• Legal Marketing Services
    ▼
    • SEO
    • Online Paid Advertising (SEM)
    • Website Design
    • Content Strategy and Development
    • Branding
    • Review Management
    • Social Media
    • Conversion Strategies
    • Legal CRM Implementation
    • Group Coaching
  • About GNGF
    ▼
    • Team
    • GNGF Way
    • Our Partners
    • Careers and Internships
  • Proven Success
    ▼
    • Case Studies
    • Awards
    • Testimonials
    • Portfolio
  • Resources
    ▼
    • Videos
    • Podcasts
    • Our Book—Online Law Practice Strategies
    • Our Blog
    • CLE Presentations
  • Contact
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
GNGF Marketing

GNGF Marketing

GNGF Marketing

513.444.2016
  • Legal Marketing Services
    • SEO
    • Online Paid Advertising (SEM)
    • Website Design
    • Content Strategy and Development
    • Branding
    • Review Management
    • Social Media
    • Conversion Strategies
    • Legal CRM Implementation
    • Group Coaching
  • About GNGF
    • Team
    • GNGF Way
    • Our Partners
    • Careers and Internships
  • Proven Success
    • Case Studies
    • Awards
    • Testimonials
    • Portfolio
  • Resources
    • Videos
    • Podcasts
    • Our Book—Online Law Practice Strategies
    • Our Blog
    • CLE Presentations
  • Contact

What does, “404: Article Not Found” Mean?

How often do you click a link or enter an address, only to receive the following statement: “404 Page Not Found?”

It’s frustrating to a user, and bad practice for a site owner to not clean up these “dead links” that lead to nothing. It is impossible to avoid a user mistyping, however, so it is important to set up a good 404 page for the end user to find what they were looking for.

What does 404 actually mean?

In web development, when you load a page, the server on which the site is hosted has to send the content to your computer, and when it does, it includes a numeric code to let your browser know how the content was handled. 404 is not the only code that is used; there are several common HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Response Codes that are used across the web: 200 for a successful load, 301 for a permanent redirect, 302 for a temporary redirect, 403 for content that you are not authorized to access, 404 for a file that cannot be located, and 500 for a server error.

So what happens when the server sends a 404 code?

When a 404 error is processed, the site will send the user to a predefined error handling page. Older users may remember the old 404 pages that were generated by the browser, did not allow for customization and did not provide much useful information. In 2016, however, you can fully customize your site’s 404 page to match your styling and branding, as well as adding relevant information for the user. One great example of this is to scan the Universal Resource Locator (URL) for keywords, then display links to pages that may be similar to the page that was not found. Providing useful information on this page can be the difference between a user continuing to explore your site or the user leaving immediately to search elsewhere.

Filed Under: SEO, Warning

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

  • Videos
    Videos
    Access our Legal Marketing Tips and our Interviews with Legal Technology Innovators and Top Industry Experts
  • Our Process
    Our Process
    The proven process we use to guide our law firm clients to grow their firms.
  • Services
    Services
    Because we only work with law firms, we are uniquely positioned to use the data we’ve collected across the legal industry to develop best practices across our legal marketing services.
  • Portfolio
    Portfolio
    Yes, quality websites are a must. We have experience building websites that CONVERT for law firms...and we have been honored with industry design awards along the way.
  • Academy
    Academy
    If you aren't ready for a full service agency, our Legal Marketing Academy provides training and group coaching to help you grow your law firm.
  • Cover Art for Your Law Firm is a Business Take It To The Next Level podcast Podcast
    Podcast
    Subscribe and Listen to our CEO, Mark Homer, and co-host Melanie Leonard from streamlined.legal on their award winning podcast "Your Law Firm is a Business: Take it to the Next Level"

connect with us
expert@gngf.com 513.444.2016

Privacy Policy Terms of Use