Ошибка 404 нет такой страницы wordpress

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While you work hard to make sure that every link actually goes to a specific web page on your site, there is always a chance that a link clicked will slam dunk and become a famous 404 ERROR PAGE NOT FOUND.

All is not lost. If your visitors encounter an error, why not be a helpful WordPress site administrator and present them with a message more useful than «NOT FOUND».

This lesson will teach you how to edit your «error» and «page not found» messages so they are more helpful to your visitors. We’ll also show how to ensure your web server displays your helpful custom messages. Finally, we’ll go over how to create a custom error page consistent with your Theme’s style.

An Ounce of Prevention

Some errors are avoidable, you should regularly check and double check all your links. Also, if you are deleting a popular but out-of-date post, consider deleting the body of the post, and replacing it with a link referring visitors to the new page.

Understanding Web Error Handling

Visitors encounter errors at even the best websites. As site administrator, you may delete out-of-date posts, but another website may have a link to your inside page for that post.

When a user clicks on a link to a missing page, the web server will send the user an error message such as 404 Not Found. Unless your webmaster has already written custom error messages, the standard message will be in plain text and that leaves the users feeling a bit lost.

Most users are quite capable of hitting the back key, but then you’ve lost a visitor who may not care to waste their time hunting for the information. So as not to lose that visitor, at the very least, you’ll want your custom message to provide a link to your home page.

The friendly way to handle errors is to acknowledge the error and help them find their way. This involves creating a custom Error Page or editing the one that came with your WordPress Theme.

Editing an Error 404 Page

Every theme that is shipped with WordPress has a 404.php file, but not all Themes have their own custom 404 error template file. If they do, it will be named 404.php. WordPress will automatically use that page if a Page Not Found error occurs.

The normal 404.php page shipped with your Theme will work, but does it say what you want it to say, and does it offer the kind of help you want it to offer? If the answer is no, you will want to customize the message in the template file.

To edit your Theme’s 404 error template file, open it in your favorite text editor and edit the message text to say what you want it to say. Then save your changes and upload it to the theme directory of your WordPress install.

While you are examining and editing your 404 template file, take a look at the simple structure of the 404.php file that is shipped with Twenty Thirteen. It basically features tags that display the header, sidebar, and footer, and also an area for your message:

<?php
/**
 * The template for displaying 404 pages (Not Found)
 *
 * @package WordPress
 * @subpackage Twenty_Thirteen
 * @since Twenty Thirteen 1.0
 */

get_header(); ?>

	<div id="primary" class="content-area">
		<div id="content" class="site-content" role="main">

			<header class="page-header">
				<h1 class="page-title"><?php _e( 'Not Found', 'twentythirteen' ); ?></h1>
			</header>

			<div class="page-wrapper">
				<div class="page-content">
					<h2><?php _e( 'This is somewhat embarrassing, isn’t it?', 'twentythirteen' ); ?></h2>
					<p><?php _e( 'It looks like nothing was found at this location. Maybe try a search?', 'twentythirteen' ); ?></p>

					<?php get_search_form(); ?>
				</div><!-- .page-content -->
			</div><!-- .page-wrapper -->

		</div><!-- #content -->
	</div><!-- #primary -->

<?php get_footer(); ?>

So, to change the error message your visitor sees, revise the text within the h1 heading and within the page-content class; if necessary, add more paragraphs below that.

Creating an Error 404 Page

If your WordPress Theme does not include a template file named 404.php, you can create your own.

Because every theme is different, there is no guarantee that copying over the 404.php template file found in the Twenty Thirteen Theme will work, but it’s a good place to start. The error page you copy from the Twenty Thirteen Theme will adopt the style of the current theme because it actually calls the header and footer of the current theme. That’s less work for you, and you may only have to edit the message to suit your particular needs.

To use the 404.php template file from the WordPress Twenty Thirteen Theme:

1. Copy the file /wp-content/themes/twentythirteen/404.php into the directory of your current theme.
2. Then, as described in the previous section, edit the error message to present your desired error message.

If copying the default 404.php into your theme directory does not work well with your theme, you can also:

• Change the Default Theme’s 404.php template file’s header, sidebar, footer, and other codes to match the rest of the Theme’s layout.

Or

• Copy the index.php file of your current theme to a file called 404.php.
• Open that file and delete all sections dealing with posts or comments, see The Loop.
• Then, edit your 404 error message.

Tips for Error Pages

There are various improvements you can make to your 404 Error web pages so let’s look at some of your options.

Writing Friendly Messages

When an error message is displayed, you can say many things to help a visitor feel reassured they’ve only encountered a minor glitch, and you’re doing the best you can to help them find the information they want. You can say something clever like:

"Oops, I screwed up and you discovered my fatal flaw. 
Well, we're not all perfect, but we try.  Can you try this
again or maybe visit our <a 
title="Our Site" href="http://example.com/index.php">Home 
Page</a> to start fresh.  We'll do better next time."

You should also attempt to show the user what they want. Check out the AskApache Google 404 Plugin to add google search results to your 404.php

Or, say something shorter and sweeter. Almost anything you say is better than 404 Error Page Not Found. You can find more information about writing 404 Error pages on the Internet, like List Apart’s Perfect 404.

As an implementation of the Perfect 404 page, this solution will tell the user it’s not their fault and email the site admin.
Helpful 404 page

When a visitor gets a 404 error page, it can be intimidating, and unhelpful. Using WordPress, you can take the edge off a 404 and make it helpful to users, and yourself, too, by emailing whenever the user clicks a link to a non-existent page.

<p>You 
<?php
#some variables for the script to use
#if you have some reason to change these, do.  but wordpress can handle it
$adminemail = get_option('admin_email'); #the administrator email address, according to wordpress
$website = get_bloginfo('url'); #gets your blog's url from wordpress
$websitename = get_bloginfo('name'); #sets the blog's name, according to wordpress

  if (!isset($_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'])) {
    #politely blames the user for all the problems they caused
        echo "tried going to "; #starts assembling an output paragraph
	$casemessage = "All is not lost!";
  } elseif (isset($_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'])) {
    #this will help the user find what they want, and email me of a bad link
	echo "clicked a link to"; #now the message says You clicked a link to...
        #setup a message to be sent to me
	$failuremess = "A user tried to go to $website"
        .$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']." and received a 404 (page not found) error. ";
	$failuremess .= "It wasn't their fault, so try fixing it.  
        They came from ".$_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'];
	mail($adminemail, "Bad Link To ".$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'],
        $failuremess, "From: $websitename <noreply@$website>"); #email you about problem
	$casemessage = "An administrator has been emailed 
        about this problem, too.";#set a friendly message
  }
  echo " ".$website.$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']; ?> 
and it doesn't exist. <?php echo $casemessage; ?>  You can click back 
and try again or search for what you're looking for:
  <?php include(TEMPLATEPATH . "/searchform.php"); ?>
</p>

Add Useful Links

If you encounter a «page not found» situation on the WordPress site, it is filled with helpful links to direct you to the various categories and areas of information within the WordPress site. Check it out at http://wordpress.org/brokenlink.php.

To add similar useful links to your 404 page, create a list, or a paragraph, so the visitor can easily determine which section might be useful to visit. Information of that nature is much better than having the user just reach a dead-end. To help you understand how to link to documents within your site, especially to Pages and Categories, see Linking_Posts_Pages_and_Categories.

Testing 404 Error Messages

To test your custom 404 page and message, just type a URL address into your browser for your website that doesn’t exist. Make one up or use something like:

http://example.com/fred.php

This is sure to result in an error unless you actually have a php file called fred. If your error page doesn’t look «right», you can go back and edit it so it works correctly and matches your Theme’s look and feel.

Help Your Server Find the 404 Page

By default, if WordPress cannot find a particular page it will look for the 404.php web page. However, there may be cases where the web server encounters a problem before WordPress is aware of it. In that case, you can still guarantee that your web server sends the visitor to your 404.php template file by configuring your web server for custom 404 error handling.

To tell your web server to use your custom error files, you’ll need to edit the .htaccess file in the main directory (where main index.php file resides) of your WordPress installation. If you don’t have an .htaccess file, see Editing Rewrite Rules (.htaccess) on how to create an .htaccess file.

To ensure the server finds your 404 page, add the following line to your .htaccess file:

ErrorDocument 404 /index.php?error=404

The url /index.php is root-relative, which means that the forward slash begins with the root folder of your site. If WordPress is in a subfolder or subdirectory of your site’s root folder named ‘wordpress’, the line you add to your .htaccess file might be:

ErrorDocument 404 /wordpress/index.php?error=404

Questions About Error Files

Why not just hard code the path all the way to the 404.php file?

By allowing index.php to call the error file, you ensure that the 404.php file used will change automatically as you change your theme.

What happens if I switch to a theme that does not have a 404.php file?

Visitors clicking on a broken link will just see a copy of the home page of your WordPress site (index.php), but the URL they see will be the URL of the broken link. That can confuse them, especially since there is no acknowledgement of the error. But this is still better than a getting a «NOT FOUND» message without any links or information that could help them find what they seek.

Ошибка 404 в WordPress является одной из наиболее распространённых ошибок, с которой вы будете сталкиваться в интернете. Однако это не делает её менее раздражающей или неприятной, когда она появляется на вашем собственном веб-сайте. Хорошей новостью является то, что её исправление относительно простое, и процесс хорошо расписан для сайтов на WordPress.

В этой статье мы рассмотрим три способа исправления ошибки 404 в WordPress:

1. Сброс настроек постоянных ссылок в WordPress (англ).
2. Восстановление файла .htaccess (англ).
3. Отключение тем и плагинов.

Однако, прежде чем закатывать рукава, мы поговорим о том, как работает ошибка 404 и какие причины её возникновения. Давайте перейдём непосредственно к этому!

Что такое ошибка 404 в WordPress (и что её вызывает)

Ошибка 404 это сообщение, которое появляется, когда вы пытаетесь получить доступ к странице, которую браузер не может найти. В зависимости от того, какой браузер вы используете, сообщение может незначительно отличаться. Например, Firefox отображает такой текст: «404 Not Found», а Chrome показывает сообщение — «404. That’s an error»:

Эти сообщения об ошибках по умолчанию могут быть довольно неопределёнными, и любой веб-сайт может настроить собственную страницу ошибок 404 (англ). Это не является необходимым, но это позволяет объяснять посетителям, что сайт работает, и единственная проблема заключается в конкретной странице, которую они пытаются найти.

Независимо от того, как оно выглядит, существует много вещей, которые могут вызвать в WordPress сообщение: 404 ошибка. К ним относятся:

• Неверный URL. В некоторых случаях ошибка может быть в дополнительной букве, набранной в URL страницы.
• Проблемы с кэшированием. Иногда браузер может кэшировать страницу, к которой вы пытаетесь получить доступ, и пока она не найдена, вы будете видеть ошибку 404, даже если сайт работает для всех остальных.
• Проблема с настройками сервера доменных имен (DNS). Возможно, информация о вашем домене ещё не обновилась в DNS, поэтому вы видите ошибку при попытке получить доступ к одной из страниц вашего сайта.
• Проблемы с совместимостью в WordPress. В некоторых случаях проблемы с плагином или темой могут повлиять на то, как WordPress создаёт URL-адреса и постоянные ссылки для вашего сайта. Затем, если кто-либо попытается получить доступ к URL-адресу, который больше не работает, возникает ошибка 404 в WordPress.

Важно понимать, что ошибка 404 не уникальна только для WordPress. Она может возникать независимо от того, на какой платформе находится ваш сайт. Однако, если вы используете WordPress, у вас есть преимущество, так как существует множество способов решить эту проблему. Давайте поговорим о том, что делать, если вы столкнулись с ошибкой 404 в WordPress.

Что делать перед устранением ошибки 404 в WordPress

В следующих разделах вы будете редактировать некоторые файлы на бэкэнд WordPress. Мы проведем вас через весь процесс, и всё будет в порядке. Однако, когда вы решите редактировать конфиденциальные файлы в WordPress, лучше заранее создать резервную копию вашего сайта — на всякий случай.

Если у вас нет доступа к панели управления WordPress прямо сейчас, не волнуйтесь. В Hostinger существует несколько способов получить резервную копию вашего веб-сайта с панели управления хостингом.

После этого вам нужно будет загрузить и настроить FTP-клиент. Мы рекомендуем FileZilla (англ), так как он бесплатный и предлагает все функции, которые могут вам понадобиться. Если вы раньше не использовали FTP, вы можете ознакомиться с нашим подробным руководством о том, как получить доступ к сайту Hostinger напрямую. Затем, когда вы будете готовы, вы сможете приступить к исправлению ошибок WordPress 404.

Как исправить ошибку 404 в WordPress (3 метода)

В некоторых случаях ненайденные страницы в WordPress вскоре исчезают сами по себе. Обычно это происходит, если они вызваны ошибкой с вашим хостинг-провайдером. Прежде чем приступать к серьёзному устранению неполадок, мы рекомендуем вам попробовать обновить сайт, предоставив ему пять или десять минут, чтобы всё уладить.

Если ошибка сохраняется и дальше, значит на вашем сайте существует проблема. В этом случае давайте рассмотрим три потенциальных решения одно за другим.

1. Сбросьте настройки своих постоянных ссылок (пермалинков) в WordPress

Одной из наиболее распространённых причин ошибки WordPress 404 является проблема с тем, как WordPress генерирует ваши постоянные ссылки (англ). Как вы, возможно, знаете, WordPress предоставляет вам несколько вариантов форматирования ссылок ваших записей и страниц. Например, вы можете настроить платформу для использования простых числовых ссылок или указать название каждой записи в качестве URL-адреса:

В любом случае первое, что вам нужно сделать, когда вы столкнётесь с ошибкой 404 в WordPress, это сбросить настройки ваших постоянных ссылок. Есть два способа сделать это: один через панель управления (Консоль), а другой через FTP. Если у вас есть доступ к панели управления, следуйте инструкциям в этом разделе. Еслм нет – вам следует перейти к методу номер два.

Если вы можете войти в свою панель инструментов, начните с перехода во вкладку Настройки> Постоянные ссылки. Обратите внимание на структуру, которую использует ваш сайт на данный момент. Вам нужно будет временно изменить её, чтобы сбросить настройки постоянных ссылок в WordPress, но вы измените её всего на мгновение.

Выберите параметр Простой в разделе Общие настройки и нажмите кнопку Сохранить в нижней части страницы:

Страница перезагрузится. Затем вы можете продолжить и выбрать свой предыдущий тип постоянных ссылок и сохранить изменения ещё раз. Это всё, что требуется для сброса структуры ссылок на WordPress.

Теперь попробуйте просмотреть свой веб-сайт как обычно. Проверьте страницы, которые ранее выдавали ошибку 404. Если ошибка ушла, вы молодец – вам понадобилось минимум времени, чтобы её исправить!

2. Восстановите файл .htaccess в WordPress.

Когда вы вносите изменения в структуру постоянной ссылки в WordPress, они сохраняются в файл под названием .htaccess (англ). Этот файл определяет, как WordPress будет взаимодействовать со своим сервером, а также способ создания URL-адресов для страниц.

Если у вас нет доступа к панели управления, вам нужно будет вручную отредактировать .htaccess, чтобы переустановить постоянные ссылки. Чтобы начать работу, зайдите на свой сайт через FTP и перейдите в корневую папку WordPress. Это каталог, который содержит установку WordPress и обычно находится в папке public_html или www или назван в честь вашего сайта:

Откройте эту папку и найдите файл .htaccess. Если вы используете FileZilla, вам нужно щёлкнуть правой кнопкой мыши по файлу .htaccess и выбрать параметр Просмотреть / Изменить. Это означает, что вы загружаете копию файла на свой компьютер и открываете его с помощью локального текстового редактора по умолчанию. Теперь вы сможете внести любые изменения, которые вам нужны.

Если вы не понимаете, для чего нужен весь код в этом файле, не беспокойтесь. Вы не должны вносить в него никаких изменений, если вы не уверены в них на 100 %. Однако, что вы можете сделать, так это использовать код WordPress .htaccess, который выглядит следующим образом:

# 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

Это чистый файл .htaccess без каких-либо изменений. Он удалит любые изменения, внесённые в вашу структуру постоянной ссылки. Идём дальше и создаём резервную копию содержимого старого файла .htaccess и заменяем его фрагментом кода, указанного выше.

После этого сохраните изменения в файле .htaccess с помощью текстового редактора и закройте его. FileZilla спросит, хотите ли вы заменить существующий файл .htaccess копией, которую вы только что отредактировали. Согласитесь на это действие, и всё! Вы просто переустанавливаете свои постоянные ссылки WordPress вручную, не нарушая ничего в этом процессе.

На этом этапе попробуйте снова вернуться на ваш сайт. Ошибка 404 должна исчезнуть, что уже является отличной новостью. Тем не менее, вы по-прежнему можете вернуть предыдущую структуру постоянных ссылок, если вам не нравятся числовые URL-адреса.

Помните, что вы можете изменить способ просмотра ваших постоянных ссылок, перейдя в панель управления и во вкладку Настройки> Постоянные ссылки. Выберите структуру, которую использовал ваш сайт до ошибки 404, и сохраните изменения. Тогда всё должно вернуться к нормальному функционированию.

3. Отключите темы и плагины в WordPress.

Как уже упоминалось ранее, иногда ваши плагины и темы могут влиять на структуру вашего WordPress, в зависимости от их настроек. Если вы попробовали один или оба предыдущих метода и ошибка 404 по-прежнему сохраняется, отключите свои темы и плагины.

Есть два способа сделать это, в зависимости от того, имеете ли вы доступ к панели управления или нет. Если у вас есть доступ, перейдите во вкладку Плагины> Все плагины и выполните этот процесс для каждого из ваших плагинов:

1. Нажмите кнопку Деактивировать под именем плагина.
2. Проверьте свой сайт, чтобы узнать, сохраняется ли ошибка 404.
3. Если ошибка всё ещё существует, повторно активируйте отключённый плагин.
4. Перейдите к следующему плагину в списке и повторите процесс.

Ваша цель – отключать каждый плагин один за другим. Вы можете отключить их всех сразу, но в большинстве случаев всего один плагин вызывает проблемы. Если отключение одного из ваших плагинов устраняет проблему, у вас есть три варианта. Вы можете проверить, есть ли доступное обновление, и временно отключить плагин до тех пор, пока оно не появится, или вы не замените плагин на альтернативный.

Если вы проверили все свои плагины, и ни один из них не оказался причиной проблемы, вам также придётся убедиться, что ваша активная тема не приводит к ошибке 404. Этот процесс намного быстрее, так как вам нужно проверить всего одну тему. Перейдите на вкладку Темы и переключите свою активную тему на какую-нибудь другую:

Теперь проверьте, не исчезла ли ошибка 404. Если да, то вам снова нужно выбирать между поиском обновления или поиском новой темы. Переключение тем в WordPress может быть немного хлопотным, но в конечном итоге это необходимо, раз уж ваша текущая тема приводит к ошибкам.

Если у вас нет доступа к панели управления, вы можете отключить тему и плагины вручную через FTP. Чтобы сделать это, зайдите на свой сайт с помощью FileZilla, затем перейдите в каталог public_html / wp-content. Здесь вы найдёте несколько папок, две из которых называются plugins и themes соответственно:

Сначала зайдите в каталог плагинов. Вы заметите, что для каждого плагина есть своя папка. Выберите одну из этих папок, щёлкнув по ней правой кнопкой мыши и выберите опцию Переименовать:

Измените название папки на что-то вроде akismet.disabled, так чтобы вы смогли легко её идентифицировать. Простого изменения названия папки плагина достаточно для того, чтобы WordPress его отключил. Теперь проверьте, не исчезла ли ошибка 404. Если нет, верните этой папке прежнее название и повторите этот процесс для каждого следующего плагина в папке.

Если один из ваших плагинов стал причиной ошибки, вы знаете, как с этим справиться. Однако, если окажется, что ошибка 404 возникает не из-за них, вы можете перейти в каталог тем wp-content> themes. Найдите папку с активной темой и переименуйте её так же, как и плагины:

Поскольку WordPress всегда нуждается в активной теме, отключение вашей приведет к тому, что платформа будет использовать один из готовых вариантов по умолчанию. Это может повлиять на внешний вид вашего веб-сайта, но не беспокойтесь, это временно.

Если ошибка исчезла, вам может потребоваться подобрать новую тему. Однако, если это не так, восстановите предыдущее название папки своей темы, чтобы WordPress снова её распознал.

Дополнительная информация

Ошибка 404 это не единственная проблема, которая может возникнуть с веб-сайтом в WordPress. Вот список наиболее популярных ошибок в WordPress с углублённой информацией о том, как их исправлять:

• Как исправить ошибку 403 Forbide Error в WordPress
• Как исправить ошибку 500 Internal Server Error в WordPress
• Ошибка 502 Bad Gateway в WordPress – причины и как исправить
• Как отладить и исправить ошибку 503 Service Unavailable в WordPress
• Ошибка 504 Gateway Time-out и как её исправить в WordPress
• Как исправить ошибку HTTP при загрузке изображений в WordPress
• Как исправить ошибку «Извините, вы не можете получить доступ к этой странице» в WordPress

Вывод

Ошибка 404 может показаться простой, но она может нанести большой урон. Если ваши посетители не могут найти нужные им страницы, они могут начать искать в другом месте, а зачем вам это? Это означает потерянный трафик и, возможно, снижение конверсий.

К счастью, есть много способов решить эту проблему в WordPress, включая отключение тем и плагинов, восстановление вашего файла .htaccess и сброс ваших постоянных ссылок.

Если у вас возникли какие-либо вопросы, советы или рекомендации по работе с ошибкой WordPress 404 – давайте поговорим о них в разделе комментариев!

You’ve likely seen the “Page Not Found” error before. Unfortunately, if you operate a website of any sort (WordPress or not), the day will probably come when you see the message on one of your own pages.

Fortunately, like many common WordPress errors, 404s are relatively easy to troubleshoot and fix. The solution usually involves restoring your site’s permalink structure — something you can do in just a few minutes.

In this article, we’ll explain just what a 404 error is and what can cause one on your site. Then we’ll walk you through how to fix it in four simple steps. Let’s get started!

An Overview of the WordPress 404 Error

A 404 error, also known as a “Page Not Found” error, indicates that your browser can’t locate the page you’re trying to access. The exact message can look a bit different depending on the browser you’re using, but it will generally always contain either the “404” code or a “page not found” message of some kind.

Websites can also create their own custom 404 pages.

Seeing this notification (or any other error message) when you’re trying to access your site can be frustrating. While there is a chance that your post has actually gone missing, the vast majority of the time, there’s a more benign cause.

Some common reasons that WordPress posts might return 404 errors include:

• A mistyped URL. It could simply be attributed to a typo in the URL. This is the most common cause.
• An issue with your Domain Name System (DNS) settings. If you’ve recently updated any of your DNS information and you’re seeing this error, it could be because the changes haven’t propagated fully. It can take up to 48 hours for this process to complete.
• Problems with the permalink structure of your site. Permalink problems can be caused by a missing, broken, or corrupted .htaccess file. Compatibility issues with WordPress components such as plugins and themes could also be the culprit.

Regardless of the cause, this error prevents access to your site, so it needs to be resolved as quickly as possible. We’ll look at troubleshooting and resolving the problem shortly.

Why 404 Errors Matter

404 errors pose several problems for a website, beyond simply preventing you from accessing pages. First, they create a poor User Experience (UX).

If there are many of these errors on your site, and they aren’t resolved quickly, they could eventually turn users away. In the worst-case scenario, those visitors could land on a competing website instead, costing you business.

404 errors can also hurt your Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Search engine crawlers won’t index a page that returns a 404 because they think it doesn’t exist.

What to Do Before Troubleshooting the WordPress 404 Error

Before changing your permalink settings or .htaccess file, it’s a smart idea to create a backup of your website and database. This way, if you accidentally make something worse, you can easily restore your site to a functioning state.

If your website is hosted with DreamPress, backups couldn’t be easier. DreamPress automatically backs up your entire site every day, so you always have a fresh copy to access. You can also create a manual backup with just a few clicks.

How to Fix WordPress Posts Returning 404 Error (In 4 Steps)

With a fresh backup of your site in hand, it’s time to get to work. You’ll want to follow these steps in order and check if the error has been resolved after each one.

Step 1: Reset Your WordPress Permalinks

The first step to try is resetting your permalinks. Head to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Settings > Permalinks.

From here, just click on Save Changes. That’s right — you don’t actually need to edit anything. Clicking that button will update the permalink settings even if you don’t make any changes. This is important because it also refreshes the rewrite rules used for “pretty permalinks.”

With this done, go ahead and reload the pages you were trying to access. If everything works, you’re all done. If you still get a 404 error, head to the next step.

Step 2: Restore Your .htaccess File

If resetting your permalinks didn’t work, the next strategy is restoring your .htaccess file. This controls how WordPress interacts with the server and how it generates permalinks for your pages. Restoring it to the default settings can fix sudden 404 errors.

To restore the .htaccess file, you’ll first need a way to access it. If you’re using DreamPress hosting, you can use the built-in file manager found in the DreamHost control panel. Most other web hosts offer a similar feature, or you can use a Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) client such as FileZilla. We have detailed instructions for connecting via SFTP if you need help.

For this example, we’ll use the DreamHost file manager. Head to your DreamHost panel and navigate to WordPress > Managed WordPress in the sidebar.

Find the domain you’re having trouble with and click on the blue Manage button. On the next page, make sure the Details tab is selected at the top, and then click on Manage Files.

This will open the file manager in a new tab. Locate and click on the folder that corresponds to your domain name. You’ll find the .htaccess file in this directory (it’s the same one that contains items such as wp-content).

Next, click on the file name and select Edit from the list of options. You can copy the current contents of the file and paste them somewhere for safekeeping. For now, you’ll want to replace the contents with the following:

# 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

This is the default .htaccess file for WordPress. When you’ve pasted this in, go ahead and save the file.

Restoring this file will also reset the permalink settings for your WordPress site. Therefore, if you’re using a custom permalink structure (or have changed it at all from the default), you’ll need to restore that setting too.

To do so, head back to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Settings > Permalinks (just like Step 1 above). You can change it to whatever you were using before and then save it.

Finally, refresh your website and attempt to load the pages that were returning 404 errors. If everything works now, congratulations! If not, proceed to the next step.

Step 3: Disable All of Your WordPress Plugins and Theme

If you’ve reset your permalinks and .htaccess file, but you’re still seeing 404 errors on your site, the next step is to check your plugins and theme. Plugins, in particular, can sometimes have bugs or compatibility issues that prevent a site from loading.

Let’s start there. The basic idea is to disable them one by one and then check your website. If the error persists, turn it back on and move to the next one.

To get started, head to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins.

Locate and click on the Deactivate button below the first plugin. You can see that active plugins are shaded blue, while those that are off are white (as you can see with Akismet in the screenshot above). Now, refresh your site and see if the 404 error is still occurring.

If you get the error message, head back to the plugins screen, re-activate the plugin you just tried, and move to the next one in the list. If you find one that resolves the issue, you can check for updates that may resolve the problem or find an alternative with similar functionality.

If none of the plugins prove to be the issue, it’s time to try changing your theme. Head to Appearance > Themes.

Your currently-active theme is marked as such. Hover over one of the others and click on Activate. Then refresh your site and try to access the problematic page again.

Note that changing your theme can alter your site significantly. So if you find that your theme is the issue, you may need to spend some time finding one that provides a similar look and features.

Step 4: Set Up a 301 Redirect for Moved or Renamed Content

This one is a bit of a bonus step. If you do actually have content that’s been moved or renamed and thus doesn’t exist anymore at the URL you were using previously, you’ll want to set up some 301 redirects to point that old URL to the new one.

The easiest way to do this is with a WordPress plugin such as Redirection.

This tool will enable you to quickly set up the redirects you need. Plus, it’s free and user-friendly.

How to Create Your Own “Error 404 Not Found” Page

If you want to set up your own custom 404 error page, you can do so relatively easily. The process involves adding one line to the .htaccess file to point the error to a specific page and then creating that page. We have full instructions for setting up a custom error page to walk you through the process.

Tools to Help You Monitor 404 Errors Moving Forward

Finally, if you want to keep an eye out for 404 errors in the future, you can use a few handy tools. The Google Search Console will show you crawl errors that the Google bots have come across as they index your site. This is a simple way to see all the issues Google is encountering.

You can also enter your URL into a specialized tool such as the Broken Link Checker, which will scan your entire site for broken links and let you know if it finds a 404 page.

It’s free and easy to use. You can simply input your domain and then click on Check Site.

More WordPress Error Tutorials

Want to learn how to fix other common WordPress errors? We’ve created a series of guides to help!

• How to Fix the 500 Internal Server Error in WordPress
• How to Fix Syntax Errors in WordPress
• How to Fix the WordPress Not Sending Email Issue
• How to Fix the Error Establishing Database Connection in WordPress
• How to Fix the Sidebar Below Content Error in WordPress (In 3 Steps)

Ready to Find That Missing WordPress Post?

A 404 error can be frustrating — especially when it happens on your own site. These messages cause problems with SEO and ruin your site’s UX. Fortunately, they’re not too difficult to resolve.

Fixing 404 pages generally involves restoring your site’s permalink structure and setting up redirects for any posts that are actually gone. You can then use tools such as Google Search Console to monitor your site for future 404s.

If you want to spend less time dealing with errors, consider switching to DreamPress, our managed WordPress hosting service. We’ll take care of all the troubleshooting for you, so you can focus on what matters!

What is a WordPress 404 Error?

The 404 error is an HTTP response code that occurs when the server cannot find the file or page requested by the user. In response, the web hosting server automatically sends the user an error message, “404 Not Found“.

The WordPress 404 error commonly occurs when:

• You’ve newly migrated your site to a new host.
• You have changed your URL’s permalink structure and haven’t redirected the old URL.
• You don’t have file permissions.
• You have opened an incorrect URL.
• Poorly coded plugin/theme.

Many WordPress themes offer creative layouts & content options to display the 404 error page. Cloudways’ 404 error has a custom design and layout too:

How to Fix 404 Error on WordPress (8 Troubleshooting Solutions)

This tutorial will show you how to quickly fix the 404 Not Found status code. So let’s get started!

1. Clear Browser History & Cookies

The first troubleshooting method you should try is clearing the browser cache and cookies. Or you can try to visit your site in incognito mode.

2. Set Up Your Permalink

If apart from your homepage, your other WordPress website pages give you a 404 page not found error, you can update your permalink settings by following the steps below:

• Log in to your WordPress Dashboard.
• Go to Settings → Permalinks.
• Select the Default settings.
• Click the Save Changes button.
• Change the settings to the previous configuration (the one you selected before Default). Put the custom structure back if you had one.
• Click Save Settings.

Note: If you use a custom structure, copy/paste it into the Custom Base section.

This solution could fix the WordPress 404 not found or “WordPress permalinks not working” error.

If it doesn’t work, you’ll need to edit the .htaccess file in the main directory of your WordPress installation (where the main index.php file resides). 404 errors are also usually due to misconfigured .htaccess files or file permission-related issues.

3. Restore Your .httaccess File

Since .htaccess is a hidden file, you must set all files as visible in your FTP.

Note: It’s always recommended to backup your site before editing any files or pages.

Follow the steps below:

• Log in to your server using an FTP client.
• Download the .htaccess file which is located in the same location as folders like /wp-content/ wp-admin /wp-includes/.
• Open the downloaded file in any text editor.
• Visit the WordPress .htaccess support page and copy/paste the version of the code that is most suitable for your website.
• Save the .htaccess file and upload it to the live server.

For example, if you have Basic WP, use the code below.

# BEGIN WordPress

RewriteEngine On

RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}]

RewriteBase /

RewriteRule ^index.php$ - [L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d

RewriteRule . /index.php [L]

# END WordPress

4. Setup a 301 Redirect

If you have changed the URL of any specific page and haven’t redirected it yet, it’s time to redirect the old URL to your new URL. You may redirect your old post/page via a plugin or a .htaccess file.

If you are comfortable working with .htaccess, add the following code to your .htaccess file. Don’t forget to replace the URLs with your own website.

Redirect 301 /oldpage.html https://www.mywebsite.com/newpage.html

If you prefer the easy way, you may use a plugin to set up a 301 redirect. Follow the steps below:

• Install the Redirection Plugin.
• Go to the WordPress Dashboard.
• Click Tools > Redirection.
• Complete the setup and Add new redirection.

5. Disabling Plugins/Theme

An outdated or poorly coded plugin may be causing the 404 error on your WordPress site. To check this, you must deactivate all your plugins and change your current theme.

Note: All WordPress themes have 404.php files but don’t necessarily have a custom 404 error template file. WordPress automatically uses the 404.php page if the 404 error occurs. 

You may access your WordPress files using an FTP like FileZilla. Go to public_html > wp-content and change the plugins folder name to something like myplugins.

Now go back to your browser to check whether the website is working. If the error has been resolved, then any of your plugins could be the culprit.

Note: If it’s not resolved, simply change the myplugins folder name to plugins and move to the next troubleshooting method.

If it’s resolved, change the myplugins folder name to plugins and follow the steps below to check which of your plugin(s) is causing the error.

• Go to your WordPress dashboard.
• Go to Plugins > Installed Plugins.
• Activate each plugin one by one and check if your website is working.
• When you encounter the 404 error, you’d know which plugin caused it.
• Update the plugin or remove it to get rid of the error.

6. Change and Update WordPress URL in Database

You might encounter the following error message on your WordPress website.

“The requested URL was not found on this server. If you entered the URL manually, please check your spelling and try again.”

Fix the error by following the steps below:

• Go to your PHPMyAdmin.
• Navigate to your database name, and select wp-option. For example, blog > wp-option.

• Change the URL, for example, from https://www.abc.com/blog/ to http://localhost/blog.

7. Fix WordPress 404 Error on Local Servers

Many designers and developers install WordPress on their desktops and laptops using a local server for staging purposes. A common problem with local server installations of WordPress is the inability to get permalink rewrite rules to work.

You may try to change the permalinks for posts and pages, but eventually, the website shows the WordPress “404 Not Found” error.

In this situation, turn on the rewrite module in your WAMP, XAMPP, or MAMP installation. I am using WAMP in this tutorial. Navigate to the taskbar and find the WAMP icon. After that, navigate to Apache → Apache modules.

It will enable a long list of modules that you can toggle on and off. Find the one called “rewrite_module” and click it, so it is checked.

Then check whether your permalinks are working or not.

8. Alternative Method

If none of the above solutions work, you may try the alternative method to fix the 404 error.

• Navigate to the local server.
• Find the Apache folder, then go to the “conf” folder.
• Navigate to the httpd.conf file.
• Search for a line that looks like:

#LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so

• Remove the “#” sign so it looks like this:

LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so

Conclusion

I hope this guide helped you solve the “WordPress 404 page error” or “WordPress permalinks not working” problem. Have you figured out any other ways to get rid of this problem? Please share your solutions with us in the comment section below.

Also, if you are a WordPress user and want to boost your site, you must try Cloudways WordPress hosting solutions and take advantage of its 3-day free trial.

Frequently Asked Questions

Struggling with how to fix the 404 Not Found error on WordPress posts and pages?

This error might appear sometimes when you, or a visitor, try to access a certain page on your site. Instead of seeing the content that you expected, you see something like an “Error 404 Not Found” message instead.

Thankfully, this error message is usually localized to the specific page in question. That is, it shouldn’t affect any other parts of your site (though it can in rare cases).

However, that doesn’t mean it’s not frustrating, and you’ll definitely want to do your best to prevent and fix 404 errors on your site.

In this post, we’ll cover everything that you need to know about 404 errors including:

• What the 404 Not Found error is and what causes it
• Fixing sitewide 404 errors on WordPress
• Fixing individual 404 errors on WordPress
• Monitoring your site for 404 errors
• Creating a custom 404 page for your site (this will make more sense after you’ve read the other sections!)

What Is Error 404 Not Found?

The Error 404 Not Found message appears when you, or one of your visitors, tries to visit a page on your site that doesn’t exist.

That could be either because the page never existed, the page was removed (deleted), or the page’s URL was changed to a different URL.

For example, let’s say you have a blog post at yoursite.com/2020-guide. If you update the post for 2021 and change the URL to yoursite.com/2021-guide, then anyone who tried to visit the original 2020-guide URL would see a 404 error because that page no longer exists at that URL (unless you set up a redirect – more on that later!).

Most of the time, the error only appears when a person tries to visit a nonexistent URL on your site. That is, the error won’t affect any content that does exist.

In rare situations, however, a corrupted .htaccess file can cause the 404 error to appear on your entire site.

404 Error Variations

The 404 Error Not Found message can appear in several different variations depending on what web hosting/web server you’re using, the browser that a visitor is using, and how your site is configured.

Here are some common variations:

• “Error 404”
• “404 Not Found”
• “Not Found”
• “Page Not Found”
• “The requested URL was not found on this server.”
• “HTTP Error 404”
• “We can’t find the page you’re looking for.”
• “The page cannot be found”

To add some further complexity, it’s actually possible to create your own custom 404 message that will appear whenever there’s a 404 error on your site.

We’ll cover this topic in more depth later on, but this lets you create a more user-friendly error message and help redirect users to the right spot.

For example, on the Astra website, we have a custom 404 page that includes a search box to help users find the content that they’re looking for:

This is actually the default 404 error page for all sites using the Astra theme, though Astra makes it easy to create your own custom design – more on that later too.

Some websites even use their 404 pages as a way to show some creativity, like this 404 page from Ready to Go Survival:

What Causes Error 404 Not Found?

There are two types of 404 errors that you might be experiencing and the likely cause depends on which type of error it is.

We’ll include fixes for both types of problems below.

If you see a sitewide 404 Not Found error no matter what page you try to visit, the issue is likely with your WordPress site’s permalink structure or .htaccess file.

Something got corrupted somewhere which is causing your site’s server to think your site’s URLs don’t exist. It sounds serious, but this one is usually pretty easy to fix so don’t worry.

On the other hand, if you only see the 404 Not Found error on specific URLs (but the rest of your site works), then there are several potential problems:

• Broken links – Someone might be linking to a page on your site that doesn’t exist. This could be an external link on someone else’s site or an internal link on your own site. When people click the link, it takes them to a page that doesn’t exist and triggers the 404 error.
• Changed URLs – If you change the URL of a piece of content, you might have people still trying to visit the old URL which will trigger a 404 error (unless you set up a redirect).
• Typos – Someone might have accidentally mistyped the URL that they’re trying to visit.

It’s impossible to fix all of these causes because you can’t prevent someone from making a typo.

But you can fix broken links and changed URLs, and you can create a custom 404 page to create a more user-friendly experience for users who make typos.

Why You Need to Fix Error 404 Not Found?

The 404 error can be problematic for a couple of reasons.

The biggest reason is that it’s just plain frustrating for your visitors. They’re trying to access a certain piece of content. Instead of seeing the content they expected, they’re seeing a 404 error instead.

For this reason alone, you should always try to fix 404 errors on your site.

Beyond creating a poor user experience, 404 errors can also be an indirect drag on search engine optimization (SEO). If the 404 error is a result of a broken internal or external link, you might be wasting link equity.

Basically, Google ranks a page in part on how many links point to it. So if a link points to a missing page instead of the actual URL, you’re essentially missing out on the benefit of that link.

Some SEO experts also claim that 404 errors can make it harder for Google to crawl your site, though Google says this isn’t an issue.

How to Fix Sitewide 404 Not Found Errors in WordPress

If you’re seeing the Error 404 Not Found message across your entire WordPress site, you should be able to fix the problem by regenerating your site’s .htaccess file or permalinks.

If you can still access your WordPress dashboard, you can do this directly from your dashboard. Otherwise, you might need to connect to your server using FTP.

Assuming you still have dashboard access, all you need to do is go to Settings → Permalinks in your dashboard.

Then, just click the Save Changes button.

There’s no need to make any other changes – just clicking Save Changes will force WordPress to generate a new .htaccess file, which should fix the problem:

If you can’t access your WordPress dashboard, you’ll first need to connect to your site’s server using FTP with a tool like FileZilla (tutorial here).

Then, delete the existing .htaccess file. We recommend downloading a copy of the file first so that you have a backup just in case.

Once you delete the .htaccess file, you should be able to access your WordPress dashboard and you can generate a new .htaccess file by going to Settings → Permalinks and clicking Save Changes.

How to Fix Individual 404 Errors on WordPress

If you’re experiencing 404 errors on specific pieces of content, you’ll need a more targeted approach to fix the problem.

There are two tactics that you can try:

1. Fix any broken links on your site to make sure you’re not accidentally sending visitors to content that doesn’t exist.
2. For remaining errors, you can set up redirects to automatically send people to the correct URL(s) instead of showing a 404 error.

How to Find and Fix Broken Links

The first step in stopping 404 errors is to make sure you don’t have any broken links on your site that send users to a 404 error.

To quickly scan your site for broken links, you can use the free Broken Link Checker plugin.

Once you install and activate the plugin, go to Tools → Broken Links to view a report.

If the plugin detects a broken link, you can fix it directly from the plugin’s interface:

Note – while this plugin is useful, we recommend deactivating it once you’re finished to reduce any performance impact from the plugin’s scanning.

How to Set Up Redirects

For any remaining 404 errors, you can fix the problem by manually setting up a redirect to send users to the correct page.

Let’s go back to that example from before where you had a blog post published at yoursite.com/2020-guide and then you updated it for 2021 and changed the URL to yoursite.com/2021-guide.

To prevent people from seeing a 404 error when they visit yoursite.com/2020-guide, you can set up a redirect that automatically redirects the people who visit yoursite.com/2020-guide to yoursite.com/2021-guide.

There are several plugins that make it easy to set up redirects on WordPress, but we recommend the popular and free Redirection plugin.

All you do is enter the original URL and the new destination URL and the plugin will handle everything else for you:

To learn more about what redirects are and how to use them, we have a complete guide on WordPress redirects, Or you can check this video to fix 404 errors using redirection.

How to Monitor Your WordPress Site for 404 Errors

If you want to proactively prevent 404 errors on your site, it can be useful to monitor which URLs are triggering them. Then, if you see that a particular URL is causing problems, you can step in and set up a redirect to send users to the proper spot.

There are a few ways that you can track the URLs that are triggering 404 errors:

• Google Analytics
• Google Search Console
• The Redirection plugin

Google Analytics

If you’re using Google Analytics, you can use its built-in reporting to check for URLs that caused 404 errors.

To get started, go to Behavior → Site Content → All Pages and then search for “Page Not Found” with Page Title as the primary dimension:

You can then click on the result to see the specific URLs that caused the error:

In this example, you can see that yoursite.com/page-that-doesnt-exist was the URL that triggered the 404 error. You can use this information to set up a redirect.

If you’re not using Google Analytics yet, you can follow our guide to add Google Analytics to WordPress or browse the best Google Analytics plugins.

Google Search Console

Google Search Console is another useful way to track 404 errors. Unlike Google Analytics, which tracks the 404 errors that your human visitors encounter, Google Search Console will show the 404 errors that Google’s web crawler bot encounters.

Typically, these errors are the result of broken links, either on your own site or someone else’s site. Or, it could be an issue with your sitemap including content that doesn’t exist.

To look for 404 errors, go to the Coverage report and check for 404 errors in the Type column:

Redirection Plugin

For a native WordPress solution to track 404 errors, you can use the free Redirection plugin that we mentioned above. It helps you both track 404 errors and then easily set up redirects for any problems that it finds.

In the setup wizard, make sure to enable the 404 logging feature. Beyond that, there’s nothing else to configure.

You can view a log of 404 errors by going to Tools → Redirection → 404s. If you hover over an error, the plugin will give you an option to set up a redirect right away:

How to Create a Custom 404 Error Page

As we mentioned earlier, another way to lessen the impact of 404 errors is to create your own custom 404 page. You can use your custom 404 page to…

1. Explain the error and why the visitor isn’t seeing the content that they expected to find.
2. Include a search box.
3. Offer some relevant links to your most popular content/features.

There are lots of different ways that you can create a custom 404 page on WordPress – we’ll share three code-free methods.

Astra Theme

If you’re using the Astra theme, you can use Astra’s built-in Custom Layouts feature, which is available in Astra Pro.

Once you activate the Custom Layouts module, you can go to Appearance → Astra Options → Custom Layouts.

Make sure to set the layout as the 404 page and then you can use the native WordPress editor or your favorite page builder to design the 404 page:

For a more detailed look, you can follow our guide on how to create a custom 404 page with Astra Custom Layouts.

Elementor Pro

If you’re using Elementor Pro (our review), you can use Elementor Theme Builder to design a custom 404 page template:

To learn how to use the Elementor interface, you can follow our Elementor tutorial.

404page

For a free option to create a custom 404 page, you can use the 404page plugin.

To get started, create the design that you want to use for your 404 page using a regular WordPress page (Pages → Add New). You can use the regular WordPress editor or your favorite page builder.

Once you’ve done that, go to Appearance → 404 Error Page and use the drop-down to select the page that you just created:

That’s it! People who experience a 404 error will now see that page.

Fix the WordPress 404 Not Found Error Today

The Error 404 Not Found message can be frustrating for WordPress users. But with the tactics in this post, you can easily fix your site’s 404 errors and prevent 404 errors in the future.

Beyond that, you can also create your own custom 404 error page that lessens the impact of errors by providing an explanation of what’s going wrong and helping visitors find the content that they’re looking for.

Recommended Articles:

• How to fix err_connection_refused error

Do you still have any questions about the Error 404 Not Found message on WordPress? Let us know in the comments!