404 Page

Every website has this screen. An Editor can use it, not just an Admin.

Sometimes a visitor lands on an address your website does not have. The link was typed wrong, or it points at a page you took down. Your website then shows a “page not found” page. People call it the 404 page, because 404 is the number web browsers use for “not found”.

This screen lets you choose what that page says. Turn a dead end into a way back in: a friendly line, a picture, your services, and buttons to the pages people want.

Go to Plugins, open the Site Layout group, and click 404 Page.

What visitors see now

Until someone saves this screen, the page shows:

• a large, faded 404,
• the heading Page not found,
• the line “The page you’re looking for doesn’t exist or has been moved.”,
• your search box, if search is on,
• two buttons: Go home and Contact us.

The screen tells you Nothing changes on your site until you save this page.

To see it for yourself, open your website and add a made-up word to the end of the address, such as /nothing-here.

Changing the page

The screen has four parts: Message, Image, Ways back in and Buttons. Change what you want, then save.

1. Type a new Headline and Message, if you want them. Leave a box empty to keep the words shown in gray inside it.
2. Pick an image, if you want one. See below.
3. Check the Ways back in you want.
4. Set the buttons. See below.

5. Click Save.

You see 404 page saved. Save stays gray until you change something.

Undo changes throws away what you changed since your last save.

Message

• Headline: the big heading. Up to 120 letters.
• Message: the line under it, in plain words. Up to 400 letters.
• Show the large 404 number: the faded 404 above the heading. It starts on. Take the check mark off to hide it.

A message that helps: “Sorry, that page has moved. Our services are below, or give us a call at 555-0142.”

Image

1. Click Choose image. A window called Choose an image opens, with your Media library in it. Type in the box at the top to search by file name.
2. Click the picture you want.
3. Fill in Alt text. Say what the picture shows, for people who cannot see it.
4. Pick a Layout.

Layout	What it does
Above the headline	The picture sits in the middle, over the heading. This is where it starts.
Banner behind the headline	The picture fills the width of the page, behind the heading. It is darkened, so the words stay easy to read.

Is the picture only there for looks? Check Decorative image instead of writing alt text. Screen readers then skip it. A photo behind the headline is often decorative.

The picture must be in your Media library first. This window cannot upload. Media shows you how.

Change image swaps it. Remove image takes it off the page. The picture stays in your Media library either way.

While the 404 page uses a picture, you cannot delete it from the Media library. The library tells you Used by: 404 page. Remove it here first.

Ways back in

Three checkboxes add help under the message.

Checkbox	What it adds	Starts
Show the search box	Your site’s search box. Only if search is on. See Site search.	On
Show services	Up to three of your services, featured ones first.	Off
Show the newest blog posts	Your three newest posts. Only if your website has the blog.	Off

Buttons

The buttons sit at the bottom of the page. Pick one of two choices.

• Default (Go home and Contact us): the two buttons the page always had.
• My own: buttons you set up yourself.

Pick My own, and the two default buttons fill in for you to change. Each button has three boxes:

• Label: the words on the button. Up to 40 letters.
• Link: where it goes. See the list below.
• Style: Primary is filled with your main color. Secondary has an outline only.

Add button adds one. You can have up to three. The ↑ and ↓ arrows change the order. Remove takes one away. Remove them all, and the page shows no buttons.

A Link can be:

• a page on your site, starting with a slash, such as /services,
• a full web address, starting with https://,
• an email, such as mailto:hello@northwind-heating.example,
• a phone number, such as tel:555-0142.

Type example.com with no https://, and the screen will not save. It tells you which button needs fixing. A button with no label stops the save too.

Going back to the original

Click Reset to original. The form fills in with the page as it first came. Then click Save to put it live.

Until you save, your website keeps showing what you saved last.

Fixing the broken links themselves

This page catches people who hit a broken link. It does not fix the link.

The SEO screen lists the addresses people tried that do not exist. From there you can send each one to the right page, so nobody lands on the 404 page at all.