A 404 error is an HTTP status code that means the page you were trying to reach on a website couldn’t be found on their server.

The error indicates that while the server itself is reachable, the specific page showing the error is not.

The 404 error messages are frequently customized by individual websites. This means the error might show up in just about any way imaginable depending on what website it’s shown from.

In this post, we’re going to try to help you get your site working again by explaining a few things:

How You Might See the 404 Error

Here are some common ways in which you might see the HTTP 404 error displayed:

• 404 Error
• 404 Not Found
• Error 404
• The requested URL [URL] was not found on this server
• HTTP 404
• Error 404 Not Found
• 404 File or Directory Not Found
• HTTP 404 Not Found
• 404 Page Not Found
• Error 404. The page you’re looking for can’t be found.

Cause of HTTP 404 Errors

If you see this error on all of your site’s content, it’s typically due to an issue with your WordPress site’s permalinks.

Technically, Error 404 is a client-side error, implying that it’s your mistake, either because you typed the URL incorrectly or the page has been moved or removed from the website and you should have known.

Another possibility is if a website has moved a page or resource but did so without redirecting the old URL to the new one. When that happens, you’ll receive a 404 error instead of being automatically routed to the new page.

How to Fix Error 404 Not Found on WordPress

In this lesson, we’ll cover a couple of different methods on how to fix the Error 404 Not Found message, depending on whether it’s happening sitewide or to specific content.

Use the following ways to resolve this error:

• Update Your WordPress Site’s Permalinks.
• Set Up 301 Redirects For Moved or Renamed Content.

1.Update Your WordPress Site’s Permalinks

If you’re experiencing sitewide 404 errors when trying to access content, the most likely cause is an issue with your permalinks (or your .htaccess file, if your host uses Apache). 

The easiest way to fix this is to update your permalink settings through the WordPress dashboard by going to Settings → Permalinks and click Save Changes (you don’t need to make any changes – clicking Save Changes is enough).

2.Set Up 301 Redirects For Moved or Renamed Content

Experiencing 404 errors on a specific piece of content, the most likely cause is that you:

• Changed the URL slug for that content.
• Moved that piece of content manually, e.g. by deleting the existing post and pasting it into a new post.

Users then try to access the content at the old location and see a 404 page instead of the resource they were expecting. The best way to fix this is to automatically redirect anyone who tries to access the old location to the new location. That way, they’ll make it to the right spot without any 404 errors. It’s also good for SEO. If you move or rename a post without adding a redirect, you lose all the domain authority attached to the backlinks pointed at that post.

By default wordpress will attempt to redirect changed/moved content. But sometimes it fails to work and you should never rely on WordPress for this functionality. But don’t worry, there are several easy ways to set up redirects in WordPress:

First, you can use the free Redirection plugin to manage redirects from your WordPress dashboard. Once you’ve installed and activated the plugin, go to Tools → Redirection and enter the 404 page URL in the Source URL box and the new location of the content in the Target URL box:

READ MORE >>> How to Fix the Error Establishing a Database Connection in WordPress

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Joseph

Am an experienced website developer with 3 years in building WordPress, Joomla, e-commerce and WIX websites.

I have great skills in html,css, JavaScript,MySQL,C++ and data base management.