Error Page

What Is an Error Page?

A good error page turns a dead end into a redirect: instead of losing the user, it offers navigation, a search function, and links to relevant content. From an SEO perspective, the individual error page is less problematic than a high number of them: many 404 errors waste crawl budget and signal to Google that the website is poorly maintained. Regular monitoring in Search Console is therefore essential.

An error page is the page displayed when a user or bot accesses an unavailable URL. The most common HTTP status codes are: 404 (page not found), 410 (page permanently deleted), 500 (internal server error), and 503 (service unavailable). A well-designed error page explains to the user why something went wrong and offers orientation or links to other pages. A poorly designed error page becomes a ranking drag because it wastes crawl budget.

Technically, error pages can significantly impact crawl budget when Google repeatedly encounters new 404 or 500 errors. A high error page rate signals technical problems. Google recommends marking permanently deleted pages with a 410 status (instead of 404) so Google removes them from the index faster. Broken URLs (e.g., with broken parameters) should be resolved with redirects — if that’s not possible, they should be blocked via robots.txt.

In practice, website owners should regularly monitor Search Console and check the list of crawl errors. A custom 404 page with navigation, search, and internal links helps users navigate the site correctly. A fallback page should also exist for 500 errors. More importantly, prevent error pages from the start: through clean internal linking, regular link audits (using tools like Screaming Frog), and monitoring crawl errors in Search Console.