{"id":606,"date":"2022-09-12T18:31:50","date_gmt":"2022-09-12T18:31:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glossary.dream.press\/glossary\/%group%\/404-2\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T04:05:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T04:05:51","slug":"404-error","status":"publish","type":"glossary","link":"https:\/\/glossary.dream.press\/glossary\/hosting\/404-error\/","title":{"rendered":"404 Error"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You\u2019ll often see a 404 called the \u201c404 Not Found\u201d error, after the message browsers display: \u201c404 Not Found\u201d or \u201cThe page you are looking for could not be found.\u201d Whatever the wording on screen, the meaning is the same. The server answered, but it couldn\u2019t find a page at that URL. The page may have been deleted, moved without a redirect, or never have existed at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Where the number 404 comes from<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The number comes straight from the HTTP specification, currently RFC 9110. Every HTTP response carries a three-digit status code, and the first digit names the class: codes from 400 to 499 make up the class HTTP calls client error responses. Despite the name, a 4xx code doesn\u2019t prove the visitor did anything wrong. It means the server couldn\u2019t or wouldn\u2019t fulfill the request, and a misconfigured server produces a 404 just as easily as a mistyped URL does. Each status code also carries an official reason phrase, and 404\u2019s is \u201cNot Found\u201d: the server can\u2019t find the requested resource.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Common causes of 404 errors<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Almost every 404 traces back to one of a few causes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>A mistyped URL:<\/strong> the visitor, or the page linking to yours, got the address slightly wrong.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>A deleted page:<\/strong> the content is gone, but links to it still exist.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>A moved page:<\/strong> the content lives at a new URL, and no <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dreamhost.com\/glossary\/web-design\/301-redirect\/\">301 redirect<\/a> points the old address to it.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dreamhost.com\/glossary\/seo\/broken-link\/\">broken link<\/a>:<\/strong> your own navigation or another site points to a URL that no longer works.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Server misconfiguration:<\/strong> broken rewrite rules or files moved during a site migration, so the server responds but can\u2019t find the page.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One thing a 404 never means is that the server is down. Status codes are sent by a server when it responds to a request, so a host that\u2019s fully offline can\u2019t send a 404 at all. That failure shows up as a connection error or a 5xx status instead. As a visitor, double-check that the URL entered is correct before assuming the page is gone; a typo is the quickest cause to rule out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to find and fix 404 errors on your site<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Find them before your visitors do. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dreamhost.com\/glossary\/seo\/google-search-console\/\">Google Search Console<\/a> reports crawl errors for status codes in the 4xx range, and its Page indexing report shows which URLs on your site aren\u2019t indexed and why, including those returning 404. Your server\u2019s access logs and a broken-link checker will catch what Google hasn\u2019t crawled yet. Then work through the fixes in order:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Restore the page if it was deleted by mistake.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Correct the linking URL if the link itself is wrong.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Set up a 301 redirect from the old URL to its replacement if the page moved.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In WordPress, re-save your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dreamhost.com\/glossary\/wordpress\/permalink\/\">permalink<\/a> settings to rebuild the site\u2019s rewrite rules.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Contact your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dreamhost.com\/glossary\/hosting\/hosting-provider\/\">hosting provider<\/a> only if pages that clearly exist keep returning 404s after those steps. For a step-by-step walkthrough, see our guide on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dreamhost.com\/blog\/how-to-fix-wordpress-404-error\/\">how to fix the WordPress 404 Not Found error<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Do 404 errors hurt SEO?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not by themselves. <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/crawling\/docs\/troubleshooting\/http-status-codes\">Google\u2019s crawler documentation<\/a> spells out what happens to a URL that returns 404: if it was indexed, it\u2019s removed from the index, and Google gradually crawls it less. For content you removed on purpose with no replacement, that\u2019s the correct outcome. <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/webmasters\/answer\/7440203\">Google\u2019s Search Console help<\/a> lists \u201ca 404 for a page that you\u2019ve removed\u201d among the good reasons for a URL not to be indexed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The real SEO damage comes from broken links. When your pages point at URLs that 404, visitors hit dead ends and crawlers spend their time on pages that return nothing. If the content moved, set a 301 redirect; Google treats a 301 as a strong signal that the target page should be processed instead. If the link is simply wrong, fix it at the source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">404 vs. 410, 500, and soft 404<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Several other responses get mistaken for a 404, and the difference decides the fix:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1536\" height=\"1024\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.dreamhost.com\/glossary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/404-vs-410-500-soft-404-decision-flow-dreamops-36e3eef6586b27436847bad5.webp\" alt=\"A decision flow showing how one web request ends in four different responses: a server that fails before serving returns a 500; a server that answers but cannot find the page returns a 404, or a 410 when the content was removed deliberately and permanently; and a page that returns a success code while displaying not-found content is a soft 404. The branch a response takes determines which fix applies.\" class=\"wp-image-11862 lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/glossary.dream.press\/glossary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/404-vs-410-500-soft-404-decision-flow-dreamops-36e3eef6586b27436847bad5.webp 1536w, https:\/\/glossary.dream.press\/glossary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/404-vs-410-500-soft-404-decision-flow-dreamops-36e3eef6586b27436847bad5-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/glossary.dream.press\/glossary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/404-vs-410-500-soft-404-decision-flow-dreamops-36e3eef6586b27436847bad5-1024x683.webp 1024w, https:\/\/glossary.dream.press\/glossary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/404-vs-410-500-soft-404-decision-flow-dreamops-36e3eef6586b27436847bad5-768x512.webp 768w, https:\/\/glossary.dream.press\/glossary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/404-vs-410-500-soft-404-decision-flow-dreamops-36e3eef6586b27436847bad5-600x400.webp 600w, https:\/\/glossary.dream.press\/glossary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/404-vs-410-500-soft-404-decision-flow-dreamops-36e3eef6586b27436847bad5-1200x800.webp 1200w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1536px) 100vw, 1536px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1536px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1536\/1024;\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>404 Not Found:<\/strong> the server answered but can\u2019t find the requested page. It doesn\u2019t say whether the loss is temporary or permanent.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>410 Gone:<\/strong> the page was removed deliberately and permanently. <a href=\"https:\/\/developer.mozilla.org\/en-US\/docs\/Web\/HTTP\/Reference\/Status\/404\">MDN\u2019s HTTP documentation<\/a> recommends 410 over 404 for content that\u2019s never coming back.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>500 Internal Server Error:<\/strong> the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dreamhost.com\/glossary\/hosting\/server\/\">server<\/a> hit an unexpected condition and couldn\u2019t fulfill the request. The page may exist; the server failed before it could serve it.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Soft 404:<\/strong> the page returns a 200 (success) code while showing not-found content, such as an empty page or an error message. Search Console flags these because the code contradicts the content.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Custom 404 pages<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can\u2019t prevent every 404, so control what visitors see when one happens. Web servers let you swap the bare default message for a page of your own; in Apache, a single ErrorDocument line in an .htaccess file sets it. A good custom 404 page turns a dead end into a detour, and it includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dreamhost.com\/glossary\/web-design\/search-bar\/\">search bar<\/a>, so visitors can look for what they came to find.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Links to your homepage and your most popular pages.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Your site\u2019s normal branding and navigation, so it\u2019s clear visitors haven\u2019t left your site.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A contact option, such as a form, so visitors can report the broken link they followed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One requirement is easy to miss: the custom page must still return the 404 status code. If it returns 200, search engines see a soft 404, a page that claims success while telling humans the content is missing. Test yours by loading a made-up URL on your site and checking both the design and the status code it returns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"","_yoast_wpseo_title":"What is a 404 Error? %%sep%% %%sitename%%","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"A 404 error means the server can't find the requested page. Learn what causes 404s, how to fix them, and why a custom 404 page keeps visitors around.","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":""},"group":[17],"class_list":["post-606","glossary","type-glossary","status-publish","hentry","group-hosting"],"acf":{"cta":"Hosting","faqs":[{"question":"Does a 404 error mean the website is down?","answer":"No. A 404 means the server is up and responded, but couldn't find that one page; other pages on the site may load normally. A site that's actually down produces connection failures or 5xx server errors instead of a 404. Try the site's homepage to confirm."},{"question":"How do I check which status code a page returns?","answer":"Open your browser's developer tools, select the Network tab, and reload the page. Every request the page makes is logged as a row you can inspect, including its HTTP status and headers. On the command line, run curl with the --verbose flag to debug the exchange with the server."},{"question":"Why am I getting a 404 error on a page that exists?","answer":"Usually the server's URL rewriting is broken. In WordPress, the telltale symptom is a homepage that loads while every other page returns a 404; going to Settings > Permalinks and clicking Save Changes usually repairs the broken rewrite rules. If that doesn't help, restore the default .htaccess file."},{"question":"What's the difference between a 404 error and a DNS error?","answer":"A 404 comes from a server that was found and answered: the domain works, one page is missing. A DNS error appears when the URL refers to a server name that doesn't exist, so no server answers at all. Fix DNS problems in your domain's DNS records, not your pages."}],"term_definition":"A 404 error is an HTTP status code that means the server can't find the page the user requested. Common causes include a mistyped URL, a deleted page, a page moved without a redirect, or a broken link. 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Learn what causes 404s, how to fix them, and why a custom 404 page keeps visitors around.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dreamhost.com\/glossary\/hosting\/404-error\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"DreamHost Glossary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-10T04:05:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dreamhost.com\/glossary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/404-vs-410-500-soft-404-decision-flow-dreamops-36e3eef6586b27436847bad5.webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What is a 404 Error? - DreamHost Glossary","description":"A 404 error means the server can't find the requested page. 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