Smart Custom 404 Error Page vs Better 404 Redirect To Homepage

Bringing visitors to your website takes time and effort. Every visitor is important. The default 404 error page of most themes does not provide any information on what to find on your site. A first-time visitor, who does not know you, is left in a dead end and leaves your website. Set up a helpful custom 404 error page to keep them on your site! This handy plugin allows you to easily create your own 404 error page without any effort and it works with almost every theme. Out of Retirement! NerdPress has adopted Smart Custom 404 Page! Read the announcement here. We’ve been fans of this plugin for many years, and we’re grateful for Peter’s many years of service to the community. Peter retired from plugin development in October 2023, so we’ve jumped in to help ensure this plugin continues to work well now and in the future. Usage Create your custom 404 error page just like any other page using the WordPress Editor (Pages > Add New). Then go to Appearance > 404 Error Page and select the created page as your custom 404 error page. That’s it! Why use this plugin? Unlike similar plugins the 404page plugin does not create redirects. That’s quite important because a correct code 404 is delivered which tells search engines that the page does not exist and has to be removed from the index. Additionally, the 404page plugin does not create additional server requests. Requirements The only requirement for this plugin is that you change the Permalink Structure in Settings > Permalinks to anything else but “Plain.” This also activates the WordPress 404 error handling. Block & Shortcode Block The Plugin offers a block “URL causing 404 error” for the block-based editor to show the URL that caused the error. The block offers three display options: “Page” to show the page including path ( e.g. does/not/exist ) “Domain Path” to show the URL without protocol and parameters ( e.g. example.com/does/not/exist ) “Full” to show the complete URL ( e.g. https://example.com/does/not/exist?p=1 ) Shortcode The Plugin offers a shortcode “pp_404_url” for the classic editor to show the URL that caused the error. There are three possible options: [pp_404_url page] to show the page including path ( e.g. does/not/exist ) [pp_404_url domainpath] to show the URL without protocol and parameters ( e.g. example.com/does/not/exist ) [pp_404_url] or [pp_404_url full] to show the complete URL ( e.g. https://example.com/does/not/exist?p=1 ) Plugin Privacy Information This plugin does not set cookies This plugin does not collect or store any data This plugin does not send any data to external servers For developers Action Hook The plugin adds an action hook 404page_after_404 which you can use to add extra functionality. The exact position the action occurs after an 404 error is detected depends on the Operating Method. Your function must not generate any output. There are no parameters. Constant If the 404page plugin is installed and activated it defines the PHP constant PP_404. Check existence of it to detect the 404page plugin. Functions The Plugin provides the following functions: pp_404_is_active() to check if there is a custom 404 page selected and the selected page exists pp_404_get_page_id() to get the ID of the 404 page pp_404_get_all_page_ids() to get an array of page IDs in all languages pp_404_get_the_url( $type ) to get the URL that caused the 404 error Parameter $type string Optional “page” to get the page including path ( e.g. does/not/exist ) “domainpath” to get the URL without protocol and parameters ( e.g. example.com/does/not/exist ) “full” (default) to get the complete URL ( e.g. https://example.com/does/not/exist?p=1 ) Native Mode If you are a theme developer you can add native support for the 404page plugin to your theme for full control.

This plugin is now migrated into the Slim SEO plugin and will be maintained within Slim SEO. Please use Slim SEO instead. Avoid 404 errors as it affects your SEO badly. The 404 error pages hurts the SEO rank of your site if you have many 404 links. You can see the list of 404 pages in Google Console (former Google Webmaster Tools). Install this plugin, and it will take care of all your 404 errors. What is Better 404 Redirect To Homepage Better 404 Redirect To Homepage is a simple but amazing plugin which handles all 404 errors for you. It will redirect all 404 errors to your homepage, using 301 redirection. The plugin is minimal and doesn’t have any settings. All you need to do is just install it and forget. It will automatically do its job. Features It just works. No settings in the admin. Auto detects and ignores admin, cron and XML-PRC requests Works with bbPress profile links You might also like Slim SEO: A fast, lightweight, full-featured SEO plugin with minimal configuration. Slim SEO has a redirection module, which contains the 404 to homepage settings. Meta Box: The best WordPress plugin for creating custom post types and custom fields. GretaThemes: Clean and elegant WordPress themes (free and premium). Auto Listings: The best WordPress plugin for car dealership and car selling websites.