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The HTTP 404 not found error.

The HTTP 404 not found error is usually displayed in your browser if you are accessing a resource or page which is not present on the server. This error is a pretty big deal as if the crawlers and bots that index websites in search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing submit your URLs as 404 errors - you will have a hard time ranking higher and it will take a long time before this is indexed correctly, despite the fact that you have fixed them. There are a few reasons this may occur and in this article, we will go over the most common ones so that you can investigate, solve them, and hopefully prevent this in the future.

Missing page or resources

As mentioned in the introduction of this article, in a lot of situations the HTTP 404 not found error will be caused by the fact that the file or folder you are attempting to access is not there. 

What we advise you to do in this situation is to enter your FileManager and check this specific resource making sure it exists on the server. In addition to that, please check if its name corresponds to the URL you are typing in the browser. A common situation most clients experience is a minor typo when entering the URL in the browser. Here is an example:

  • Actual URL:
    • http://example.com/link-to-awesome-content
  • URL that is entered:
    • http://example.com/lnk-to-awesome-content

Please double, even triple, check if the URL is entered correctly and make sure that the resource is present on the server to avoid these types of errors.

Missing or Incorrect .htaccess rule

The .htaccess file can be a powerful ally when creating SEO-friendly URLs and boosting the SEO of your website. However, if the code inside the .htaccess is mistyped, this could end up with a lot of HTTP 404 errors for your site. 

If you experience this issue and you are 100% sure that the resource is uploaded on the server and the link you are viewing in your browser is correct, then the reason is most likely caused due to rules in the .htaccess file. 

We recommend disabling it, by renaming it to “.htaccess-old” so that you can see if the response will change. If this is the case and your URLs start opening without 404 errors keep the file disabled and carefully examine the rules inside with your developer.

If you are using a famous Open-Source application, such as WordPress, OpenCart, Joomla, or Magento - they typically have the needed .htaccess rules by default and you should never see this issue occur unless you experiment with it yourself or install a module/plugin which does changes over your existing .htaccess file.

Your domain name is still pointed to the old server after the transfer or you are experiencing DNS propagation.

Sometimes, the HTTP 404 not found error can be seen because of DNS. This is likely to happen right after you transfer your website to a new hosting provider and you forgot to change your name servers. 

In this situation, we recommend checking your name servers. A great tool you can use is digwebinterace. We made a great knowledge base article, explaining how you can do so here

If you notice that the domain is utilizing the wrong name servers, please go ahead and change them. This action will trigger the so-called DNS propagation period that can last for up to 24 hours before the domain starts resolving on the new server. 

If the domain name is pointed, and this was done within 24 hours, then this is likely caused due to DNS propagation and you need to wait up a bit longer until the new uploads and changes are accepted.

If you want to see this right away, without having to wait, then we recommend using the local “hosts” file method. We have an awesome knowledge base article you can check on the matter.

Final Words

Should none of the solutions we provided help you out and you are still facing the HTTP 404 not found response on your side, please feel free to contact our technical support team over the ticketing system in your Client Area. They are available 24/7 at your disposal.

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