: 404 errors versus SEO I have a WordPress website in which people can link to existing or non-existing posts. So people can make links and they can link to pages/posts that don't exist. I explicitly

@Phylliss660

Simple anwser is :

Install some redirect plugin that use header 301 (for example wordpress.org/plugins/redirection/) and simply redirect non-existed links (get a list form google search console) to existing content.

This will reduce 404 errors ,and you will not lose movement on site

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@BetL925

404 pages can be good things, especially for pages that were live, but are no longer live. The 404 page tells uses and search engines that might have followed a link from another website, or an old search result and the page is no longer there.

When 404's become a problem is when your site is still linking to these pages. This can be seen as a sign of a badly maintained or coded website and is frustrating for uses if they are constantly clicking links only to be sent to a 404 page.

Although Google don't explicitly say 404's are bad for SEO.....


Generally, 404 errors don’t impact your site’s ranking in Google, and
you can safely ignore them.


.......I'm pretty sure that if your site is constantly linking to hundreds of 404s this could be frowned upon by Google, after all they are reported on in Google Webmaster Tools, and Google are constantly talking about making great websites and user experiences for users.

It's hard to give advise in this case, without knowing why you need to let users link to non-existing pages. In the first instance I would not want my website creating links to non-existing pages.

Also in addition, make sure your 404 pages are actualy sending a 404 server status.

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