What Is a 404 Error?
A 404 error is an HTTP status code meaning the server could not find the requested page. It is the most common error caused by broken links on WordPress sites.
Definition: A 404 error (HTTP 404 "Not Found") is the response a web server sends when it cannot find the page being requested. It means the URL exists syntactically but no content is associated with it on the server.
What does a 404 error mean?
When a browser or search engine requests a URL and the server cannot find any content at that address, it returns the HTTP status code 404 Not Found. This is different from a server error (500), a forbidden response (403), or a temporary redirect (302) — a 404 specifically means the resource at that URL does not exist.
On WordPress sites, the most common causes of 404 errors are:
- A page, post, or product was deleted without setting up a redirect.
- A URL slug was changed and the old URL was not redirected.
- A link was typed incorrectly (a typo in the URL).
- A site was migrated to a new URL structure without mapping old URLs to new ones.
How 404 errors affect SEO
A small number of 404 errors on a large site is normal and not alarming on its own. However, widespread 404s cause real SEO damage:
- Wasted crawl budget — Search engines waste crawl requests on dead URLs instead of discovering live content.
- Lost link equity — Any link equity from external backlinks pointing to a 404 URL is lost.
- Poor user experience — Visitors hitting 404 pages bounce immediately, which is a negative engagement signal.
Read more about how broken links and 404 errors hurt SEO.
How to fix a 404 error
The standard fix is a 301 redirect from the old (broken) URL to the most relevant live page. This recovers any link equity and ensures users land somewhere useful. Read the full guide on how to fix broken links in WordPress.
If the deleted page has no relevant replacement and nobody links to it, it is acceptable to leave it as a 404 — or return a 410 (Gone) to signal deliberate removal to search engines.
Frequently asked questions
What causes a 404 error?
A 404 error occurs when a server cannot find the requested page. Common causes include: a page was deleted, a URL was changed without a redirect, a link was mistyped, or content was moved to a different location without redirecting the old URL.
How do I fix a 404 error on my WordPress site?
Fix a 404 error by either restoring the deleted page, or setting up a 301 redirect from the old URL to the most relevant live page. Use FixLinks AI to find all 404 errors on your site and apply redirects in bulk.
Is a 404 error the same as a broken link?
They are related but not identical. A broken link is a hyperlink that leads to a non-working URL. A 404 error is the server response when that URL is requested. Most broken links result in 404 errors, but a broken link could also produce a 500 server error or redirect to a different error page.