When visitors click a click to a page on your website, they expect their web browser to load the appropriate page. If your server can’t find the page specified in a link, it will return an HTTP 404 error code.

While it’s good practice to periodically scan a website for broken links using a 404 checker, eliminating all 404 errors is practically impossible. What you can do, however, is mitigate the damage they cause your website by creating a custom 404 error page.

What Is a Custom 404 Error Page?

A custom 404 error page is a uniquely designed web page that’s served to visitors in response to a 404 error. By default, the server on which your website is hosted will serve a generic 404 error page. It may consist of the heading “Not Found,” proceeded by “The requested URL was not found on this server,” in smaller text or it may simply say, “The page cannot be found.” Regardless, all default 404 error pages are bare-bones, typically consisting of just a few lines of generic text and without any images or visuals.

The good news is you can create a unique web page that’s served to visitors in response to 404 errors. Known as a custom 404 error page, it works just like a default error page. If a visitor clicks a broken link to a page on your website, he or she will encounter the custom 404 error page. The difference is that with a custom 404 error page, you’ll have the freedom to show visitors a unique web page in response to 404 errors rather than the generic and bland-looking default 404 error page.

Lower Bounce Rate

You can lower your website’s bounce rate by creating a custom 404 error page. Not to be confused with email bounce rate, website bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who leave or otherwise their end their session after accessing just a single web page. If a visitor leaves your website without clicking through to at least one other internal web page during his or her session, Google will count the visit as a bounce.

Using a default 404 error page may increase your website’s bounce rate. If a user clicks a broken external link to your website and encounters a default 404 error page, he or she will probably leave. Default 404 error pages are devoid of links, so visitors can’t use them to navigate your website.

You can achieve a lower bounce rate, however, by creating a custom 404 error page with internal links to your website’s pages. On the custom 404 error page, consider adding links to your website’s homepage as well as its most popular articles or blog posts. Some visitors will click these links upon landing on the custom 404 error page, meaning their visit won’t be counted as a bounce.

Attract Newsletter Signups

If you have an email newsletter, you can use a custom 404 error page to attract more signups. Research shows email offers are one of the highest return on investment (ROI) of all offline and online marketing channels. Once a user has opted to receive commercial emails from your website, you can send him or her messages to promote your site’s products or services.

When designing a custom 404 error page, add the HTML code for your newsletter signup form along with a short pitch about why visitors should subscribe to it. Visitors who encounter the custom 404 error page can then enter their name and email address in the form, giving you the green light to target them with commercial emails. You should still publish your newsletter signup form on other pages of your website, as well as your social media profiles, but adding it to a custom 404 error page can help you build a bigger list of subscribers.

Increase Brand Recognition

A custom 404 error page can help increase your website’s brand recognition. Even if you build your website using a template or theme, there’s probably one page that looks entirely different than the rest: the 404 error page.

While all other pages will feature a uniform design as dictated by your website’s template or theme, a default 404 error page will feature a basic design that’s not aligned with the rest of your website. Therefore, it won’t expose visitors to your website’s brand. For increased brand recognition, you must create a custom 404 error page containing a similar design as the rest of your website. When visitors see your website’s name, tagline, logo and color scheme on a custom 404 error page, they’ll begin to associate those brand elements with your website.

Drive Conversions

You can use a custom 404 error page to drive conversions. For e-commerce websites, a custom 404 error page is particularly useful at driving conversions. On a custom 404 error page, you can include links to popular products, recently viewed products or related products.

If you promote affiliate products or services on your website for a commission, you can use a custom 404 error page to drive conversions. Like with e-commerce products, you can include links to your affiliate products or services on a custom 404 error page.

More Indexed Pages

You can compel search engines to add more of your website’s pages to their index by creating a custom 404 error page. All major search engines index web pages by crawling links. When Google or Bing lands on a web page, they’ll scan its content while simultaneously searching for links to other pages. If the web page has 10 links, search engines will likely follow all 10 links, thereby allowing them to discover 10 new pages to include in their index.

Default 404 error pages don’t have any links, so search engines can’t use them to discover new pages. If you create a custom 404 page, you can include links to other pages that both visitors and search engines can follow to discover new pages on your website.

Conclusion

As a webmaster, there’s only so much you can do to prevent 404 errors. If another website links to a page on your site using the wrong URL, users who click and follow it will encounter a 404 error page. Rather than serving them a default 404 error page, though, you should create a custom 404 error page. It can lower your website’s bounce rate, attract newsletter signups, increase your website’s brand recognition and widen your website’s digital footprint in the search results.