202 error page set in robots.txt versus using crawl-able 404 error

[VPSEO]

We currently have our error page set up as a 202 page that is unreachable by the search engines as it is currently in our robots.txt file. Should the current error page be a 404 error page and reachable by the search engines?

Is there more value or is it a better practice to use 404 over a 202?

We noticed in our Google Webmaster account we have a number of broken links pointing the site, but the 404 error page was not accessible.

If you have any insight that would be great, if you have any questions please let me know.

Thanks,

VPSEO

[lavellester]

I think you should return a 404 page if content no longer exists.  The internet is always changing and 404 pages are a normal part of that.

You can return a 404 page, which is useful to users.

If you have a 404 page, which has backlinks to it then you can use a 301 to redirect to a related page or correct page if someone has linked incorrectly.

Hope this helps.

[EricaMcGillivray]

Since a 202 error is a server error, that's not categorizing that page right. A 404 says it doesn't exist, which is better. However, redirecting it to another similar and relevant page via a 301 is the best option.