Custom 404 pages

[Blazingpie]

Im posting this here as i had Google more in mind for this,but it does affect all SEs...

Normally SEOers say that custom 404 error pages MUST return the 404 error code (for obvious reasons).

However, I was thinking - why not try create a more spider-friendly Page Not Found page. My thinking is this: if the 404 page had to contain links, would Google still follow them? If not, then why not create a normal (code 200) page for the 404 page, then simply add 'noindex, noarchive, follow' meta commands to it? The links would be followed but the page would not be indexed, etc, thus the spider would not meet a dead-end while spidering.

What do you guys think?

[Glen]

I thought you could just set them up to redirect elsewhere

i.e. homepage

[Koz]

I'd either redirect to to a relevant page a put a mini site map of the most useful links.

[megri]

I am of the opinion that 404 page should contain links to your services so that visitor can come back to your pages.

[Paz]

If not, then why not create a normal (code 200) page for the 404 page, then simply add 'noindex, noarchive, follow' meta commands to it? The links would be followed but the page would not be indexed, etc, thus the spider would not meet a dead-end while spidering.

What do you guys think?

This sounds like a very good idea for fast removal of obsolete pages. Redirecting sounds like a good idea because it preserves PR and backlinks I just have a feeling that you could get into trouble if you were redirecting large numbers of pages.

[Glen]

I wouldn't of thought there should be a problem. I'll look into it :)

[Glen]

Redirecting sounds like a good idea because it preserves PR and backlinks I just have a feeling that you could get into trouble if you were redirecting large numbers of pages.

I did say i would look into it and basically google can't verify your site in webmaster central if your 404 pages are returning 200 status codes

[newbie2010]

Nice discussion, Thanks for posting.