Google Recommends Custom 404 Pages and More Selective Redirects
A missing page does not automatically harm a site’s Google rankings. Google’s recent guidance instead places the emphasis on handling dead URLs accurately and helping visitors recover when a page is unavailable. In a Google-hosted discussion summarized by Search Engine Journal’s report on custom 404 pages , Google’s Gary Illyes and Cherry Prommawin described 404 errors as a normal part of the…
Google advises webmasters to enhance user experience and SEO by implementing custom 404 error pages and selective redirects. These changes focus on accurately handling dead URLs and assisting visitors when a page is unavailable. Gary Illyes and Cherry Prommawin from Google emphasize that 404 errors are expected and not necessarily a cause for penalty.
Instead, they suggest redirecting retired URLs only when a suitable substitute exists, returning a 404 or 410 when not applicable, and ensuring the error page is useful to users. The key is relevance, as redirecting unavailable URLs to unrelated pages can confuse visitors and complicate understanding the site's history. Google's three-step approach involves redirecting when a relevant replacement exists, returning a 404 or 410 when there's no replacement, and providing a helpful custom 404 page with navigation, search, and links to relevant sections.
The ultimate goal is to make the next action clear for users while maintaining a clean approach to SEO and maintaining the integrity of status codes.
Written by urgent.news from Dev.to's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
