Miss meta description on 404 page

[JohnHuynh]

Hi,

My 404 page did not have meta description. Is it an error?

Because I run report and seomoz said that a problem.

Thanks!

[JohnHuynh]

Thanks my friends!

[john4math]

Yeah, this page should return a 404 status code as a 404 page, not a 200.  Otherwise search bots (like Googlebot and Roger) will think this is a regular page on your site, and as such this page could appear in search results.

[JohnHuynh]

I redirected ErrorDocument 404 http://www.vietnamvisacorp.com/404.shtml

But I am confusing about HTTP status code 200 OK and 404 Not Found. Should I use 200 OK or 404 status for these pages?

[PaddyDisplays]

You would/ should use 301 to fix a 404 error, and direct to the correct content.  404 pages are for when their is no correct content (mistyped url), but ultimately you never want a link to a 404 on your site

its call 404 ERROR for a reason

[JohnHuynh]

Thanks,

I just edit and add the meta description to 404 page. I hope this is resolution.

I have a custom 404 page and did not use redirect option. What are the difference between 2 ops (redirect 301 vs 404 page customize) in there?

[MichaelYork]

Hi John,

You might have numerous pages displaying 404 errors if they are broken links. 301 redirect them all to the right page, then run the report again and see if it is displaying and information on meta descriptions missing.

[Raydon]

You are talking about a custom 404 page or something else?

obviously, a 404 page is something you need to care for at a different level and either fix the page and url that is giving the 404 to browser or totally remove depending on existing value.

If you are talking about custom 404 page, i think you really need concern yourself with its ranking or anything of the sorts as it is just an error page designed nicely, and in fact it must work as if "page was not found/generic browser 404 error" was displayed.

Here's Google's take at it