Your 404 page has low hanging fruit
Many people neglect their 404 error page and leave a default server message. Don't do that.
When I was at SurveyMonkey we had a standard 404 error page that indicated that a user was looking at an error page. If I recall there was probably a fun monkey on it too. In digging through our crawl and access logs to discover SEO insights, I discovered that we had a substantial amount of 404 page views by both users and bots. Given that a core part of SurveyMonkey’s product required people to share links, it was a natural result that many links might have broken.
I came up with an idea to test links on the 404 page to see if Google would use that page to discover new pages. At the same time, I also suggested that we redesign our 404 page with calls to action, so maybe we might grab some additional sign-ups. The latter was just an afterthought while the former was a real test.
Here is how it looked on that first test and how it still looks today.
Not surprisingly the first test was a huge success which in retrospect made a lot of sense. Googlebot will use any and all sources to find new pages to crawl including links posted on social media, pages visited via the Chrome browser, and of course a 404 page.
The big surprise was the call to action on the 404 page. As a result of that single call to action on a page that users weren’t even supposed to see, we saw a significant amount of account signups with some of them even becoming paid accounts. In hindsight, this result was logical. Users were landing on this page because they were given a link by someone they trusted which in actuality ended up being a broken link. The users were confused and just followed the call to action to sign up.
If this were all that happened these would have been just wasted free sign-ups; however, these users were now introduced to the brand and were sent welcome emails. A non-insignificant number of these users liked what they learned and decided to become paying customers.
This is something that can be replicated by any website by just designing a useful error page that has more than a “sorry, this page is broken” message.
The Benefits of Building a Useful 404 Page
A well-designed 404 page can help you:
Reduce frustration and improve user experience. When a user sees a 404 page, they may become confused. A well-designed 404 page can help to reduce this confusion by explaining what happened and providing the user with options for how to proceed. A dead end is just frustrating.
Minimize the impact of a 404 error on your SEO. When Google crawls your website, it looks for pages that are linked from other pages. Every broken page it sees in theory takes some of the resources allocated to your site and therefore will impact the remaining allocation available to good pages.
Drive traffic to other pages on your website. Your 404 page can be an opportunity to drive traffic to other pages on your website. For example, you can include links to your most popular pages, your latest blog posts, your contact information or even a product page.
Build trust and credibility with your users. When a user sees a 404 page, they may be concerned about the quality of your website. A well-designed 404 page can help to build trust and credibility with your users by explaining what happened and providing them with options for how to proceed.
How to Build a Useful 404 Page
When building a 404 page, there are a few things you should keep in mind:
Make sure the page is clear and easy to understand. The 404 page should explain what happened and provide the user with options for how to proceed.
Use humor or personality to make the page more engaging. A 404 page can be an opportunity to show off your brand's personality. Use humor or personality to make the page more engaging and memorable.
Include relevant links to other pages on your website. Your 404 page can be an opportunity to drive traffic to other pages on your website. Include links to your most popular pages, your latest blog posts, or your contact information.
Here are some non-maximized 404 pages from top brands:
Here are some examples of 404 pages that help people instead of confusing them:
As always, thank you for reading and please share ideas about anything you think I should be writing about.