- Create a custom error 404 page with the same look and feel with the navigation links as the rest of your site.
- Write the error message in plain language which can be understandable to even a non-technical user. Use friendly and apologetic language.
- Your custom error 404 page should list the most common errors in accessing the files on the site.
- Provide spell check functionality for the error URL's
- Provide the users to report a broken link. You custom error 404 page can have a link to the webmaster or a form.
- Provide search box with a link to your site’s search engine. If the site does not have one, use from Google’s ‘Enhance 404 widget’ provided in Google webmaster tool.
- Avoid 301 redirect or 302 redirection.
- Create this Custom Error 404 Page with a size more than 512 bytes as Internet explorer versions 5 and below do not support you custom error 404 page with a size less than 512 bytes.
- Avoid ad display in you custom error 404 page.
- Above all your Custom error 404 page should return an actual 404 HTTP status code. For this you have to configure your web server accordingly.
