Free tool

Does your error page tell the truth?

When a page does not exist, the server should say so with a 404 code, and show visitors a way out. We try two made-up addresses on your site and check both.

Two requests to addresses that cannot exist; nothing is kept.

Try with physalisdesign.com, quebec.ca

Why the code matters

Visitors never see the code, but everything else does. A “404” tells Google to stop crawling the address, tells link checkers the link is broken, and tells your statistics that someone got lost. A page that says “Not found” in large letters but answers “200 OK” lies to all of them: that is a soft 404.

404

Not found

The normal answer to an unknown address. The page may have existed or not.

410

Gone

The page existed and was removed for good. Google forgets it a little faster.

301

Moved

For a page that changed address: redirect it to its new home, not to the home page.

A useful error page

  1. Say what happened“This page does not exist or has moved”, in the site's language, without jargon.
  2. Offer a way outA link to the home page, the most visited pages, and a search field.
  3. Keep the site around itHeader, menu and footer: visitors must feel they are still on your site.

To follow up, Google Search Console lists the 404s it finds (Pages › Not found) and the soft 404s: a good way to spot old links worth redirecting.