Glossary · technical-seo
What is 404 error?
A 404 error is the response a server gives when a requested page does not exist: the page not found screen. Some 404s are normal and harmless, such as a mistyped address. They become a problem when real pages with links or traffic disappear, when internal links point to pages that were deleted, or when a site returns a normal-looking page with a 200 status for missing content, known as a soft 404. A useful 404 page explains that the page is gone and offers search, popular links and a contact route rather than a dead end.
What does 404 error mean for a business in Pakistan?
Pakistani e-commerce stores often delete sold-out products, turning every link to them into a 404, including links shared on Facebook and WhatsApp. Leaving the product page up with an out-of-stock note and related items, or redirecting it to a close replacement, keeps those visitors and the page's ranking.
A worked example
An Islamabad mobile accessories store removes 120 discontinued products. Search Console soon lists 120 new 404 errors, 15 of which had external links. The store redirects those 15 to the nearest current product, leaves the rest as 404s, and fixes four internal links in blog posts that still pointed to removed items.
Terms that go with this one
These come up in the same conversations and are worth reading together.
- 301 redirect301 redirectA 301 redirect is a permanent instruction from a server that a page has moved to a new address. Browsers send visitors straight to the new address,…
- Google Search Consolesearch consoleGoogle Search Console is Google's free tool for website owners. It shows which search queries your pages appeared for, how many impressions and…
- Internal linkinternal linkAn internal link is a link from one page of your website to another page on the same site. Menus, footers and links inside paragraphs all count.…
- CrawlingcrawlingCrawling is a search engine's bot fetching your pages by following links — the same way a person clicks around a site, but automated and far faster.…
- Uptimesite kitna time chalti haiUptime is the share of time a website is online and reachable, usually quoted as a percentage over a month or year. Hosts often advertise figures…
404 error — quick answers
What does 404 error mean?
A 404 error is the response a server gives when a requested page does not exist: the page not found screen. Some 404s are normal and harmless, such as a mistyped address.
404 error ko Urdu mein kya kehte hain?
چار سو چار ایرر — though in practice almost everyone in Pakistan says "page not found". Pakistani e-commerce stores often delete sold-out products, turning every link to them into a 404, including links shared on Facebook and WhatsApp.
Why does 404 error matter for a business in Pakistan?
Pakistani e-commerce stores often delete sold-out products, turning every link to them into a 404, including links shared on Facebook and WhatsApp. Leaving the product page up with an out-of-stock note and related items, or redirecting it to a close replacement, keeps those visitors and the page's ranking.
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