Solve 404 error

[ofuente]

Hello,

I have a doubt: is there any problem redirecting a "404 error page" to the home instead of another landing page?

Thank you in advance.

[Martijn_Scheijbeler]

Hi Oscar,

In the middle of a Google Hangout, John Mueller revealed a piece of interesting information about Google’s view of internal redirects. If you have a page that 301 redirects to the homepage, rather than a more relevant internal counterpart, Google’s algorithm treats it with as much juice power as it would a 404 link.

So for a users experience it won't be a problem to redirect to the homepage, but it could be if it's only purpose is SEO (which should never be the purpose).

[Devanur-Rafi]

Agree with Martijn. A non-existing resource on your website should ideally pull up your custom 404 error file throwing an HTTP header status 404 and you should give an option to the visitor regarding what wants to do like showing him a link to the homepage. You can also include some links to other important pages of your website. But you should not redirect him to anywhere automatically.

Best,

Devanur Rafi

[partyrama]

Its your own choice, As long as you are making the 404 page a bit interesting, then i am sure you can use it.

Redirecting to homepage, might confuse the visitors, so be careful

[Christy-Correll]

Hi Oscar,

You received some good responses. Did any of them answer your question? Please let us know.

Thanks,
Christy