and identify where they exist on your website so you can perform remediation steps to resolve and reduce them.

The tools available include:

• Adobe Analytics – the 404 list included in the monthly canned report gives you the most encountered 404s meaning that you can address 404s which affect the majority of users rather than taking a shotgun approach to resolving them.  By handling the issues on a “most incurred” basis you’ll be ensuring that you have the most effect for your maintenance effort.
• Site Improve – included in the Quality Assurance section of the interface the system reports broken links and the sources. You can find information about referrers outside the AEM website so you can also alert partner websites to update their information or place redirects as needed.  Remediation takes many forms.
• Browser Plugins – there are a number of 'free to install' browser plugins for Chrome, Edge and Firefox which can check links on a page-specific basis.  If you have a specifically difficult page, it might be worth using one of these to spot-check specific pages on your website.

Here are some actions you can take when you look at 404s in your website analytics:

1. Identify the 404s:

• Use the page title: Most 404 pages have titles like "Page Not Found" or something similar. Use this information to filter your website analytics report and identify the specific URLs returning a 404 error.
• Look for patterns: Are there any patterns in the URLs generating 404s? For example, do they all start with a specific prefix or contain a specific keyword? Identifying patterns can help you pinpoint the root cause of the issue.

2. Understand the cause:

• Broken links: These are links on your website that point to non-existent pages. You can use a broken link checker to identify and fix these links.
• Outdated content: If you've removed content from your website, you'll need to set up redirects to send users to the new location of the information they're looking for, or create a useful 404 page with relevant links.
• Mistyped URLs: Users might sometimes mistype URLs, leading to 404s. You can improve your website's search functionality to help users find what they're looking for even if they mistype the URL.

3. Take corrective action:

• Fix broken links: Update the links on your website to point to the correct URLs.
• Set up redirects: For removed content, set up 301 redirects to send users to the new location of the information they're looking for. 301 redirects indicate that the page has permanently moved.
• Optimize your search functionality: Make it easier for users to find the information they're looking for on your website, even if they mistype the URL.

4. Monitor and improve:

• Keep an eye on your 404s over time. This will help you identify new issues and track the effectiveness of your corrective actions.
• Consider creating a custom 404 page that is informative and helpful to users. This page could include links to relevant parts of your website or a search bar to help users find what they're looking for.

By following these steps, you can address 404 errors on your website, improve the user experience, and potentially improve your website's SEO.