Visitor landing on empty 404 error not found page which is not SEO friendly leaves the site and as a result you lose one potential visitor and in this way you may lose not only one but many potential visitors.
The best way to keep hold of the visitor is to design a 404 page having a list of content and a search box instead of “You 404’d it. Gnarly, dude”, “Page not found” bla bla and etc etc…
In thesis theme by putting a thesis hook functions to customs_functions.php can convert a 404 page to a useful page. See a demo of 404 page, http://www.bdtechie.com/error
If you are looking to edit 404 page for non-thesis theme then refer to http://wptutorial.com/blog/profitable-blogging/404-pages-and-wordpress
Below is the way how I designed my custom 404 page
The basic of the code is:
/* Custom 404 Hooks */
function custom_thesis_404_title() {
?>
YOUR 404 PAGE HEADING HERE
<php?
}
remove_action(’thesis_hook_404_title’, ’thesis_404_title’);
add_action(’thesis_hook_404_title’, ’custom_thesis_404_title’);
function custom_thesis_404_content() {
?>
<p>WHATEVER YOU WANT YOUR 404 PAGE TO SAY HERE</p>
<php?
}
remove_action(’thesis_hook_404_content’, ’thesis_404_content’);
add_action(’thesis_hook_404_content’, ’custom_thesis_404_content’);
I logged onto wordpress admin –> Downloaded a plugin called “Clean Archive Reloaded” and activated it –> Under thesis menu clicked custom file editor –> Chose custom_functions.php to edit the selected file
At the end of the code, I placed the following code:
/* Custom 404 Hooks */
function custom_thesis_404_title() {
?>
The Page you requested is somewhere here.
<?php
}
remove_action('thesis_hook_404_title', 'thesis_404_title');
add_action('thesis_hook_404_title', 'custom_thesis_404_title');
function custom_thesis_404_content() {
?>
</p>Can't find what you looking for?</p>
<?php clean_archives_reloaded(); ?>
<?php
}
remove_action('thesis_hook_404_content', 'thesis_404_content');
add_action('thesis_hook_404_content', 'custom_thesis_404_content');
If you are using “Clean Archives” by SR or Shawn Grimes. Then replace
<?php clean_archives_reloaded(); ?>
with
<?php { srg_clean_archives(); } ?>
Don’t wan’t to use any plugins ? Then use the following code instead:
/* Custom 404 Hooks */
function custom_thesis_404_title() {
?>
The Page you requested is somewhere here.
<?php
}
remove_action('thesis_hook_404_title', 'thesis_404_title');
add_action('thesis_hook_404_title', 'custom_thesis_404_title');
function custom_thesis_404_content() {
?>
<p>Can't find what you looking for?</p>
<div>
<div>
<h3>By Category:</h3>
<ul>
<?php wp_list_categories('sort_column=name&title_li='); ?>
</ul>
<h3>By Month:</h3>
<ul>
<?php wp_get_archives('type=monthly'); ?>
</ul>
<h3>By Tag:</h3>
<ul>
<?php wp_tag_cloud('number=0')?>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<h3>By Post: (Last 100 articles)</h3>
<ul>
<?php wp_get_archives('type=postbypost&limit=100'); ?>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<?php
}
remove_action('thesis_hook_404_content', 'thesis_404_content');
add_action('thesis_hook_404_content', 'custom_thesis_404_content');
About Nasif
