In WordPress
First, let’s take a closer look and see what a 404 error really is about.
A 404 error is one of the most common errors that you’ll encounter when browsing the Internet. In fact, this error is so common that websites use custom-designed 404 pages to show whenever a visitor encounter this error.
404 is a common HTTP status code that shows to you when a webpage or a URL you’ve tried to visit can’t be found on the website or its server.
For example, if a website links to one of your blog posts but misspells the URL, then all the visitors who click on that link will be presented with your website’s 404-page instead of the actual blog post.
According to Google, 404 errors don’t have any negative impact on your search rankings. However, it’s still worth fixing if you don’t want to lose your website traffic.
What Causes 404 Errors?
There can be many causes behind 404 errors. As we’ve mentioned earlier, it could be caused by a misspelled URL or caused by visitors who type wrong URLs into the browser.
Losing your website content during a server malfunction or a website transfer could also cause 404 errors.
However, the most common cause is a mistake you make when updating your old blog posts. When you want to update the title of an old blog post, you usually have to also change the URL of the blog post. This means all the visitors who click on the old URL from Google search results or a link on a social network will only see a 404 error.
You can only fix this by redirecting the old URL to the new URL.
Note: To see if your website has any 404 errors, login to your Google Webmaster Tools account and check for crawl errors.
Best Redirection Plugins
There are several different 404 redirection plugins available on WordPress. Here are a few of the best plugins you can use.
1.All 404 Redirect to Homepage