Status Code: 404 Errors. How to fix them.

[salvyy]

Hi,

I have a question about the "4xx Staus Code" errors appearing in the Analysis Tool provided by SEOmoz. They are indicated as the worst errors for your site and must be fixed. I get this message from the good people at SEOmoz:

"4xx status codes are shown when the client requests a page that cannot be accessed. This is usually the result of a bad or broken link."

Ok, my question is the following. How do I fix them? Those pages are shown as "404" pages on my site...isn't that enough? How can fix the "4xx status code" errors indicated by SEOmoz?

Thank you very much for your help.

• Sal

[VictorVC]

Why not 301 the 404s to similar pages? Fix your problem AND transfer some of the link juice.

[danbocain]

As Ben Fox stated, you can use the report to find the linking errors.

I'd also run a scan of your site using Xenu Link Sleuth (it's 100% free) if you're a PC user. Some people prefer Screaming Frog (both work well, Screaming Frog has a free and paid version to my knowledge)

I use Xenu personally, been using it for years with much success. You'd be surprised what kind of stuff it digs up.

[BenFox]

Hi Sal,

If you look for the referrer column in the report you can see which pages are linking to the broken URLs.

Fix these broken links and you won't be generating so many 4xx pages.

That's the theory anyway. It can be a pretty arduous task but if you stick to it you should be able to get that number down.