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    4. HTTP Status Bad Request - 404, but also, add a 400 HTTP Status in certain circumstances?

    HTTP Status Bad Request - 404, but also, add a 400 HTTP Status in certain circumstances?

    Intermediate & Advanced SEO
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    • EEE3
      EEE3 last edited by

      We currently have a custom 404 page set up for our clients, but the developer has it returning a HTTP 200 for the status code. Big no, no. I'm having that fixed right now.

      My question is, currently, the custom 404 page is only returned for urls with the extension .aspx:

      • For example : ilovepizza.com/pepperni.aspx would return a 404 page because the correct page is ilovepizza.com/pepperoni.aspx

      Any other format of URL without the extension (example ilovepizza.com/thumbtack) does not trigger the custom 404 page we've created, but it does trigger a server error with a 404 HTTP status page. I want to change this so this type of error also triggers the custom 404 page because it's more user-friendly and would return them to the website.

      My question: Is there any benefit to making the /thumbtack errors return the custom 404 page but with a 400 Bad Request HTTP Status?

      Kind of a novice here in those aspects, but does the 400 Bad Request status indicate that it was a user mistake and not a mistake created on the website?

      Other suggestions?

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • OrionGroup
        OrionGroup last edited by

        Have you tried adding this 404 page to IIS -> Website properties -> Custom Errors tab, then under 404, point to the web page that you would like to show up when a file is not found?

        EEE3 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • EEE3
          EEE3 @OrionGroup last edited by

          Hi Scott,

          Thanks for the reply. The developers will take care of that part. Have you ever heard of anyone using 400 instead of 404 when it's more of a user-generated error?

          -EEE3

          OrionGroup 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • OrionGroup
            OrionGroup @EEE3 last edited by

            Unfortunately I don't have experience with that.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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