In this article you will know what a 404 error is and 4 easy ways to fix 404 error in WordPress.
A 404 error, also known as a “Page Not Found” error occurs when your browser is unable to locate the post or page you’re trying to access. This usually happens when you have deleted a post or page from your WordPress site but someone tries to access it through the URL. It can also happen if someone has mistyped the URL by mistake or if there is a problem with the permalink structure of the website.
If you don’t fix this error then your audience will get frustrated and might decide to opt out of your website. 404 errors can also damage the overall Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of your WordPress site.
Let’s check the main causes of this error and how to fix those causes.
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4 Easy Ways To Fix 404 Error In WordPress
So without further ado, let’s see the 4 easy ways to fix 404 error in WordPress.
Reset Your WordPress Site Permalinks
This is the first thing you should do when you get a 404 error. To reset your WordPress site permalinks go to Settings => Permalinks and simply click on the Save Changes button. Clicking the “Save Changes” button will update the permalink settings since it rewrites the rules or protocols for permalinks.
Once you have done this, check if the 404 error has vanished. If the error is still there then go to the next step.
Modify Your .htaccess File
The .htaccess file controls how your WordPress site interacts with the server and how it generates permalinks for your pages. Restoring it to the default settings can fix the 404 error.
You can very easily modify your .htaccess file by going to your website folder which is located in the server. For this you can use a FTP client such as FileZilla.
Once you have opened up your .htaccess file simply copy the following code & paste is in the file.
# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress
After you have pasted the above code don’t forget to save changes before exiting the file. The code will rewrite the rules of interaction between your WordPress site & the server. This might remove the 404 error. If the error still persists then go to the next step.
Disable All Your WordPress Plugins
Plugins can sometimes be corrupted and have bugs in them. Due to this there might be a compatibility issue which prevents a site from loading properly. Troubleshooting this issue might stop the 404 errors.
To deactivate the plugins you can go to Plugins => Installed Plugins from your WordPress Dashboard.
Select the Deactivate option from the dropdown, Check the checkbox besides Plugin and simply click on the Apply button. This will deactivate all the plugins.
Now check if the 404 error is resolved. If it is resolved then activate one plugin at a time and check again if the error is still resolved. One by one do this with all the plugins and find out which plugin is causing the problem. It may be a tedious thing to do but once you find out which plugin is causing the error, you can delete that plugin.
Use WordPress Plugin To Redirect
If all the above mentioned ways fail to remove the 404 error then the best possible option is to install a wordpress plugin which will redirect the error page to some other page.
The best plugin for this is the Redirect 404 to Homepage plugin.
You can simply install and activate this plugin in your WordPress site and it will automatically redirect you from all the 404 error pages to the homepage. You don’t have to do anything. Its a very simple, light weight plugin that does the job for you.
In case you don’t know how to install a WordPress plugin check out our article on, how to install and activate a WordPress plugin.
You can try out this option if all the other options fail.
Conclusion
Dealing with the 404 error pages make take up some of your precious time but it is totally worth it. After implementing one or few of these above mentioned ways to resolve the 404 error in WordPress you will no longer have to deal with this frustrating error.
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