1. Home
  2. Tutorials
  3. Advanced website settings
  4. Personalize your 404 (not found) error page
 

Lifesaver

Personalize your 404 (not found) error page

Whether you’re looking to add a little fun to your site 404 error page, personalize its content to add useful links to site pages or features, or simply make a design statement, personalizing your site’s “page not found” message is easy - all it takes is a little creativity.

 

What’s a 404 error page, and when is it used?

Inevitably, your site’s 404 or “page not found” error page will be viewed by at least some of your site visitors:

  • whenever you delete pages on your site without removing links to them from other pages or creating redirections
  • if links are added incorrectly to your site from other websites
  • if a site visitor types an address manually and gets it wrong.

it’s your website’s 404 page that will be displayed for them instead. A 404 error page indicates to a visitor that what they’re trying to view, simply can’t be found. Ensuring a consistent approach to your site design, and the way you address your audience, means including all pages on your site, even the ones they’ll hopefully never have to see.

404-defaut.png
 

What kind of content to add to a 404 page?

It’s really up to you, and depends on your website, the type or profile of your visitors, and the way you address them.

A 404 error page can be limited to a simple message, be a way to truly express your creativity and engage your visitors, and can help to attract new ones; make a truly original error page that stands out, and it’ll get people talking about it!

It’s a good idea to include useful navigational links in the page, such as one to your site homepage, or a browser history “go back” link so visitors can click it to return to the page from which they arrived.

You can even use it to add a search box for your site content, to help wayward visitors help find what they’re actually looking for.

 

Personalizing your site 404 error page

To personalize your site 404 error page, head to the Settings > Global settings > 404 error page menu of the site manager.

The 404 error page editor is just like the ones in your site add-ons, with a page layout and content toolbar and a visual editor.

Personalize the page title, and content, then simply save your changes when you’re done. To check the results on your site, simply access and page address (provided it doesn’t exist!) like http://yoursite.com/thisdoesntexist.

404 error