How to proceed on this 404 situation

[fabioricotta-84038]

Hi folks,

I have a website (www.mysite.com) where I can't host a 404 page inside the subdomain www because a CMS issue.

In order to provide a 404 page, I can create a subdomain like “404.mysite.com” that returns 404 and then if I find that a page does not exist I can redirect it to 404.mysite.com.

My question is: should I redirect as 301 or 302? Does it have any difference?

[jsturgeon]

Fabio,

If you are taking the time to redirect to a 404 page, I would suggest using a 301 to a page that is active. Instead of wasting the link juice on a 404 page, you can pass it on to something that is active and useful to your visitor (even a "help" page)

The key here is to find a new page that is at least somewhat connected to what was on the dead link's URL.