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404's can lead to a poor user experience, waste "link juice" and also make it harder for Google to crawl your website. I created this over the shoulder video to help you clean up the 404's on your website.
Hey, what's up guys? I just wanted to create this video to show you what 404 errors are and what you should do with them.
Right now, we’re in the Ahrefs audit, and I’ve already navigated to the 404 page section. There are two tabs to focus on: 404 pages and links to 404 pages. The 404 pages tab lists pages on your website that return a 404 error when someone visits them. The links to 404 pages tab shows live pages on your website that link to those 404 pages. These links need to be cleaned up by either redirecting them, creating content for the missing URL, or removing the link entirely.
To decide which approach to take, start by going to the page itself. For example, let’s look at the "fighting gingivitis" page. Once there, you can figure out where it’s linking out from. You’ll see the anchor text that links to the 404 page.
The easiest way to locate it is to copy the anchor text, paste it into the find bar, and identify where it appears on the page. Clicking the link will show that it leads to a 404 error, which is not a good user experience.
From here, you want to decide the best course of action. For example, the anchor text might say, “at every regular dental exam.” Check if there’s a relevant blog on the website that discusses regular dental exams. If so, you can redirect the 404 page to that blog. Alternatively, instead of a redirect, you could update the link to point directly to the relevant blog post.
If no relevant content exists, another option is to create a new piece of content about regular dental exams. This will take more time but could be a great long-term solution. Finally, if none of these options are viable, you can simply remove the link and the surrounding content that references the 404 page.
Let’s go through another example. Say you find an anchor text that says, “schedule dental cleaning.” If the link points to a 404 page, you could redirect it to a service page about dental cleanings or the contact page.
For instance, if the link was meant to lead to a “routine checkups and cleanings” page that no longer exists, you could update it to the contact page. This makes sense because users looking to schedule a dental cleaning are likely seeking a lead form or contact information for the dental practice.
For each 404 error, use your best judgment to decide:
Each situation will vary, so choose the approach that best fits the context of the broken link and your website’s structure.
That’s pretty much all I wanted to cover in this video. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out. Thanks for watching!
Article By:
Founder and Owner of Chicago SEO Scholar. Kenny has over 10 years of experience in keyword research, conversion rate optimization, and ranking service based & enterprise businesses for their top keywords on Google.
He has worked at some of the top well known SEO agencies in the industry such as Alpha Dog Agency, The HOTH, and Linkbuilder.io. When he is not working, he is cooking at home or taking part of a cooking class to learn a new Italian dish.
The Chicago SEO Scholar is a trusted digital marketing consultancy that specializes in generating more traffic to Chicago businesses.
The founder, is committed to providing an excellent experience for his clients. He does this by providing excellent communication with clients, getting them a fantastic return on investment, and treating their business as if it was his own.