23 percent of the top US websites have bad 404 error pages

The top 100 websites in the US count their visitor numbers in the millions. They need to care about every aspect of their website to handle (and take advantage of) all that traffic, which includes handling those users who sometimes end up on non-existing pages either by accident or because of an error. This means providing a helpful 404 error page.

Curious about how the big players on the web were handling this, we tested the 404 error pages for all the top 100 websites in the US (according to Alexa.com) and found that almost one in four had an inadequate 404 error page. Sinners include Google, Match.com, YouTube, Blogger, Megaupload and many more.

Why should the site owners care about 404 error pages?
Whenever you try to access a page that doesn’t exist on a website, you get a 404 error. Some possible ways the end user can end up on a 404 error page include:

Types in the wrong URL.
Follows an old link to a page that no longer exists.
Follows a broken link, for example a broken link in an email.
The webmaster has accidentally removed a page.
For the site owners, every 404 error is a potentially lost visitor and loss of exposure, so it is important to make the most of these pages and not settle for a default, generic 404 error page that will not tell the visitor anything at all about your site.

Two simple criteria for a helpful 404 page
For the end user, landing on 404 pages is quite common. Once you do end up on a 404 page, it really helps if it:

Clearly lets you know who the 404 page belongs to.
Has a link to the home page, and even better, has additional navigation help.
From the site owner’s point of view, this makes perfect sense. Someone using your site is lost. Help that person!