HTTP 404 error means the client reached the server but couldn’t find the page. The error is handled at the server level and can be specified in the configuration. Soft 404 errors can be emulated, but it can harm the website’s SERPs.
A 404 HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) error, also commonly known as a 404 Page Not Found error, is a response code that indicates that the client was able to reach the desired server but could not find the page or file it was looking for. In simpler terms, the Internet browser was able to connect to the website in question, but the requested page could not be found.
Whenever a request is made from a client to a server, the HTTP protocol sends so-called HTTP headers with a status code. For a normal website, the status code is “200 OK”, which is the standard response for successful HTTP requests. Other status codes may appear if the website is redirected.
Every number in an HTTP 404 error means something. The first number “4” means that there was a client error, so the server is saying there was an error on the client side, such as a typo. It also indicates that the error may not be permanent. The middle “0” indicates a general syntax error. The last “4” indicates which particular error was made by the client 400 error group, which includes “400 Bad Request”, “401 Unauthorized” and “403 Forbidden”.
HTTP 404 errors are handled at the server level and not by the software running on the website. Some websites will emulate an HTTP 404 error, in which case it is called a soft 404 error. These websites will either use a redirection technique such as a meta redirect or they will use the .htaccess file to achieve this. The benefits for webmasters of doing this is that they can display any message or page they want when the requested page is not found on the server, thus improving the browsing experience.
The HTTP 404 page can be specified in the server configuration, thus providing an actual HTTP 404 error while still being able to redirect the user to a page within the website. Using redirects as HTTP 404 errors can be detrimental to your website’s search engine results pages (SERPs). In some browsers, if a custom HTTP 404 page is less than 514 kilobytes in size, the browser will display its own 404 error page and not the one specified in the server configurations.
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