Picture this: you want to go shopping so you look for a store in the yellow pages and find the address. Once you get to where the store is supposed to be located you discover it’s not there anymore. When that happens on the Internet it’s called a 404. Considering all the time and effort that you’ve put into finding this store, I imagine you’d be pretty upset. I most certainly would. Would you try to find out where the store had moved to? Probably not.
想象一下：您想去购物，所以在黄页中寻找商店并找到地址。 一旦到达商店应有的位置，您就会发现它已经不存在了。 当这种情况在Internet上发生时，它称为404。考虑到您在寻找这家商店上花费的所有时间和精力，我想您会很沮丧。 我当然可以。 您会尝试找出商店搬到哪里吗？ 可能不是。
That’s exactly what happens when a page on your Website comes up as a 404. The potential customer who clicked the inbound link will simply go to another site with a little click of the mouse.
这就是当您的网站上的页面显示为404时发生的情况。单击入站链接的潜在客户将只需单击一下鼠标即可转到另一个站点。
For those of you who don’t know what a 404 is, it’s an error that’s displayed when a user requests a Web page that’s no longer available on the server. This often happens when sites change layout and or page information — but 404s are by no means unavoidable! In fact, I think it’s a safe bet to say that this would never happen if Webmasters and site owners always double-checked their work. Unfortunately, however, too many sites seem to slip through the net.
对于那些不知道404是什么的用户，当用户请求服务器上不再可用的网页时会显示此错误。 网站更改布局和/或页面信息时通常会发生这种情况-但是404绝不是不可避免的！ 实际上，我认为可以肯定地说，如果网站管理员和网站所有者总是仔细检查他们的工作，那将永远不会发生。 但是，不幸的是，似乎有太多站点无法通过网络访问。
Then, a potential customer performs a keyword search for something that has to do with that business, and the results list includes a page from the site that’s recently been taken down — the page no longer exists. But, as the search engine hasn’t sent another spider to the site since the page was removed, it thinks the page is still available, and serves the link in the search results.
然后，潜在客户对与该业务有关的内容执行关键字搜索，结果列表包括该站点最近被删除的页面，该页面不再存在。 但是，由于自该页面被删除以来搜索引擎尚未向该网站发送其他蜘蛛，因此它认为该页面仍然可用，并在搜索结果中提供了链接。
Guess what happens when the user clicks on the link? They’re taken to a 404 page. Online, this is like saying "Hey thanks for trying but we don’t want you here." Accordingly, the user will usually just go back to the search engine and click on the listing of one of your competitors. And just like that you’ve lost a potential customer.
猜猜用户单击链接时会发生什么？ 他们被带到404页面。 在网上，这就像在说“嘿，谢谢您的尝试，但我们不希望您在这里。” 因此，用户通常只会返回搜索引擎并单击您的竞争对手之一的列表。 就像那样，您已经失去了潜在客户。
404 errors caused a real problem for a client of mine who run an online stock site that provides users with insights and tips into the world of trading.
404错误给我的客户带来了一个真正的问题，该客户经营着一个在线股票网站，该网站向用户提供有关交易世界的见解和提示。
They were very new to the whole search engine optimization arena and wanted to get more traffic to their site. After doing some research at a few search engines I was amazed at what I found: they had some good rankings but the pages that were listed were no longer available on their site. There were 404s everywhere.
他们是整个搜索引擎优化领域的新手，希望获得更多访问其网站的流量。 在一些搜索引擎上进行了研究后，我对发现的结果感到惊讶：它们的排名不错，但是列出的页面不再在其网站上可用。 到处都有404。
Once I realized what was happening I could help solve the problem. The client had no idea that each time people were clicking on their search engine listing they were getting the "404 page not found" error message. They now understood that these people wanted to visit the site, but because of the company’s lack of attention to detail, these potential clients would simply go to a competitor’s site with the click of the mouse. I could only guess how many visitors were lost due to these missing pages.
一旦我意识到发生了什么事，我就可以帮助解决问题。 该客户端不知道每次人们单击搜索引擎列表时，他们都会收到“找不到404页”错误消息。 他们现在知道这些人想访问该站点，但是由于该公司缺乏对细节的关注，因此，这些潜在的客户只需单击鼠标即可进入竞争对手的站点。 我只能猜测由于缺少这些页面而失去了多少访客。
So what was the solution for my client? It was simple:
那么，为我的客户提供什么解决方案？ 很简单：
1. Redirect on-site
1.现场重定向
I showed them how, instead of ever taking a page down, they should redirect the page to a main page of their site (or a page that displays a message saying "Sorry but this page is no longer updated. Please visit our homepage or contact us for more information").
我向他们展示了如何将其重定向到其网站的首页(或显示“抱歉，但此页面已不再更新。”的页面，请访问我们的主页或联系我们以获取更多信息”)。
2. Redirect from the host
2.从主机重定向
Another option is to check with your hosting company to see if they offer a 404 redirect. Then, when a user enters the URL of any page off your domain (i.e.-www.yourcompany.com/nopage) that doesn’t exist, they are automatically taken to a specified page, such as your index or home page. It’s the easiest way to ensure that a potential customer is never lost due to a page not being found.
另一种选择是与托管公司联系，以查看它们是否提供404重定向。 然后，当用户输入域外不存在的任何页面(即，www.yourcompany.com / nopage)的URL时，它们将自动进入指定的页面，例如您的索引或主页。 这是确保不会因找不到页面而失去潜在客户的最简单方法。
3. Submit new pages to the search engines
3.向搜索引擎提交新页面
Another good idea is to resubmit new pages to search engines for reindexing. Although it’s nice to inform visitors that a page they’re looking for no longer exists, it’s even better to have the new page with all the information the visitor wants appear when they perform a search.
另一个好主意是将新页面重新提交给搜索引擎以重新编制索引。 尽管很高兴地告知访问者他们正在寻找的页面不再存在，但最好还是将新页面包含访问者在执行搜索时希望显示的所有信息。
4. Keep an eye on your page listings
4.留意您的页面列表
Do yourself a favour and check regularly to make sure your site listings aren’t taking potential clients to 404 pages. Go to a search engine like www.altavista.com and type www.yoursiteURL.com in the search bar.
帮个忙，并定期检查以确保您的网站列表不会吸引潜在客户访问404页。 转到类似www.altavista.com的搜索引擎，然后在搜索栏中键入www.yoursiteURL.com。
If the search results index a page that no longer appears on your server:
如果搜索结果索引了不再显示在服务器上的页面：
go to the search engine’s submissions page and submit the new URL for the page that covers the information of the old page, and 转到搜索引擎的“提交”页面，并提交包含旧页面信息的页面的新URL，以及 make note of the name of the page that’s no longer available, and then rename one of your existing pages with this old title. 记下该页面不再可用的名称，然后使用该旧标题重命名您现有的页面之一。This way you can ensure that people who search for information on your site will be taken to the correct page until the new page is indexed — and ensure you don’t lose potential sales because of missing pages.
这样，您可以确保在您的网站上搜索信息的用户将被带到正确的页面，直到为新页面建立索引为止，并确保您不会因为缺少页面而损失潜在的销售。
5. Get organised with updates
5.组织更新
Keep notes: maintaining a Website is a big job, so don’t rely solely on your memory. Keep a notebook or digital log full of your site changes to help refresh your memory and ensure you follow up changes with the search engines.
请注意：维护网站是一项艰巨的任务，因此，不要仅仅依靠您的记忆。 保持笔记本或数字日志充满您的站点更改，以帮助刷新您的内存并确保您跟踪搜索引擎的更改。
In the 3 months after we corrected the 404s on the client site, we saw a dramatic rise in unique visitors. Although the company implemented other Web marketing tactics, I’m positive that correcting the 404s had a lot to do with the traffic increase. The moral of the story: don’t close a door to your site: you never know who might come knocking.
在纠正了客户网站上的404错误后的3个月中，唯一身份访问者的数量急剧上升。 尽管该公司实施了其他网络营销策略，但我很肯定纠正404与流量增加有很大关系。 这个故事的寓意是：不要关闭您的站点的门：您永远都不知道谁会来敲门。
翻译自: https://www.sitepoint.com/errors-5-ways-avoid-them/
